Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man on trial for the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, claimed two masked men were responsible for the crime but forced him to take part at gunpoint.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The man on trial for the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of a University of Iowa student claimed for the first time Wednesday that two masked men were responsible for the crime but forced him to take part at gunpoint. In a surprise development, the defense called Cristhian Bahena Rivera as a witness at his first-degree murder trial. He admitted that his black car was the one seen on surveillance video circling Mollie Tibbetts while she was jogging in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18,2018. He also acknowledged that she ended up in his car’s trunk, that he hid her body in a cornfield and that he told investigators where to find it a month later. But the farm laborer presented a far different narrative about what happened than prosecutors did, denying that he was responsible for the stab wounds to Tibbetts’ head, neck and chest that caused her death. Bahena Rivera said two armed men who were wearing black and had their faces covered by stocking caps showed up at his trailer after he finished showering that evening. The men directed him to get in his car and drive, and they passed Tibbetts as she ran several times before directing him to stop, he said. Bahena Rivera,26, said a man with a knife got out of the car and walked down the rural road. The man was gone for about 10 minutes as the second man in the back seat of the car grew nervous, saying, «Come on, Jack,» he claimed.
