MOLLIE TIBBETTS: Iowa v Cristhian Bahena Rivera for murder of jogger *GUILTY*

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A first-degree murder charge was filed on Tuesday against a young man in the case of missing Iowa jogger Mollie Tibbetts, state officials said Tuesday.

The suspect, 24-year-old Cristhian Rivera, is an undocumented immigrant who lives in the rural area where the college student vanished one month ago, according to Rick Rahn of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

 

Rivera trial starts today with jury selection​

Jury selection is expected to take at least two days. KWWL will be reporting on the trial as it progresses. You can also watch live coverage on channel 7.4 Court TV.
 
Judge Joel Yates is presiding over the trial. He said in a May 10 court order that the public and news media will not be allowed inside the courtroom. He did acknowledge “intense public” interest in the case and said news outlets can operate remote-controlled video cameras to broadcast the proceedings live on the internet or television. However, jury selection cannot be broadcast or covered live under Iowa courtroom media rules.

KCCI will provide live coverage of the trial whenever possible on the KCCI Breaking News App, KCCI.com and the KCCI Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages. KCCI’s Chris Gothner will provide coverage of the trial and will provide live updates on Twitter.
 
Just finished watching the opening statement by the prosecution. No defense opening, they elected to delay it until the conclusion of the state's case which I guess would also be just prior to the presentation of their own case. A different move one does not see too often.

I had just also found the trial live but did not link it because right then they went on break until 1:15. Haven't watched the morning witnesses yet either.
 
Today's witnesses included a crime scene technician and dna expert.

The defense, thus far, is saying that their client was coerced into confessing after an 11 hour interview and was sleep deprived. They were able to confirm that there was no complete dna profile from either of the defendants vehicles or on the victim. What they cannot refute is that the defendant admitted in the first hour of his interview that he drove past Mollie 3 times on the day she was last seen & described her physical appearance as 'hot'.

MOO
 
Today's witnesses included a crime scene technician and dna expert.

The defense, thus far, is saying that their client was coerced into confessing after an 11 hour interview and was sleep deprived. They were able to confirm that there was no complete dna profile from either of the defendants vehicles or on the victim. What they cannot refute is that the defendant admitted in the first hour of his interview that he drove past Mollie 3 times on the day she was last seen & described her physical appearance as 'hot'.

MOO
I have watched parts of it but by no means have seen it all, haven't had time to entirely get into anything fully. Her blood was found in his car. Her water bottle was found at his house. He stated much more to LE, that he ran after her, that she threatened to call the cops, that he got angry, he blacked out and next thing he knew was in his vehicle and had her earbuds on his lap. He then found her in the trunk of his car. Etc. and more. In my opinion they have a lot and the defense has nothing.

I am also sick of he confessed because he is an "illegal" thing as a defense card and a coerced confession on things like "he was tired" or "did not like his sandwich" and they have tried both. It is not as if he is a youth or he was tortured for a confession.

All jmo.
 
I have watched parts of it but by no means have seen it all, haven't had time to entirely get into anything fully. Her blood was found in his car. Her water bottle was found at his house. He stated much more to LE, that he ran after her, that she threatened to call the cops, that he got angry, he blacked out and next thing he knew was in his vehicle and had her earbuds on his lap. He then found her in the trunk of his car. Etc. and more. In my opinion they have a lot and the defense has nothing.

I am also sick of he confessed because he is an "illegal" thing as a defense card and a coerced confession on things like "he was tired" or "did not like his sandwich" and they have tried both. It is not as if he is a youth or he was tortured for a confession.

All jmo.
Her water bottle was at the home of her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, not the defendant & the blood found in his car did not produce a dna profile, according to todays testimony.

Basically, he told on himself in the 11 hour interview & led LE to her remains. The video of his interview has been dissected in the court & his defense team has only pushed a theory that he confessed because he was tired.
 
Are you sure about the water bottle? It was also said a towel or some such with the Defendant's blood was found. I know the defense asked about a Dr. Pepper can at Dalton's.

As for the blood, some spots none were found but there was a DNA match to Mollie. It is in this article.

 
Are you sure about the water bottle? It was also said a towel or some such with the Defendant's blood was found. I know the defense asked about a Dr. Pepper can at Dalton's.

As for the blood, some spots none were found but there was a DNA match to Mollie. It is in this article.

Tara stated it was a presumptive match, IIRC. It has been a very intense trial however so I probably misunderstood. (Sorry about that)

The towel that she tested was from Christhian's trailer that was collected to obtain a dna sample while he was being interviewed.
 
Tara stated it was a presumptive match, IIRC. It has been a very intense trial however so I probably misunderstood. (Sorry about that)

The towel that she tested was from Christhian's trailer that was collected to obtain a dna sample while he was being interviewed.
I can't vouch for everything either as like I stated, I have not watched it steadily by any means but the DNA I was sure about. The items and house search I could very well be wrong. I would have sworn it was the defendant's home and people in chat I was watching comments of said so as well, but I certainly could be wrong, especially since shortly after that the defense was asking about items in Dalton's home. Shows you that I was listening but not to every single minute :)
 

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