AP
2/5/21
A judge has rejected a motion to quash a subpoena seeking the bank records of a slain University of Iowa student.
Prosecutors in the first-degree murder case against Cristhian Bahena Rivera made the motion, calling the subpoena by Behena Rivera’s lawyers for Mollie Tibbetts’ bank records a “fishing expedition.” Prosecutors accused defense attorneys of flouting the law by failing to notify prosecutors and the court of the subpoena until after it had already been served.
The Des Moines Register reports that the judge ruled the challenge was moot, as the subpoena had already been served and the bank provided no relevant information.
The 20-year-old Tibbetts disappeared on July 18, 2018, while on a run in rural Poweshiek County near her hometown of Brooklyn. After a massive police and volunteer effort to find her, authorities say Bahena Rivera led them to her body about a month later. Prosecutors say Bahena Rivera stabbed Tibbetts to death.