AP/Hunter
05/27/21
The man on trial for the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of a University of Iowa student has claimed for the first time that two masked men were responsible for the crime but forced him to take part at gunpoint.
The defense called Cristhian Bahena Rivera to testify at his first-degree murder trial Wednesday. He admitted that his car was the one on surveillance video circling Mollie Tibbetts while she ran in Brooklyn, Iowa on July 18, 2018, that she ended up in its trunk and that he hid her body in a cornfield. But the farm worker denied that he was responsible for stabbing her to death.
WQAD TV reports Bahena Rivera’s testimony detailed how two masked men showed up in his living room and threatened him. He testified that one man had a knife and the other had a gun. He stated that the men said he shouldn’t do anything stupid, and ordered him to drive toward Brooklyn. He said he couldn’t remember the exact routes, but said they went back and forth in his vehicle through the area. Bahena Rivera said they drove past the University of Iowa student three or four times.
He then testified that the men instructed him to stop; the man with the knife got out and came back about 10 minutes later. They continued driving toward town and the men told him to stop a second time. Bahena Rivera testified that both men got out and he heard them put something in the trunk, told him to turn around and drive toward a gravel road. The men got out in front of a white house, told him not to say anything, and threatened the safety of his ex-girlfriend and daughter.
After the men left, Bahena Rivera testified that’s when he found Mollie Tibbetts’ body in the trunk of his car. He admitted on the stand to placing her in the cornfield where he eventually led police.
Bahena Rivera said he doesn’t know where the men went once they left him, and they haven’t contacted him since that July day in 2018.
The defense rested later Wednesday and closing arguments were scheduled for Thursday.