MONTEZUMA, Iowa – The trial of the accused killer of Mollie Tibbetts is being pushed back.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, is pleading not guilty to 1st degree murder. His trial was set to begin on April 16 but has been rescheduled for September 3 after Rivera’s defense attorneys asked for more time to prepare their case.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa.
Rivera is charged with the murder of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student who disappeared while out running on July 18, 2018, in Brooklyn. Her stabbed-to-death body was found a month later in a cornfield.
Rivera, a Mexican national who has been accused of being in the United States illegally, worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts went missing.
