Last week, I discussed the story of Mollie Tibbetts, the 20-year-old University of Iowa student who went missing on July 18th.
She had last been seen on a jog but had not been heard from ever since. Various sources had reported that there was evidence that she did return home from her run, such as her computer being open for homework. Different news outlets had also reported that she sent a snapchat to her boyfriend Dalton Jack around 10 pm that same night. Whether these reports were just misinformation or a deliberately constructed story on the family's part to keep the investigation under wraps, they're not true. The reality of what occurred, in fact, is so much worse.
The search for Mollie ended on Tuesday, August 21st after her body was found in a cornfield southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa, where she had originally gone missing. Police obtained surveillance video from a neighbor nearby, which showed Mollie running by around dusk on that evening, with a black Chevy Malibu driving back and forth around her. The operator of the vehicle told investigators Monday that he parked the car, got out, and began running alongside Mollie. When Tibbetts pulled out her phone and threatened to call the police, the suspect claimed he "blacked out" and woke up at an intersection. He then claimed he looked down and found a piece of a headphone in his lap, which reminded him that he had put the young woman in his trunk. When he opened the trunk, he found Tibbetts' body, her head bleeding profusely. He panicked once more and dumped her body in a nearby cornfield, which he willingly led investigators to on Tuesday. An autopsy to determine Tibbett's actual cause of death is planned for Wednesday.
The suspect, charged with first-degree murder, is 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal immigrant who had been living in the area for four to seven years. He has, at least up to this point, has been cooperative with police, but his status as an illegal immigrant is fueling an already sensitive debate on immigration and sanctuary cities. The truth does remain that, if Rivera had not broken the law and been in this country illegally in the first place, Tibbetts would still be alive. Her murder was senseless, but her memory should not be used to push an agenda about illegal immigration. Every day, American citizens kill others for absolutely no reason at all. Stephen Paddock killed 58 people. Adam Lanza killed 26. Nick Cruz killed 17. Legal or not, Rivera will pay for his actions. And Tibbetts' memory should not be based on an immigration agenda. She was a vivacious young girl with her entire life ahead of her.
It is likely that investigators knew they were getting involved in a recovery mission very early in the search, which could explain their lack of information to the public. Not only that, but the search continuously focused on about five different areas of Brooklyn, so the FBI likely had a clue that Mollie was still in the area, and probably not alive. Whatever the reason, it is a heartbreaking end to the story of a beloved young girl and the harrowing last moments of her life.
