IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #42

[Jeng1810]

Why would he plead guilty? He has reported that when he met Mollie, she threatened him and made him so angry that his memory failed. When he recovered from his memory failure, he discovered that she was in the trunk of his car. There's really nothing to plead guilty to. In his story, Mollie is the threat. She is the aggressor. She should not have treated him so poorly.

Since he has no memory of how she got into the trunk of his car, it's possible that someone else put Mollie in his car and drove him to the cornfield. The only reason he knew the location of her body is that he remembers driving home from that cornfield.

I believe he would but I am sure his attorneys would advise otherwise. He really hasn’t a lot to lose if he is truly here undocumented. JMO but thinking his family told him to keep his head straight and work and for whatever reason that did not resonate with him that night. “I’m going to go out tonight and find trouble” said no undocumented farm worker ever.

 

[di anna]

CR may have tried to talk to her on a run before. He may have slowed down said something to her on previous occasions. I was stalked at work (c0nfidentially) for two years. Outside of work, at work, phone calls that were wierd from friends of the person. I had a detective assigned to me by the city I live in. My harasser, abuser whatever the hell was wrong with him, had numerous occasions to bother me. Each time got a little worse. He was obssessed with me. A long time......................went by before I told anyone because I thought I could handle it on my own, plus I was used to the male attention because I worked with 95% males. But I also had a position of authority so I thought I was safe. It caused me tremendous distress in my marriage. Because after awhile it really escalated. My detective told me that I did the correct thing by filing a police report and getting them involved, because when you are a female and a man is repeatedly talking to you, bothering, laying in wait for you etc. , the next step is rape. I went through hell, alone. No by the grace of God I was never raped but I know a tremendous amount about women being harassed. I had to learn that in a all male environment often bets are placed on who can get the prize and some men will stop at NOTHING.

 

[Jeng1810]

He could deny involvement, but he knew police would eventually obtain blood evidence in the car and confront him with the fact that it is not true. It's better for him that he did not lie to investigators about something that could so easily be proven false.

But without the death penalty what does it really matter. I know freedom is like a big thing to us but as much as prison sucks it’s probably better than what he had IMO.

 

[MsBetsy]

Whenever there’s a tragedy, some people view it objectively from a distance, others from a close-up emotional perspective.

Because we’ve very limited information, opinions are bound to differ and that’s okay.

Early on when Mollie was still missing, much the same, speculation here was all over the map. Immediately after LE arrested CR and held the press conference, those theories went out the window. Once LE releases more information, the same will occur, there will be additional facts to base opinions on.

Right. I think it's so interesting how people look at it in different ways. I have a background in psych. , so it would be weird for me not to analyze behavior, ( as annoying as it may be) and I know there are many others on here,who are interested in that aspect, whereas someone with a technical background sees things differently, as well as someone in the medical field, etc. And then there are those who only consider the facts, and nothing else. All interesting.

 

[Al Hoffman]

But dusk was the only time he had. At work before day break, into Casey's every couple of days.

I'm wondering . . . . 30-some years ago, I had a guy friend who went to the mall to "girl watch." Was that unhealthy? was that stalker behavior? or was that sorta par for the course, back in the good ol' days . . . could you ever "girl watch" or "boy watch" and it have been ok?

I maintain that it goes to show a pattern of behavior, at a set time of day. He can't say "I never did that before."

As far as girl watching back in the day, it was OK to watch, which was not always welcomed or appreciated, but you could not touch without permission, or there would be consequences.

Today, even watching is frowned upon, and you shouldn't approach and can't touch without permission.

Grabbing and assault, tackling a woman to the ground, and all the rest has always been a "don't go there" in my lifetime.

There would be no more children if men and women did not seek each other out. It's all in how you play the game, and the rules do change over time.

 

[di anna]

SA is not about sex, it's about POWER and CONTROL.

 

[SharonNeedles]

SA is not about sex, it's about POWER and CONTROL.

I’m at the point where I’m comfortable saying a SA likely did not occur.

 

[Jeng1810]

I’m at the point where I’m comfortable saying a SA likely did not occur.

I am in that camp as I am sure the intent was there but for whatever reason the timeline says no. IMO he thought this was going to be easy and it wasn’t.

 

[Peaches96]

But Mr. Bahena Rivera’s quiet demeanor sometimes stood out in jarring ways.

A neighbor said he did not always follow the local custom of acknowledging him when Mr. Bahena Rivera drove by in a Chevy Malibu.

And, more alarmingly, a woman said he made her uncomfortable with a romantic advance and repeated Facebook messages in the middle of the night.

“He would just stare. He wouldn’t really like talk,” said the woman, Brooke Bestell, 20, who had turned Mr. Bahena Rivera down when he asked her out on a date. “Something about him was off.”

Others found his behavior more troubling. Ms. Bestell, the acquaintance who declined a date with him, said he would not make conversation when she encountered him in person, but he would send repeated social media messages over a period of months.

“Just over and over, like every week or so, he would message me again,” Ms. Bestell said, including as recently as June 13 at 3 a.m.

After he was arrested, two of Ms. Bestell’s friends told her that he had also messaged them online over the years. “I don’t know how many other girls he probably was trying to talk to,” she said.


"I know Cristhian from my sister. She thought he was a nice, well-spoken person. They hung out a few times but nothing really happened romantically," Gibson said.

She started feeling uncomfortable around Rivera after he approached her in a manner similar to how he approached Tibbetts.

It was more flirty than sexual but my sister is very shy.She didn’t appreciate it."

"She told me that a little while ago he drove up to her while she was walking through Brooklyn," Gibson said. "He told her she was really pretty and things like that. It was more flirty than sexual but my sister is very shy. She didn’t appreciate it."

"Even though she knew him a little she felt unsafe and didn't want to talk to him. In the end, she was really creeped out by his behavior. She had to keep telling him she wasn't interested."


Another man — who was only identified as Justin — claimed that Rivera followed his fiancée in his car.



“I remember her calling me when she noticed how slow he was driving by in circles, turning around the block to keep up with her several times on her walk home,” he said.

“I vividly remember one day, it was around sunset or just after, my fiancée called because she was scared."

Justin said she was returning from getting groceries when Rivera drove past her at least six times.

"Now it’s really strange because of how long he’s been driving around like that. It makes you wonder if Mollie was his only victim.”




How the Suspect in Mollie Tibbetts’s Death Built a Life in an Iowa Farm Town


New Details About Cristhian Rivera's Unsettling History — Including How He Followed Another Teen Girl In His Car Before Killing Mollie Tibbetts

Where were these people when police were begging for leads? Isn’t it odd no one came forward and mentioned his name until after he was arrested?!

 

[scarlettbones]

Ok. Seems some folks have an issue with using the descriptive term STALKING.

What does that mean to you?

Following her

Once

Twice

For a week?

For a month?

I don't have an issue with the word stalking. What I had an issue with was the poster saying "he was stalking her for two days" and saying it was fact, when it is not. Seeing her previously (and we don't know if it was the day before, the week before or 6 months before) and then seeing her the day of the attack, doesn't automatically mean he was stalking her for the entire duration.

Do I think he was stalking her that day? Yes.
Do I think he was stalking her for days on end waiting? No. Not unless LE gives us a reason to believe this.

 

[MistyWaters]

I think if women reported every time we felt harassed, persued, or offended by an unwanted male who doesn't seem to know when to stop ( or be able to tell that we're not interested) there would be a line outside the police station every day. In my experience, police don't want to write up a police report unless there was a direct, specific threat of violence. Jmo

Are you serious? There’d be line-ups, it’s that prevalent? Where you live the #metoo movement hasn’t made a difference?

Does that suggest lack of taking appropriate action against harassment contributes to a male sense of entitlement and in CRs world, if females tolerate harassment was Mollie was the first to stand up against it?

I don’t know, if it were 1970 that might be so but in 2018???

And I’m not suggesting LE will take every complaint of harassment seriously but that surely shouldn’t prevent females from filing a report about incidents where they’re left feeling endangered. The reason is, if the perp later becomes even more aggressive to that same person or others, those reports form a valuable paper trail.

 

[Jeng1810]

Where were these people when police were begging for leads? Isn’t it odd no one came forward and mentioned his name until after he was arrested?!

Things that are “odd” are not an issue until they are. I have neighbors I swear are in the witness protection program as they ignore everyone here. I don’t report them and after 12 years they are still here and good neighbors.

 

[SharonNeedles]

I am in that camp as I am sure the intent was there but for whatever reason the timeline says no. IMO he thought this was going to be easy and it wasn’t.

I think this escalated from Sexual Harrassment to Murder very quickly. Whatever he may have intended was out the window at that point.

 

[MsBetsy]

The benefit of the doubt, to me, lies in considering his POV and feelings, with the example of a previous remark re: his/one's lifestyle being potentially threatened (in his case by his victim reacting negatively to being preyed on). We could also call it a sympathetic consideration.

I just don't think it makes sense that someone who lives with a daily fear that life as he knew it could end would work so hard to make that happen by risking exposure of not a nickname, but apparently an altogether false identity for 7 years, and then solving that crisis with murder.

Whatever the case, I think her sense of being threatened trumps his. So once he started seeking her out and following her, I don't really care how he felt. And I think he's the type of killer that has/had so little conscience that he really didn't concern himself much beyond dusting himself off and going to work the next day. For 5 weeks.

Yes, to the last paragraph, I think so too.. as far as anyone giving him sympathetic consideration, I haven't seen anyone sympathizing with him for his actions or making exceptions. At least I would hope not! I suppose if someone feels that way it is their right, but they would have to prepare for the onslaught of posts replying to theirs! I'm assuming!

 

[scarlettbones]

I don't think that it is so much giving CR the benefit of the doubt, as it is attempting to come to know the Beast, and understand why he did the deed. This may be an exercise in futility, in trying to find rational answers to what was an irrational act.

Thank you for this, exactly.

Personally, I am not making excuses for CR or excusing his behavior. At the end of the day, what he did what horrible and he deserves to be punished. But that doesn't mean I can't try to understand his motives.

 

[Al Hoffman]

But without the death penalty what does it really matter. I know freedom is like a big thing to us but as much as prison sucks it’s probably better than what he had IMO.

It matters in that with a trial and a possible Murder 2 conviction you can maybe walk "free" in 20 years or less, or you could also plea guilty to Murder One for better choice of prison facility, Protective Custody status and visitation rights, whatever you can get, and how much your attorney stands to gain in how he/she plays the game. It's all a very high stakes negotiation at it's base.

 

[SteveP]

I am in that camp as I am sure the intent was there but for whatever reason the timeline says no. IMO he thought this was going to be easy and it wasn’t.

...and that may be exactly why she died of multiple sharp-force injuries, a seemingly overkill. Perhaps when he saw that things were not going as he had planned, he just killed her in rage. After all he had done up to that point, it isn't likely he could let her live and stay a free man. JMO

 

[MistyWaters]

Where were these people when police were begging for leads? Isn’t it odd no one came forward and mentioned his name until after he was arrested?!

Excellent point.

 

[MsBetsy]

I don't think that it is so much giving CR the benefit of the doubt, as it is attempting to come to know the Beast, and understand why he did the deed. This may be an exercise in futility, in trying to find rational answers to what was an irrational act.

Exactly! I wasn't quite sure what the poster was referring to, so I just took a guess. I think you are right, people are just trying to understand how his mind works, to better understand certain aspects of the crime! Some find it fascinating while others are bored to tears, I expect. Imo

 

[MistyWaters]

...and that may be exactly why she died of multiple sharp-force injuries, a seemingly overkill. Perhaps when he saw that things were not going as he had planned, he just killed her in rage. After all he had done up to that point, it isn't likely he could let her live and stay a free man. JMO

But what could’ve he done up to that point, on a public road?