IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #39

[jillycat]

Unless she was still in the car.

If she was in the trunk I don't see how. But maybe SA happened in the back seat not the trunk. But where? I really wonder if where she was found was where she was murdered, or assaulted/murdered, or simply where he left her. I would think LE and the coroner know that by now.

 

[jillycat]

I thiught the earbud was lying in his lap when he came to in his car.

No in the affidavit he says it was when he arrived at the cornfield.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Mortvedt was quoted in the People article (linked upthread) as saying that no one starts their criminal career with a brazen blitz daylight abduction and murder, then cool as a cucumber the following day.

There were two murders of two girls, aged 8 and 10, one hour North of Brooklyn 6 years ago. They were cousins who rode their bikes to a remote area of the park without permission.

The 10 year old was 4'11", 140 pounds. Mollie was 5'2" or 5'3" and 120 pounds. The suspect would have been 18 years old that July 13, 2012. He may have lived in Blaristown, Tama, or Marshalltown. I have tracked down that there are connections or contacts in those locations.

I'm very curious whether police can connect this suspect to other similar crimes in Iowa such as peeping, sexual assault, and unsolved murders.

I'm glad you referenced that case. We were prevented from discussing possible connections to other cases before the revelation delivered at the last presser but with results of your sleuthing it seems that case now is fair game.

In addition to your finding let is not forget the pattern discussed regarding abduction/assault location and eventual body placement location... a similar "L" shaped pattern, but in reverse; might reveal a typical driving pattern.

 

[whiskers]

I wonder if he confided in anyone during these nearly 5 weeks. Even before he lawyered up. Someone who helped him come up with his story. I also wonder if he retraced his steps- cruising down streets trying to figure what homes, barns, and stores had cameras.

 

[otto]

I wonder how much LE will probe his ex gf and how much she will reveal. If anyone had experienced abuse, it would be her. But for various reasons, she may not acknowledge any abuse.

Nothing to back this up, but I’m thinking he wanted a piece of the American dream and that includes a girl. We know he cruised the streets previously. To an extent we know he’s harassed women, but I also wonder if he wanted a girl who didn’t have a background similar to his.

I would also like to know about her, and why she left the relationship two years ago when her daughter would have been 1 year old. Leaving a marriage with an infant is probably very challenging, but would be the better option than an abusive relationship.

We certainly don't know what their relationship was like or why they separated.

Regarding all the hysterical stories in the peripheral news about the suspect suddenly having a long history as a notorious pest, it doesn't sound completely believable.

 

[Al Hoffman]

bbm



(It was not one of your posts!) And especially when it's obvious, the intent was clear. ;-)

I suppose overstepping of bounds has occurred in various situations and I would not be surprised if CR ends up in Fed custody after an Iowa trial (for reasons which we are not permitted to expound upon, which are the same reasons I initially refrained from posting links in one or two of my previous posts to sites I used to base my opinions regarding CR, DHS and possible deportation).

I respectfully maintain my right to disagree!

Do you recall the beefy officer giving CR the stink eye, and escorting him into the courtroom? For ICE to step in and try to take CR from Iowa, for any reason (other than CR being taken to a Federal facility for execution), that would mandate that they step over that officer's dead body and many like him. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Iowa will not give up CR willingly, and ICE is too professional to go in and take him by force (I hope).

However, there are a number of Federal crimes that CR has committed since he lives sub Rosa, as it were. He's committed identity fraud (which comes under the perview of many of the Patriot and Homeland Security laws passed since 9/11), payroll fraud involving Federal witholding with every check he received from his employer, mail fraud if anything involving the above or any Federal assistance he may have received went through the mail, and probably other crimes.

One linkage that I see for a Federal murder charge, is if CR did any of the above to gain employment, and that job gave him access to the vehicle he used in commission of the murder, that allows the Feds to charge him with Homicide and a possible death penalty. There are other ways the Feds can reach this same charge. The Feds aren't going to deport CR, they'll charge him and convict him if they find a need to do so.

 

[otto]

I thiught the earbud was lying in his lap when he came to in his car.

Yes, his story starts with Mollie saying something that offended him, and the next thing he knows he sitting at the dump site with an earbud in his lap.

Bear with me, I'll explain. I think she was abducted near the CCTV location (Boundary/Middle). I think he was first seen at 7:45 on CCTV and she was abducted at 8 (started run 7:30, 45 minutes run, 15 minutes from mom's house). He drove her East, and at 8:28 something significant happened at 1900 385 Ave, 1.2 miles from CCTV location.

The suspect's "block out" doesn't explain that time and location.

I don't understand how an earbud could be on his lap at the body dump site when he was doing something significant at 8:28 that is neither the abduction site nor the body dump site.

 

[MsBetsy]

The reason I don't think he is lying about the ear bud being in his lap is because it makes him look guilty. Just imagine him being asked by the investigators, well how do you think her earbud got from HER head to your lap? Why wouldn't he say anything else other than there. That's why I believe he (stupidly) told police that. So going from there, I think it's an important clue. This is all just my opinion but if we know he was sitting in the car with the earbud in his lap, we can narrow down how it got there. Just my opinion. It would definitely rule out the possibility of him going to the cornfield to the car and putting her in the trunk or really doing anything other than being in the car. Or he may have picked it up off the ground after the assault,and carried it back to the car, and told police that story. I'm sure I'm missing something but if we can assume it was in his lap and the assault occurred in the car, the next thing he would probably do is put the body in the trunk, then drive to the location with her either alive or not, finished up in the cornfield , leaves her body and goes off to do whatever. Now I know someone is going to poke a big hole in the whole scenario but that's ok. I'm sure I'm missing alot of details!

 

[akazia1978]

I respectfully maintain my right to disagree!

Do you recall the beefy officer giving CR the stink eye, and escorting him into the courtroom? For ICE to step in and try to take CR from Iowa, for any reason (other than CR being taken to a Federal facility for execution), that would mandate that they step over that officer's dead body and many like him. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Iowa will not give up CR willingly, and ICE is too professional to go in and take him by force (I hope).

However, there are a number of Federal crimes that CR has committed since he lives sub Rosa, as it were. He's committed identity fraud (which comes under the perview of many of the Patriot and Homeland Security laws passed since 9/11), payroll fraud involving Federal witholding with every check he received from his employer, mail fraud if anything involving the above or any Federal assistance he may have received went through the mail, and probably other crimes.

One linkage that I see for a Federal murder charge, is if CR did any of the above to gain employment, and that job gave him access to the vehicle he used in commission of the murder, that allows the Feds to charge him with Homicide and a possible death penalty. There are other ways the Feds can reach this same charge. The Feds aren't going to deport CR, they'll charge him and convict him if they find a need to do so.

Please see my previous post a few threads back regarding SSN usage. I gathered he was caught illegally maybe once before. The sentence you serve in US prison goes up every time you get deported. I believe it was a 6mth, 4 yr, 7yr and then banned for life, but someone can correct me on this. Feds aren't going to waste the cash on this would be my guess.

 

[Alethea]

Lawyered up immediately means he would have negotiated a shorter prison sentence in exchange for giving up the location of the body. I think he believed that he would get away with it. As Mortvedt said, he didn't start his criminal history with a daylight abduction and murder. I think he expected that the worst that would happen is that he would be deported.

I believe that Mollie was bleeding from a head wound, and that there would be her blood evidence in his trunk. I'm pretty sure he would have been arrested and probably convicted without a body (if that's allowed in Iowa).

Portraying Mollie as the threat that triggered the entire abduction and murder, and then pretending that an earbud on his lap caused him to end his "block out"? That's absurd.

This man very likely raped Mollie. How in the world does an earbud end up on his lap at the dump site?

Agree complete with you here Otto. He talks about the earbud like your mind drifts off in the parking lot of a grocery store thinking about something that's worrying you and you look over and see the ice cream melting next to you and it jolts you out of your daze.

 

[ellieuma]

Mortvedt was quoted in the People article (linked upthread) as saying that no one starts their criminal career with a brazen blitz daylight abduction and murder, then cool as a cucumber the following day.

There were two murders of two girls, aged 8 and 10, one hour North of Brooklyn 6 years ago. They were cousins who rode their bikes to a remote area of the park without permission.

The 10 year old was 4'11", 140 pounds. Mollie was 5'2" or 5'3" and 120 pounds. The suspect would have been 18 years old that July 13, 2012. He may have lived in Blaristown, Tama, or Marshalltown. I have tracked down that there are connections or contacts in those locations.

I'm very curious whether police can connect this suspect to other similar crimes in Iowa such as peeping, sexual assault, and unsolved murders.

Someone sharing his first and middle name (the Rivera is missing) was arrested In DeKalb Co Georgia in Oct 2015. There isn’t a mug shot and the height is listed at 5’0 (not 5’6”) Birthday listed has year only (not mm/dd/) 1997 & age as 18. I don’t know how often mistakes are made in arrest records, but it spelled his first name like he spells it...

 

[Al Hoffman]

I'm not sure why he's focused on the ear piece. By the time he got her in the trunk and got himself back in the car, how would anything from the abduction/trunk event land in his lap in the driver's seat?

Fell out of his hair or shirt, or may have been clutched in his hand from the assault?

 

[MassGuy]

Someone sharing his first and middle name (the Rivera is missing) was arrested In DeKalb Co Georgia in Oct 2015. There isn’t a mug shot and the height is listed at 5’0 (not 5’6”) Birthday listed has year only (not mm/dd/) 1997 & age as 18. I don’t know how often mistakes are made in arrest records, but it spelled his first name like he spells it...

That’s a very common way to spell it. I know someone who spells it the same way.

 

[otto]

I'm glad you referenced that case. We were prevented from discussing possible connections to other cases before the revelation delivered at the last presser but with results of your sleuthing it seems that case now is fair game.

In addition to your finding let is not forget the pattern discussed regarding abduction/assault location and eventual body placement location... a similar "L" shaped pattern, but in reverse; might reveal a typical driving pattern.

Police are clearly looking into connections with other incidents in Iowa during the last 7-8 years. Similar criminal activities, such as unsolved murders of female victims, will very likely be at the top of the list.

"Rivera had not criminal record before his arrest.

“All of a sudden he just does it,” Mortvedt says. “Who escalates to abduction, kidnapping and homicide that fast?”

“That is part of the ongoing investigation,” Mortvedt says. “We want to dig into his background — and not just the last four weeks. Who is this guy? Where has he been? What has he done? How can we verify that?”

Mollie Tibbetts’ Body Was Found 500 Yards Into Cornfield: ‘He Tried to Camouflage Her’​

 

[Alethea]

Someone else mentioned this in an earlier thread and I thought it was a good point: The affidavit is LE's summary after an unknown amount of time interviewing CR. This story may have come out in bits and pieces over the course of the interview. Frankly, he may have been making it up as he went along answering questions so even he didn't have a coherent story to tell. It's possible that this was told all at once, but it didn't have to be.

 

[Confusion]

At this point, there's one scenario that makes sense to me, and it's probably nowhere near what happened. He had obviously been circling around watching her and eventually stopped. I think he may have offered her a ride and she told him she was just out for a run and then going to her mother's to eat. If she continued to run, he may have gotten out, chased her down and thrown her into the back seat. Once she was back there, she may have pulled out her phone and said she'd call LE if he didn't let her out. During the struggle for her phone, her earbuds may have broken/fallen off in the front seat. He drove down the road (obviously since they weren't found sitting there!) and pulled into one of the field roads at/near the corner of 385th and 200th Street, which is where I believe he assaulted and probably murdered her. When he was done, he threw her in the trunk because if anyone saw him pulling out of there he wouldn't want her body found there later. He drove down 200th Street to the intersection trying to figure out what to do, or maybe even planning to go home. Seeing her earbud made him more aware of his surroundings and he realized he still had her phone in the car and he had just passed another cornfield. He turned around and stopped there, took her out of the trunk and put her in the cornfield. This made more sense in my head than it does in writing. MOO

 

[otto]

Agree complete with you here Otto. He talks about the earbud like your mind drifts off in the parking lot of a grocery store thinking about something that's worrying you and you look over and see the ice cream melting next to you and it jolts you out of your daze.

It think it's absurd. He first claims that Mollie threatened him and that caused him to go into a daze, then he comes out of the daze because there's an earbud on his lap and he's next to a cornfield 12 miles from home with a body in the trunk.

Everything between Mollie's threat and the body dump location is a daze.

 

[MsBetsy]

It's amazing that those were the best he could have come up with after 5 weeks.

I still wonder where we'd be if he just lawyered up immediately. Would they have even had enough for an arrest? Scary to think about.

He may not even have thought of a solid story. He may have convinced himself he wouldn't get caught, and figured , if i do, I'll deny everything . I won't tell them a thing. They can't prove it. and then during the interrogation broke down and gave them bits of the story. This would explain why in general it matches up, but there are some lies here and there. Or things aren't in the order in which they occurred . Wouldn't the easiest thing to do be to tell some things that happened but lie about the one thing he doesn't want people to find out about? He doesnt even have to deal with that part of the story if he just says, " I blacked out" I don't remember.

 

[MassGuy]

Police are clearly looking into connections with other incidents in Iowa during the last 7-8 years. Similar criminal activities, such as unsolved murders of female victims, will very likely be at the top of the list.

"Rivera had not criminal record before his arrest.

“All of a sudden he just does it,” Mortvedt says. “Who escalates to abduction, kidnapping and homicide that fast?”

“That is part of the ongoing investigation,” Mortvedt says. “We want to dig into his background — and not just the last four weeks. Who is this guy? Where has he been? What has he done? How can we verify that?”

Mollie Tibbetts’ Body Was Found 500 Yards Into Cornfield: ‘He Tried to Camouflage Her’​

His age (if correct) makes me feel more confident that this is his first murder. That’s absolutely no guarantee though.
In the (strikingly similar), Vanessa Marcotte case. The suspect is in his early 30s with no criminal record (either here or in Puerto Rico). I feel less optimistic that he hasn’t killed before, simply because of his age. But both crimes appear to have been carried out in a similar, brazen and vicious manner.

 

[otto]

Someone sharing his first and middle name (the Rivera is missing) was arrested In DeKalb Co Georgia in Oct 2015. There isn’t a mug shot and the height is listed at 5’0 (not 5’6”) Birthday listed has year only (not mm/dd/) 1997 & age as 18. I don’t know how often mistakes are made in arrest records, but it spelled his first name like he spells it...

Cristhian Bahena Rivera has a very messy name history. What was this person arrested for? Is it related to peeping, sexual assault? If not, probably not related.