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

[otto]

Mollie was dead. The reward had a condition that she must be alive.

This is what the police website says:

"A large reward is being offered for information leading to the recovery of Mollie."

Iowa Department of Public Safety

Maybe they got if wrong and meant to say the "recovery of a living Mollie", but that is not what it says. Furthermore, if anyone he worked with suspected that he was involved, why would they assume she was dead? Police described her as a "missing person", and even Mollie's father said that she was still alive.

 

[AllGrace]

in the last 3 years I have driven across 27 states, some more than once, I have bought 2 cars and titled both of them, bought cigs, liquor, enrolled a child in school and I haven't shown my DL in 15 years except to renew it.

Medical offices and hospitals by me require them to be shown along with health insurance card. I have to show it when I purchase firearms. Also to get my passport.

 

[MyBelle]

I definitely think he planned to rape her. Whether the murder was planned beforehand, or it happened in the spur of the moment, I can’t even venture a guess.

I can't either at this point. It's possible CR had his eye on Mollie for quite some time. She was pretty, always smiling, very social. CR may have misunderstood a simple smile and a "Hi!" and thought she was flirting with him.

 

[Deleted member 718]

Absolutely. And it would also be a mistake to assume that this was his first crime, especially in regard to women.

It's a known fact he was creepy. NO ONE knew he'd murder Mollie.

 

[SharonNeedles]

It's a known fact he was creepy. NO ONE knew he'd murder Mollie.

Except he wasn’t creepy. He’s pretty normal, unremarkable really. That’s what is terrifying, nobody saw this coming. Not even him.

 

[TL4S]

It was in an article that he was at work the next day, I’m just to lazy to search for it right now.

Thank you!

 

[MyBelle]

This is what the police website says:

"A large reward is being offered for information leading to the recovery of Mollie."

Iowa Department of Public Safety

Maybe they got if wrong and meant to say the "recovery of a living Mollie", but that is not what it says. Furthermore, if anyone he worked with suspected that he was involved, why would they assume she was dead? Police described her as a "missing person", and even Mollie's father said that she was still alive.

The condition of safe return was spelled out in the Crime stoppers documents and discussed at length on this very forum.

Reward money to return to donors in Mollie Tibbetts case

 

[Deleted member 718]

It's a bit of a concern that he was able to pull off such a violent, horrific crime against a young woman, and immediately afterward he carried on business as usual. On that basis, as well as other factors, I find it hard to believe that this was his first murder.

I dunno. Scott Peterson carried on business as usual. I'm sure there are others. What other factors please?

 

[MassGuy]

agree. if it were me in his place, I'd look more like his ex looked. CR showed no emotion.

I’d argue that anyone who commits this crime, is devoid of empathy for their victims. I don’t think he showed emotion, because he didn’t feel particularly bad about what he did. Any emotion that he did show, would have been representative of his nervousness about being caught.

 

[otto]

The condition of safe return was spelled out in the Crime stoppers documents and discussed at length on this very forum.

Reward money to return to donors in Mollie Tibbetts case

There was no reason for anyone, especially the suspect's co-workers, to think that he had murdered Mollie. If they had any suspicions that he was involved in her disappearance, they should have jumped at the money. They didn't, so I'm going to interpret that as meaning they had no idea that he was involved.

 

[otto]

I dunno. Scott Peterson carried on business as usual. I'm sure there are others. What other factors please?

Spousal homicide and stranger abduction/murder have different characteristics. The suspect was cool as a cucumber after pulling off a murder that got the attention of an international audience. That is remarkable!

 

[Sillybilly]

The thread is open again for respectful discussion.

We don't have any verified expert psychologists on this thread, so please move on from the back and forth discussion of psychology.

Thanks.

 

[kpm]

"This is shocking to us," Dane told reporters.

"Nobody saw a difference.

This guy stayed around for 35 days" after Mollie was killed, he said. Rivera continued coming to work, where he tended dairy cows, and seemed his usual self, Dane said.

"I'd say hello, he'd do his job, then he'd go home," Dane said of the suspect's demeanor since Tibbetts was reported missing on July 19.

Cristhian Rivera: What to Know About the Undocumented Immigrant Accused of Killing Mollie Tibbetts

 

[SteveP]

If we assume that this is not CR's first crime, but may be his first kill, even if LE learns any other names he has used, and hopefully they have, would they have access to his record of any crimes as a juvenile, or would those have been expunged? Would they have relatively easy access to any of his criminal record in Mexico, if any existed?

 

[MassGuy]

"This is shocking to us," Dane told reporters.

"Nobody saw a difference.

This guy stayed around for 35 days" after Mollie was killed, he said. Rivera continued coming to work, where he tended dairy cows, and seemed his usual self, Dane said.

"I'd say hello, he'd do his job, then he'd go home," Dane said of the suspect's demeanor since Tibbetts was reported missing on July 19.

Cristhian Rivera: What to Know About the Undocumented Immigrant Accused of Killing Mollie Tibbetts

Perhaps with his limited English, there wasn’t much of a change in terms of him being more quiet than usual. Someone who doesn’t talk much to begin with, isn’t going to draw any attention to himself by talking even less. Plus, if his job simply involves solo manual labor, there isn’t going to be much to see in terms of unusual activity. This isn’t someone who works in an office, whose behavior is going to be considered more unusual if it deviates from his baseline.

 

[otto]

"This is shocking to us," Dane told reporters.

"Nobody saw a difference.

This guy stayed around for 35 days" after Mollie was killed, he said. Rivera continued coming to work, where he tended dairy cows, and seemed his usual self, Dane said.

"I'd say hello, he'd do his job, then he'd go home," Dane said of the suspect's demeanor since Tibbetts was reported missing on July 19.

Cristhian Rivera: What to Know About the Undocumented Immigrant Accused of Killing Mollie Tibbetts

It is shocking. Normal people don't do what the suspect did, and return to normal life the following morning as though nothing happened - at least not anyone with a conscience.

 

[Peaches96]

in the last 3 years I have driven across 27 states, some more than once, I have bought 2 cars and titled both of them, bought cigs, liquor, enrolled a child in school and I haven't shown my DL in 15 years except to renew it.

That is CRAZY! I just returned some jeans to Target and they scanned my license into their system LOL

 

[MassGuy]

If we assume that this is not CR's first crime, but may be his first kill, even if LE learns any other names he has used, and hopefully they have, would they have access to his record of any crimes as a juvenile, or would those have been expunged? Would they have relatively easy access to any of his criminal record in Mexico, if any existed?

I think they’ll have full access to any criminal records in the United States, as they know what name he was using, and the time period in which he used it. My guess is that there hasn’t been previous law enforcement contact, although I continue to believe he committed prior crimes.
Mexico might be another matter, as law enforcement records have a tendency to be hit or miss, depending on the department.

 

[otto]

If we assume that this is not CR's first crime, but may be his first kill, even if LE learns any other names he has used, and hopefully they have, would they have access to his record of any crimes as a juvenile, or would those have been expunged? Would they have relatively easy access to any of his criminal record in Mexico, if any existed?

If he had been arrested between the ages of 16 and 18 for a crime against another person, wouldn't he have been deported?

I do wonder if there is a criminal history from an earlier age, but those records would be in Mexico and who knows whether the records would be made available! Furthermore, his previous criminal history might be harming animals, peeping, stalking, sneaking into people's houses, and other crimes where he was never a suspect.

Anyone know about international criminal law regarding prior offenses?

 

[Peaches96]

I dunno. Scott Peterson carried on business as usual. I'm sure there are others. What other factors please?

Personally, I would love to hear from co-workers and family (now that’s CR has been arrested) as to whether or not he had any physical injuries after Mollie’s death. Surely he had scrapes or scratches or something! They may not have been noticed because he could have played them off as being from farm work.