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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11985017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cristhian-bahena-rivera" source="Orion">Cristhian Bahena Rivera</keyword> was sentenced to life in prison without parole. </li><li>Rivera was found guilty of the first-degree murder in the death of <keyword id="11896861" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="iowa" source="Orion">Iowa</keyword> student <keyword id="11985016" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mollie-tibbetts" source="Orion">Mollie Tibbetts</keyword>. </li><li>Tibbetts was killed in 2018 while out for a jog. </li></ul><p>Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts. </p><p>"Mr. Bahena Rivera, you and you alone forever changed the lives of those who loved Mollie Tibbetts, and for that, you and you alone will receive the following sentence," Judge Joel Yates said as he handed down the lifetime sentence. </p><p>Rivera was <a href="https://www.insider.com/man-convicted-of-murdering-iowa-college-student-mollie-tibbetts-2021-5">convicted of first-degree murde</a>r in May. Video evidence presented at the trial showed Rivera stalked Tibbetts, who was out for a jog, from his car in 2018. He later led authorities to a cornfield where Tibbetts' body was.</p><p>Autopsy reports showed Tibbetts had been stabbed to death. She was 20 years old. </p><p>A victim impact statement from Tibbetts' mother, Laura Calderwood, was read ahead of the sentencing. Rivera declined to speak at the hearing. </p><p>"Mollie was a young woman who simply wanted to go for a quiet run on the evening of July 18, and you chose to violently and sadistically end that life," read Calderwood's statement directed at Rivera. </p><p>"Because of your act, Dalton Jack will never get to give Mollie the engagement ring he had purchased for her. Because of your act, Mollie's father, Rob, will never get to walk his only daughter down the aisle. Because of your act, Mr. Rivera, I will never get to see my daughter become a mother," the statement said. </p><p>Calderwood went on to reference Rivera's own daughter, who was 5 years old when her father was convicted in May.</p><p>"I do hope one day Paulina has the opportunity to become a mother, but how will she ever explain to her children who their grandfather is?" Calderwood's statement said. "This is the legacy you left behind for your only child, Mr. Rivera. I don't know whose situation is worse." </p>

Cristhian Bahena Rivera is sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Mollie Tibbetts

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An <keyword id="3046" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iowa">Iowa</keyword> jury convicted a man for killing 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts.</li><li>Cristhian Bahena Rivera was found guilty of murder.</li><li>Tibbetts was killed while out on a jog in 2018.</li></ul><p>A man was convicted Friday of murdering 20-year-old Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts.</p><p>A jury found 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cristhian-bahena-rivera-convicted-first-degree-murder-slaying-iowa-college-n1268728">NBC News reported</a>. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison.</p><p>Bahena Rivera worked at dairy farms in Brooklyn, Iowa. Multiple women said he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cristhian-bahena-rivera-mollie-tibbetts-death-social-media-behavior-2018-8">harassed them for dates</a>, repeatedly sending late-night messages on Facebook after he had been turned down.</p><p>"He would just stare. He wouldn't really like talk," one woman said. "Something about him was off."</p><p>Video presented at trial showed that he stalked Tibbetts in his car. He later took investigators to a cornfield where Tibbetts' body was discovered.</p><p>An <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-medical-examiner-says-iowa-student-died-from-stab-wounds-2018-8-2">autopsy</a> indicated that Tibbetts had been stabbed to death.</p>

Man convicted of murdering Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Missing-Student-Iowa/98fe7b5e55434c95a2e9bf937545e59f/6/0">Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette via AP, Pool</a></span></p><p class="caption">Cristhian Bahena Rivera speaks with his attorney during his initial court appearance at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The man charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year old Mollie Tibbetts reportedly made repeated unsolicited advances on social media towards local young women. </strong></li><li><strong>One woman told The New York Times that she once rejected Cristhian Bahena Rivera's advances, but he repeatedly messaged her over social media.</strong></li><li><strong>She said she discussed Bahena Rivera with female friends, and they said he messaged them, too.</strong></li><li><strong>"Something about him was off," said a 20-year-old Iowa woman who turned him down for a date. </strong></li></ul><p>The man charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year old Mollie Tibbetts made repeated unsolicited advances on social media towards local young women, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/us/cristhian-rivera-iowa-tibbetts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times report</a>. </p><p><a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/cristhian-bahena-rivera-immigration-status-mollie-tibbetts-murder-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cristhian Bahena Rivera</a> was a familiar fixture in Brooklyn, Iowa, where he <span>worked for the last four years at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts was last seen.</span></p><p>Brooke Bestell, a local 20-year-old woman, told the Times she once turned him down when he asked her out on a date, but he repeatedly messaged her on Facebook late at night though they didn't speak in person.</p><p>"He would just stare. He wouldn't really like talk," Bestell said. "Something about him was off."</p><p>Bestell said he would message her "just over and over, like every week or so." She said the most recent message from Bahena Rivera came June 13 at 3 a.m.</p><p>After Bahena Rivera was arrested, two of Bestell's friends told her that he had also messaged them and Bestell said she wondered "how many other girls he probably was trying to talk to."</p><p>Bahena Rivera is jailed on a $5 million cash bond after prosecutors<span> allege he abducted Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run in Brooklyn on July 18, killed her, and disposed of her body in a cornfield. </span></p><p><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-medical-examiner-says-iowa-student-died-from-stab-wounds-2018-8-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Preliminary autopsy results</a> from the state medical examiner's office found Tibbetts died from "multiple sharp force injuries."</span></p><p>Law enforcement officials and Bahena Rivera's employer told the Times that the suspect seemed like a hardworking and law-abiding presence in the community, who was often seen in the local park and grocery store.</p><p>Authorities said Bahena <span>Rivera and Tibbetts have no known connection beyond that he allegedly told investigators that he had seen her running previously.</span></p><p>The case has rocked the small town and dominated political discussion after <span>President Donald Trump jumped on the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> that Rivera was allegedly in the country illegally and called for stricter immigration laws, calling current laws a "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mollie-tibbetts-autopsy-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disgrace</a>." </span><span>Tibbetts' family has hit back at the illegal immigration discussion surrounding the case. </span><span></span></p><p><span>The heavy coverage of Tibbetts' case has sparked online discussion over a recorded minimum 48 Iowa juveniles who went missing in July. Though the nervewracking statistic circulated online, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/31/iowa-missing-persons-numbers-misleading/870650002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officials told USA Today</a> it was within expected rates. </span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-north-korea-defector-2018-8">A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

'Something about him was off': Other women say Mollie Tibbetts' suspected murderer messaged them repeatedly on social media over the years

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-large"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Missing-Student-Iowa/5640072fafcc45dc9260a800ed1ac42c/14/0">Charlie Neibergall/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">A missing poster for Mollie Tibbetts, a student at the University of Iowa who vanished in July and was found dead in August.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The body of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Iowa who went missing in July, has reportedly been found.</strong></li><li><strong>Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an immigrant to the US from Mexico, was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/arrests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> on charges of first-degree murder in connection to Tibbetts' disappearance.</strong></li><li><strong>Law-enforcement officials allegedly said Rivera is undocumented and in the country <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/illegal-immigration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illegally</a>, though the suspect's lawyer has disputed these claims.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/president-donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump</a> and some right-leaning media outlets used the local <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> event to promote connections between illegal immigration and violent crime.</strong></li><li><strong>However, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statistics</a> actually show illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens.</strong></li></ul><p>Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Iowa, was last seen alive while jogging the evening of July 18. This week, authorities said they believe <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/mollie-tibbetts-found-report-2018-8">she had been killed</a> and her body dumped in a corn field.</p><p>On Tuesday, police arrested Cristhian Bahena Rivera as a suspect. Rivera, an immigrant from Mexico, allegedly confessed to police that he pursued Tibbetts and later concealed her body, according to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4779453-Mollie-Tibbetts-DCI-Arrest-Warrant-Complaint.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a warrant</a> filed by the Poweshiek County Sheriff's office. Police also charged Rivera with first-degree murder, which in Iowa comes with a possible penalty of life in prison.</p><p>By Wednesday, law-enforcement officials said Rivera was undocumented and thus in the country illegally, and that he'd somehow passed the US government's E-Verify system as an eligible worker - allegedly because he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/08/22/mollie-tibbettss-suspected-killer-in-the-u-s-illegally-told-investigators-about-her-final-moments/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.4367d5ad4803" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used stolen identification</a>, The Washington Post reported one law-enforcement official as saying. ABC News also reported that Rivera had <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/farm-suspect-mollie-tibbetts-murder-passed-background-check/story?id=57324017" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked for up to seven years at Yarrabee Farms</a>, a company owned by Craig Lang, a former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and "an active member" of the state's Republican Party.</p><p>The case is ongoing, and Rivera's lawyer <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/investigations/2018/08/22/mollie-tibbetts-alleged-killer-iowa-legally-lawyer-missing-student-body-found-brooklyn-trump/1064567002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly disputed claims</a> that his client is in the US illegally.</p><p>At the same time, many right-leaning politicians, figureheads, and media outlets appear eager to exploit the developments and push <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/immigration-declining-levels-of-crime-2018-6">false narratives</a> about illegal immigrants and violent crime.</p><h2>How the right is trying to exploit Tibbetts' death</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Missing-Student-Iowa/2e51f57c5e4b48eda46fa4d8d7fea55d/1/0">Charlie Neibergall/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">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 first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 from Brooklyn, Iowa.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>President Donald Trump, who in June 2015 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">falsely claimed</a> that most immigrants from Mexico <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4">are rapists and drug-traffickers</a> and recently approved policies that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-effects-of-separating-immigrant-kids-and-parents-2018-6">prompted the separation</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-ap-exclusive-about-2k-minors-separated-from-families-2018-6">thousands</a> of migrant children, received extensive news coverage for weighing in on Tibbetts' death.</p><p>"You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman," Trump said <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/trump-slams-immigration-laws-after-mollie-tibbetts-death-2018-8">during a political rally</a> on Tuesday. "Should've never happened. Illegally in our country."</p><p>Fox News chose <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-slammed-for-covering-mollie-tibbetts-over-manafort-cohen-convictions-2018-8">Tibbetts' death</a> to dominate its news coverage on TV and online Tuesday and, in <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/08/22/msnbc-cnn-ignore-bombshell-development-in-mollie-tibbetts-case-on-day-bad-news-for-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a post</a> on Wednesday, claimed several major media outlets "ignored" the "bombshell development" regarding Rivera's alleged status. (The news broke shortly after two of Trump's closest associates were convicted of crimes, one of whom - Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-plea-deal-prosecutors-trump-2018-8">implicated the president in several felonies</a>.)</p><p>Meanwhile, Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State in Kansas and a Republican candidate for governor there, <a href="https://www.westernkansasnews.com/2018/08/kobach-issues-statement-on-illegal-aliens-following-death-of-mollie-tibbetts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly said</a> of Tibbetts' death: "Every crime committed by an illegal alien is a crime that should never have occurred and would never have occurred if the illegal alien were not in our country."</p><p>What is implied in such statements is that fixing illegal immigration in the US will, by extension, effectively fix the country's violent crime rates.</p><p>This would be a compelling idea - if the best evidence available didn't show it to be very misleading, if not false.</p><h2>What statistics actually show about crime and immigration</h2><p>No set of data is perfect, and organizations that seek to restrict immigration have identified <a href="https://cis.org/Report/Immigration-and-Crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several issues</a> with statistics regarding criminality and immigrant status.</p><p>However, multiple studies using federal and state data found no suggestion that rising immigration rates leads to more violent crime.</p><p>The charts below show that US saw a 118% increase in its overall immigrant population (documented and undocumented) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/30/upshot/crime-immigration-myth.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from 1980 through 2016</a>. Yet during this same period, the rate of violent crimes - homicide, rape, robbery, and assault, according to the FBI - fell by 36% to about 386 incidents per 100,000 residents.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Shayanne Gal</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/immigration-research-policy-brief/criminal-immigrants-texas-illegal-immigrant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study published in February</a> by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, further erodes the idea that curbing illegal immigration is the most effective way to reduce violent crime.</p><p>The study looked at conviction data in Texas - which has the <a href="https://www.census.gov/topics/population/foreign-born.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second-largest population</a> of foreign-born residents - for native-born, undocumented immigrant, and legal immigrant residents.</p><p>The research found that native-born residents were most likely to commit and be convicted of crimes, while illegal immigrants saw a conviction rate that was 56% lower. Legal immigrants appeared to be the most law-abiding, with 86% fewer convictions than native-born Texans.</p><p>There's also a Criminology journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1745-9125.12175" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study from March</a> examining states' reported rates of violent crime and undocumented immigration. From 1990 through 2014, those data found a negative correlation - meaning that the more a population is comprised of undocumented immigrants, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/two-charts-demolish-the-notion-that-immigrants-here-illegally-commit-more-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the lower the violent crime rate</a> seems to be.</p><p>If anything, these studies suggest that increasing immigration - both legal and illegal - would lower crime rates.</p><p><em>Leanna Garfield and Shayanne Gal contributed to this report.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animated-map-shows-history-immigration-us-america-2017-8">Animated map shows the history of immigration to the US</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Mollie Tibbetts' death is being used to push debunked ideas about illegal immigration and violent crime

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Missing-Student-Iowa/5640072fafcc45dc9260a800ed1ac42c/14/0">Charlie Neibergall/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">A poster for missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts hangs in the window of a local business on Aug. 21, 2018, in Brooklyn, Iowa.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><span></span><strong>Preliminary autopsy results reveal that 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was killed by "multiple sharp force injuries."</strong></li><li><span></span><strong>The man charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts' death, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, allegedly led investigators to her body early Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa.</strong></li><li><span></span><strong>While investigators were confident then that the body was that of Tibbetts, the autopsy definitively confirmed her identity.</strong></li><li><span></span><strong>Authorities said Rivera admitted to following Tibbetts, approaching her, and then blacking out and later discovering her body in the trunk of his car.</strong></li></ul><p>Mollie Tibbetts was killed by "multiple sharp force injuries," investigators announced on Thursday.</p><p>The Iowa college student was allegedly abducted while running last month by a stranger who was <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/mollie-tibbetts-found-report-2018-8"><span>living in the US illegally</span></a>.</p><p>Preliminary autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office also determined that 20-year-old Tibbetts was the victim of a homicide, the Division of Criminal Investigation announced in a press release.</p><p>The agency did not release additional details about the injuries Tibbetts suffered or what caused them, but said further examination of her body may result in additional findings.</p><p>Autopsy reports are confidential under Iowa law, except for the cause and manner of death.</p><p><a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/cristhian-bahena-rivera-immigration-status-mollie-tibbetts-murder-2018-8">The man charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts' death, Cristhian Bahena Rivera</a>, allegedly led investigators to her body early Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa, the town where she was last seen last month.</p><p>While investigators were confident then that the body was that of Tibbetts, the autopsy definitively confirmed her identity.</p><h2><strong>Murder suspect allegedly led investigators to Tibbetts' body</strong></h2><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Missing-Student-Iowa/2e51f57c5e4b48eda46fa4d8d7fea55d/1/0">Charlie Neibergall/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">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 first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 from Brooklyn, Iowa.</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><p>Prosecutors allege that Rivera abducted Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run in Brooklyn on July 18, killed her, and disposed of her body in the secluded location.</p><p><span><a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/mollie-tibbetts-found-report-2018-8">Authorities said Rivera admitted to following Tibbetts</a></span>, approaching her, and then blacking out and later discovering her body in the trunk of his car.</p><p>A criminal complaint says Rivera confessed during a lengthy interrogation that began Monday to following Tibbetts in his car, getting out on foot, and chasing after her.</p><p>Rivera told investigators that he panicked after Tibbetts threatened to call police on her cell phone, he blacked out, and later came to when he was unloading her bloody body from the trunk of a car, the complaint says.</p><p>Earlier this week, investigators said they were uncertain how Tibbetts was killed or whether she was sexually assaulted. They've made no mention of recovering a weapon linked to the death.</p><p>Rivera worked for the last four years at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts was last seen.</p><p>His employer, Yarrabee Farms, initially said Rivera had passed the government's E-Verify system, which is designed to flag unauthorized immigrants for employers.</p><p>But manager Dane Lang <a href="https://apnews.com/64979cf7d54745828cad9c2cdcca13a4/The-Latest:-Farmer-who-employed-Rivera-receives-threats"><span>told the Associated Press</span></a> on Wednesday that they were mistaken, and had not used E-Verify.</p><p>Rivera and Tibbetts have no known connections, other than that Rivera allegedly told investigators that he saw her running previously.</p><p>Investigators zeroed in on him as the suspect after obtaining footage from surveillance cameras showing a vehicle connected to him circling the area of Tibbetts' running route.</p><h2>Trump is calling for stricter immigration laws after arrest</h2><p>Rivera, a native of Mexico who is suspected of being in the US illegally, made his initial court appearance Wednesday and is being jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond.</p><p>He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.</p><p>Within hours of the arrest, President Donald Trump seized on the news that Rivera was allegedly in the country illegally and called for stricter immigration laws, calling current laws a "disgrace" while at a rally in West Virginia.</p><p>And in an interview that aired Thursday, he told "Fox &amp; Friends" that Tibbetts was a "beautiful young girl" who was killed by "a horrible person that came in from Mexico, illegally here."</p><p>The president also claimed the suspect was "found by" agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, an agency that some liberals have called for abolishing because of tactics they view as overly harsh.</p><p>An ICE spokesman said Thursday that its agents worked with state and local investigators in "identifying, locating and interviewing the suspect."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Shayanne Gal/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Native-born Americans are convicted of many more violent crimes than unauthorized immigrants are.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt agreed that ICE played a "significant role" in the case, particularly in helping confirm Rivera's identity and immigration status.</p><p>Rivera's defense attorney, Allan Richards, has denounced Trump for prejudging his client's guilt, saying the president's comments would make it hard for Rivera to get a fair trial.</p><p>"Let's let the process go," he said Thursday. "The process is about truth-finding in a rational, peaceful and efficient manner. We're only at the very preliminary stages."</p><p>Before Tibbetts went missing, she had been dog sitting at her boyfriend's house while he was at work 100 miles away.</p><p>Her family reported her missing after she did not show up for work on July 19.</p><p>Tibbetts' family has tried to downplay the link between the 20-year-old's death and illegal immigration.</p><p>"We are not so f---ing small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals," Tibbetts' cousin <a href="https://twitter.com/samlucasss/status/1032057891224805376"><span>tweeted</span></a> in response to the right-wing commentator Candace Owens.</p><p>"Evil comes in EVERY color," Tibbetts' aunt, Billie Jo Calderwood, wrote in a <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/mollie-tibbetts-death-republicans-pushing-immigration-2018-8"><span>statement</span></a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-klansman-cop-infiltrated-kkk-spike-lee-ron-stallworth-2018-8">How a black cop infiltrated the KKK - the true story behind Spike Lee's 'BlacKkKlansman'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Autopsy reveals 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts&#160;was killed by 'multiple sharp force injuries'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Missing-Student-Iowa/5640072fafcc45dc9260a800ed1ac42c/14/0">Charlie Neibergall/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">A poster for missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts hangs in the window of a local business, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in Brooklyn, Iowa. Tibbetts was reported missing from her hometown in the eastern Iowa city of Brooklyn in July 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The father of slain Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts is pushing back on those who have seized on his daughter's death to promote an anti-immigrant agenda.</strong></li><li><strong>Prosecutors have charged Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who is believed to be in the US illegally, with her murder. Her body was found on August 21, nearly a month after she was reported missing.</strong></li><li><p><strong>"The Hispanic community are Iowans. They have the same values as Iowans," said Rob Tibbetts on Sunday. "As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food."</strong></p></li></ul><p>The killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has prompted criticism of the U.S. immigration system because the man charged in her death is a Mexican farm worker. But the victim's father told mourners he's been embraced by the local Hispanic community.</p><p>Speaking Sunday afternoon to more than 1,000 people at a ceremony at his daughter's former high school, Rob Tibbetts didn't directly respond to comments by President Donald Trump and others who quickly seized upon the suspect's citizenship to argue for changes in immigration laws.</p><div id="div-gpt-ad-1470255291270-0" data-google-query-id="COHJ-rb6jd0CFUK6TwodJekDhw"><article id="contentArea"><div mark-urls=""><p>However,<span> </span><a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2018/08/26/mollie-tibbetts-funeral-missing-iowa-body-found-family-update-death-brooklyn-murder-cristhian-rivera/1103580002/">The Des Moines Register</a><span> </span>reports that Tibbetts said he encountered Hispanics at Mexican restaurants and elsewhere who were sensitive and kind during the weeks he spent in the central Iowa community of Brooklyn to help search for his daughter.</p><p>"The Hispanic community are Iowans. They have the same values as Iowans," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food."</p><p>The body of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was found Aug. 21 in a cornfield outside Brooklyn, where she had been staying during her summer break from the University of Iowa. Authorities have said she was abducted while out running July 18, and an autopsy showed that she died from stab wounds.</p><p>Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death and is being held in lieu of a $5 million cash-only bond. He is suspected of being in the United States illegally.</p><p>If convicted of murder, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.</p><p>Within hours of Rivera's arrest, Trump, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the state's two U.S. senators said her death demonstrated the need to change immigration laws. Trump called for the election of more Republicans who would support such changes.</p><p>In his address at Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School, Rob Tibbetts asked mourners to remember his daughter by "celebrating something wonderful," rather than focusing on how she died.</p><p>Tibbetts urged the audience to remember his daughter's passion for life and her desire to help others. To highlight his call to celebrate "wonderful" things, the father recognized a couple who had just married the day before during his eulogy.</p><p>"Today, we need to turn the page. We're at the end of a long ordeal," he said. "But we need to turn toward life - Mollie's life - because Mollie is nobody's victim. Mollie is my hero."</p><p>Davenport Bishop Thomas Zinkula led the funeral Mass in the city of 1,500 where Mollie Tibbetts grew up.</p></div></article></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-drinking-diet-soda-unhealthy-2018-8">What drinking diet soda does to your body and brain</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

'As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food': The father of Mollie Tibbetts pushes back on anti-immigrant rhetoric surrounding her death

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-large"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Screenshot/Fox News</span></p><p class="caption">Fox News host Martha MacCallum and veteran commentator Geraldo Rivera</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera argued that his network is perpetuating damaging stereotypes of unauthorized immigrants through its coverage of the killing of a 20-year-old Iowa woman by a Mexican immigrant.</strong></li><li><strong>He argued that Fox's focus on the suspect's immigration status is fueling the vilification of millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the US. </strong></li><li><strong>"We at this network are putting that spin on the story," Rivera said on Fox. "This is a murder story, not an immigration story."</strong></li></ul><p>Veteran Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera lashed out at his own network on Thursday, arguing that Fox is perpetuating damaging stereotypes of unauthorized immigrants through its coverage of the killing of a 20-year-old Iowa woman by a Mexican immigrant.</p><p>Rivera, a conservative who has regularly spoken out against the GOP's approach to immigration, argued that the suspect, <span>Cristhian Bahena Rivera, should not represent the millions of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the US. </span></p><p><span>And by making Mollie Tibbetts' killing an issue of immigration - rather than crime and violence against women - the commentator said Fox is adding fuel to hatred directed at immigrant communities. </span></p><p>"I know that most of the Fox audience disagrees with me, but I'm begging you to have compassion and not brand of this entire population by the deeds of this one person," he told Fox host Martha MacCallum on Thursday night.</p><p>MacCallum replied that Fox is not attempting to stereotype the larger immigrant community. Instead, she said, the network is pointing out that the murder suspect "shouldn't have been here" and that his immigration status "adds to" Tibbetts' family's "pain." </p><p>But Rivera said the suspect's background shouldn't be at the crux of the story, which he said is one about the death of a woman, not crime among immigrants. </p><p>"We at this network are putting that spin on the story," he said. "This is a murder story, not an immigration story."</p><p>Earlier this week, Texas <span>Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called Democrats and the media - singling out Fox's Rivera - "</span>accomplices" in Tibbetts' death and "the death of everyone else." </p><p>Rivera condemned Patrick's comments, defending his position that unauthorized immigrants are being unjustly vilified by conservatives. </p><p>"He is stereotyping 11 million people in our country here without documentation," Rivera said of Patrick. "They care for our babies, they mow our lawns, they wash our dishes, they pick our fruit, they pack our meat, they process our poultry." </p><p>This week, President Donald Trump used Tibbetts' killing to promote his claim that unauthorized immigrants bring "<span>tremendous crime" into the country. He <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032393212126613504">posted a video</a> online in which he blamed the young woman's death on the country's immigration laws. </span></p><p>"Mollie Tibbetts, an incredible young woman, is now permanently separated from her family. ... A<span> person came in from Mexico, illegally, and killed her,</span>" Trump said. <span>"This is one instance of many."</span></p><p>Over the last few days, following the revelation that the murder suspect is undocumented, Fox and other conservative media outlets have made the story front-page news - even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-slammed-for-covering-mollie-tibbetts-over-manafort-cohen-convictions-2018-8/">elevating it above their coverage</a> of the criminal convictions of two of Trump's top former advisers, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-north-korea-defector-2018-8">A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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Cristhian Bahena Rivera is sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Mollie Tibbetts

Katie Balevic

Man convicted of murdering Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts

Charles Davis

'Something about him was off': Other women say Mollie Tibbetts' suspected murderer messaged them repeatedly on social media over the years

Ellen Cranley

Mollie Tibbetts' death is being used to push debunked ideas about illegal immigration and violent crime

Dave Mosher

Autopsy reveals 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was killed by 'multiple sharp force injuries'

Associated Press,Kelly McLaug…

'As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food': The father of Mollie Tibbetts pushes back on anti-immigrant rhetoric surrounding her death

Associated Press

'This is a murder story, not an immigration story': Longtime Fox New commentator lashes out at network for Mollie Tibbetts coverage

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You Searched For "cristhian bahena rivera" and got 7 results

Cristhian Bahena Rivera is sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Mollie Tibbetts

Katie Balevic

Man convicted of murdering Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts

Charles Davis

'Something about him was off': Other women say Mollie Tibbetts' suspected murderer messaged them repeatedly on social media over the years

Ellen Cranley

Mollie Tibbetts' death is being used to push debunked ideas about illegal immigration and violent crime

Dave Mosher

Autopsy reveals 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts&#160;was killed by 'multiple sharp force injuries'

Associated Press,Kelly McLaug…

'As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food': The father of Mollie Tibbetts pushes back on anti-immigrant rhetoric surrounding her death

Associated Press

'This is a murder story, not an immigration story': Longtime Fox New commentator lashes out at network for Mollie Tibbetts coverage

Eliza Relman

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Autopsy reveals 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was killed by 'multiple sharp force injuries'