Man gets life sentence in 2018 killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the abduction and killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, three years after she disappeared while out for an evening run.

Judge Joel Yates' sentence for Cristhian Bahena Rivera was mandatory for a first-degree murder conviction in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty. The 27-year-old former farmhand, who testified that he came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, has been jailed since his arrest in August 2018.

Yates pointedly rejected defense claims that others were responsible for the crime.

https://www.startribune.com/man-gets-life-sentence-in-2018-killing-of-mollie-tibbetts/600092271/