XPost: alt.fan.states.iowa, alt.politics.immigration, alt.journalism.newspapers   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   BROOKLYN, Iowa -- A man from Mexico living in the U.S. illegally   
   has confessed to kidnapping college student Mollie Tibbetts   
   while she was running in her small Iowa hometown, killing her   
   and dumping her body in a cornfield, authorities said Tuesday.   
      
   Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-   
   degree murder in the death of the 20-year-old Tibbetts, whose   
   July 18 disappearance set off a massive search involving state   
   and federal authorities.   
      
   Rivera led investigators early Tuesday to a body believed to be   
   Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast   
   of Brooklyn, Iowa, where Tibbetts was last seen running,   
   Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Rahn said.   
      
   "I can't speak about the motive. I can just tell you that it   
   seemed that he followed her, seemed to be drawn to her on that   
   particular day, for whatever reason he chose to abduct her,"   
   Rahn told reporters at a news conference outside the sheriff's   
   office in Montezuma, where Rivera was being held on $1 million   
   cash-only bond.   
      
   The news that the highly publicized and gruesome crime was   
   allegedly committed by a person in the country illegally drew   
   immediate outrage. President Donald Trump noted the arrest and   
   called for immigration law changes at a rally in West Virginia.   
      
   "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 told the crowd in Charleston.   
   "Should've never happened. Illegally in our country. We've had a   
   huge impact, but the laws are so bad. The immigration laws are   
   such a disgrace, we're getting them changed, but we have to get   
   more Republicans. We have to get 'em."   
      
   Iowa's two GOP U.S. senators also described Tibbetts' death as a   
   tragedy "that could have been prevented," and Iowa Gov. Kim   
   Reynolds said residents were heartbroken and angry.   
      
   "We are angry that a broken immigration system allowed a   
   predator like this to live in our community, and we will do all   
   we can to bring justice to Mollie's killer," Reynolds, a   
   Republican, said in a statement.   
      
   Trump has made further crackdown on illegal immigration a core   
   policy of his administration. He often has claimed widespread   
   crime by people living in the country illegally, citing among   
   other things the indictments of 11 suspected MS-13 gang members   
   from El Salvador charged in connection with the slayings of two   
   Virginia teens. Trump also has held events at the White House   
   with members of "angel families," whose relatives were killed by   
   immigrants.   
      
   Although Trump claims legal U.S. residents are less likely to   
   commit crime, several studies from social scientists and the   
   libertarian think tank Cato Institute find that isn't accurate   
   and states with a higher share of people living in the country   
   illegally have lower violent crime rates.   
      
   U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that it lodged a   
   federal immigration detainer for Rivera after he was arrested on   
   the murder charge. That move means the agency has probable cause   
   to believe he is subject to deportation.   
      
   Investigators said they believed Rivera had lived in the area   
   from four to seven years, and Rahn described Rivera as someone   
   who lived in a rural area and kept to himself.   
      
   Yarrabee Farms, a family-owned company that operates dairy farms   
   in the rolling hills outside Brooklyn, said that Rivera had been   
   an employee in good standing for four years and that it was   
   shocked to learn he was implicated in the crime.   
      
   The company is owned by the family of Craig Lang, a prominent   
   Republican who previously served as president of the Iowa Farm   
   Bureau.   
      
   A search of court records revealed no prior criminal history for   
   Rivera in Iowa, and it's unclear whether he had ever been   
   subject to prior deportation proceedings.   
      
   Rivera's Facebook page described him as being from Guayabillo, a   
   community of less than 500 people in the state of Guerrero. It's   
   about a three-hour drive from the resort city of Acapulco.   
      
   Investigators said they zeroed in on Rivera after obtaining   
   footage from surveillance cameras in Brooklyn. The footage   
   showed a Chevy Malibu connected to Rivera that was driving back   
   and forth as Tibbetts was running in the area, Rahn said.   
      
   An affidavit attached to the criminal complaint against Rivera   
   alleged that he admitted to investigators he got out of his car   
   and started running alongside Tibbetts.   
      
   Tibbetts grabbed her phone and said she was going to call the   
   police. The affidavit says Rivera panicked and then said he   
   blacked out. Rivera next remembers seeing her earphones on his   
   lap, and taking her bloody body out of the trunk of his car, it   
   said.   
      
   "The defendant further described during the interview that he   
   dragged Tibbetts on foot from his vehicle to a secluded location   
   in a cornfield," the affidavit said.   
      
   Investigators said they had earlier searched the area for   
   Tibbetts but didn't find her, noting the body was covered by   
   corn stalks when recovered early Tuesday.   
      
   Rahn said that Rivera was cooperating with investigators and   
   speaking with the help of a translator. He said an autopsy would   
   be performed on the body Wednesday by the state medical   
   examiner's office, which would assist investigators in   
   understanding whether Tibbetts had been assaulted or tried to   
   fight him off.   
      
   Rivera's initial court appearance is scheduled for 1 p.m.   
   Wednesday in Montezuma.   
      
   A conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence   
   of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which doesn't have the   
   death penalty.   
      
   On Tuesday night, deputies were guarding a trailer where the   
   suspect had lived on a gravel road outside Brooklyn near a dairy   
   farm.   
      
   Tibbetts' disappearance set off a massive search involving   
   dozens of officers from the FBI, as well as state and local   
   agencies. They focused much of their efforts in and around   
   Brooklyn, searching farm fields, ponds and homes. Investigators   
   asked anyone who was around five locations, including a car   
   wash, a truck stop and a farm south of town, to report if they   
   saw anything suspicious on July 18.   
      
   Last week, Vice President Mike Pence met privately with the   
   Tibbetts family during a visit to Iowa and told them that   
   "you're on the hearts of every American."   
      
   At Brooklyn City Hall, city clerk Sheri Sharer said Tuesday was   
   a sad day for the town.   
      
   "It never crossed our mind that she wouldn't come home safe,"   
   she said.   
      
   The University of Iowa mourned the loss of Tibbetts, a   
   psychology major who would have started her junior year this   
   week.   
      
   "We are deeply saddened that we've lost a member of the   
   University of Iowa community," said university official Melissa   
   Shivers, who urged students to seek counseling and other support   
   services as needed.   
      
   Rahn said he met with the parents and other relatives of   
   Tibbetts to inform them of the arrest Tuesday. He told them that   
      
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