XPost: alt.fan.states.iowa, alt.politics.immigration, alt.journalism.newspapers   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   Note: this article has been updated to correct the spelling of   
   Craig Lang's name.   
      
   Mollie Tibbetts' mother had more than three years to decide what   
   to say to the man who killed her daughter.   
      
   Tibbetts went missing while she was out for a jog in July 2018,   
   and her body was found more than a month later in a rural   
   Poweshiek County cornfield. Cristhian Bahena Rivera was charged   
   with first-degree murder in her death that year, but it would be   
   several years of courtroom wrangling and pandemic-related delays   
   before he was convicted in May.   
      
   In her statement, read in court before Bahena was sentenced to   
   life in prison Monday, Calderwood described in detail the   
   painful moments after learning her daughter was dead, and asked   
   Bahena to imagine the same happening to his family.   
      
   'Forever changed':Cristhian Bahena Rivera sentenced to life in   
   prison for 2018 murder of Mollie Tibbetts   
      
   Read Laura Calderwood's letter to Cristhian Bahena Rivera   
   Mr. Rivera, I come here today not because I feel the need to   
   address you. However, I come here to give a voice to our   
   daughter, granddaughter, sister, girlfriend, niece, cousin and   
   friend, Mollie Cecilia Tibbetts.   
      
   Mollie was a young woman who simply wanted to go for a quiet run   
   on the evening of July 18th, and you chose to violently and   
   sadistically end that life.   
      
   I want to address the chain of events you set off on the morning   
   of Aug. 18th, after you led authorities to Mollie's remains in a   
   cornfield.   
      
   Do you know what it's like, Mr. Rivera, to be woken up by your   
   youngest son, Scott, telling you the sheriff needs to talk to us?   
      
   Scott and I stood in the entrance of our home, where sheriffs   
   Tom Kriegel and Matt Maschmann stood with tears in their eyes.   
   It took them a minute to find the words to say, "We hoped for a   
   different result, however we found Molly's remains today."   
      
   I thanked them for their service and they left, because there   
   was still a lot of work to be done.   
      
   I led Scott, whose eyes were burning with tears, to the living   
   room and sat him down on the couch.   
      
   "Scott," I said, "I am so sorry. I'm gonna call Aunt Billie over   
   to the house to be with you, because mom has a lot of work to   
   do."   
      
   Next, I needed to tell my son Jake.   
      
   Jake was in his apartment in Iowa City, and I did not want him   
   to hear that his sister was not coming home on the news.   
      
   Knowing my sister Kim was headed to Iowa City for work, I called   
   her and said, "Kim, they found Mollie's remains this morning,   
   and I need you to pick Jake up and bring him home."   
      
   It was a race against the clock to notify all the people who   
   cared so deeply for Mollie that she was not coming home — it was   
   very important to notify the people who care deeply about Mollie   
   so they did not hear this on the news.   
      
   Imagine what it's like to call Mollie's father, Rob, who resides   
   in Fresno, California, and say, "Rob, I am so sorry to have to   
   tell you this, but they found Mollie's remains this morning, and   
   I need you to come back to Iowa."   
      
   Can you imagine, Mr. Rivera, as a father, having Paulina's   
   mother taken away from you, and to have to tell your daughter   
   that she will never come home?   
      
   However, the most difficult person to tell was Mollie's   
   grandmother and my mother, Judy Calderwood. Judy truly believed   
   her granddaughter would be found alive, because who could harm   
   such a beautiful, vibrant young woman so full of life and   
   promise? Who could harm Judy's precious granddaughter, let alone   
   brutally murder her and dump her body in a cornfield.   
      
   This was heartbreaking news that needed to be delivered in   
   person.   
      
   I entered my mother's home and she greeted me with a big smile   
   and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee. There certainly was no   
   easy way to tell her the news, however it had to be done before   
   her phone started ringing with loved ones, sending their   
   condolences.   
      
   I very quietly and softly said, "Mom, I have some bad news: They   
   found Mollie's body this morning.   
      
   "But we know where she is now."   
      
   Judy Calderwood's unwavering faith had been brutally shattered   
   by your senseless act of violence. Can you imagine, Mr. Rivera,   
   sitting across the table from your madre and telling her Paulina   
   is never coming home?   
      
   I am aware that you know Ulises Felix-Zandoval and his family.   
   "Uli," as I call him, was a classmate and a friend of my son   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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