5 chilling details about Mollie Tibbetts' murder

The cold-blooded murder of Mollie Tibbetts in 2018 shocked the entire nation, a news story that gripped all media channels. Mollie Tibbetts was a 20-year-old student at the University of Iowa who was reported missing on July 18, 2018, after failing to return from one of her routine jogs in Brooklyn, Iowa. Her body was found after a month-long search in a cornfield.

The killer was Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a farmworker. Bahena Rivera was finally convicted of first-degree murder for the crime. As proof was collected from the investigation and the trials, it revealed a terrifying account of what led to the young woman's demise.

This case was featured on Dateline, Oxygen. This article breaks down five key details of the case that shocked the nation.

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Stalking the victim, and 4 other details about Mollie Tibbetts' murder

1) Mollie Tibbetts was stalked during her jog

Perhaps one of the most surprising revelations made during the investigation was that Bahena Rivera confessed to how he trailed Mollie Tibbetts as she jogged. This is because, during his confession, he indicated he observed Mollie first running along the road; then he trailed her in his car.

Mollie would claim she identified him and approached him after some time, which eventually resulted in a fatal encounter.

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2) Bahena Rivera alleges he blacked out during the killing

Bahena Rivera gave a bizarre explanation when questioned by police. He said that when Mollie Tibbetts confronted him, he blacked out and remembered nothing about the facts of how he killed her, except that he did remember seeing her ahead of him when he was leaving his vehicle.

The blackout story was notoriously suspect during his trial as he said he found the lifeless body in his trunk.

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3) Tibbetts' body hid in a cornfield

The body was buried in a secluded cornfield after Bahena Rivera committed Mollie Tibbetts's murder. Eventually, he led law enforcers to that place where investigators discovered her corpse under pieces of stalked corn.

How he hid her corpse seemed deliberate to hide and prolong pain both for her family and society involved as they spent nearly a month searching for her. A field just miles from where she last was seen was carefully scoured by investigators once they had a lead.

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4) Surveillance footage was key to solving the case

Surveillance footage obtained from the security camera of a resident was perhaps one of the most important evidence gathered in the case. The evidence from the surveillance footage showed a black Chevy Malibu, later identified as Bahena Rivera's car, trailing Mollie Tibbetts while jogging.

This evidence traced the vehicle back to arrival at Bahena Rivera's doorstep. The application of surveillance footage shifted the investigation from being a missing person case to a homicide investigation.

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5) Bahena Rivera confessed after a lengthy interrogation

He denied any role in the disappearance of Mollie and it was only hours into the interrogation when he finally revealed that he had committed the crime. He led the police authorities to her body. His confession came after investigators presented him with surveillance footage that placed him near the scene of the offense.

Defense attorneys argued that his confession was coerced through the extensive hours of interrogation, but the prosecution maintained that it was a voluntary admission of guilt. Despite the back-and-forth of legal theatrics, the confession also helped in his conviction.

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