Feds hunt for weapon used in Mollie Tibbetts murder as autopsy reveals she was stabbed to death with ‘multiple’ sharp force blows, suspect charged with murder
FBI agents with K-9 dog units were seen searching the ramshackle rural property where alleged killer Cristhian Rivera lived, hunting for weapon used in Mollie Tibbetts’ murder as autopsy reveals she was stabbed to death with ‘multiple’ sharp force blows
The Evidence Response Team swooped minutes after an autopsy revealed Tibbetts was killed by ‘multiple sharp force injuries’ on July 18
The Iowa State Medical Examiner has determined her death to be a homicide but no other details were released about what caused the injuries
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a Mexican native who is suspected of being in the US illegally, was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday
Rivera, 24, told police he attacked Mollie as she jogged, put her in his trunk and then dumped her body in a cornfield
Rivera appeared in court Wednesday on a first-degree murder charge. He was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond
Mollie Tibbetts, [left], whose body was found on Tuesday after a month-long search, was killed by ‘multiple sharp force injuries,’ an autopsy concluded. Undocumented farm worker, Cristhian Rivera, [right], has been charged with Mollie’s murder after allegedly attacking and abducting her on July 18
FBI search teams have swooped on the secluded farm where alleged killer Cristhian Rivera lived – just minutes after it was revealed Mollie Tibbetts’s death was caused by multiple stab wounds.
Three agents with K-9 dog units were seen on Thursday afternoon showing a warrant to the occupants of the ramshackle rural property before heading inside.
DailyMail.com understands the raid is linked to the ongoing search for the weapon that caused the ‘multiple sharp force injuries’ to 20-year-old Mollie’s body.
It was the first time the FBI had visited the house since Monday afternoon, when an agent was seen accompanying local law enforcement when Rivera was taken into custody.
An autopsy conducted on Wednesday revealed Tibbetts was killed by ‘multiple sharp force injuries.’
The agents, from the FBI’s Omaha, Nebraska, Evidence Response Team, arrived just after it was released by Iowa law enforcement.
Rivera confessed on Tuesday after police found surveillance footage of him following Mollie in his car. He later led police to the cornfield where he dumped her body on Tuesday
Mollie Tibbetts, whose body was found on Tuesday after a month-long search, was killed by ‘multiple sharp force injuries,’ an autopsy concluded. Cristhian Rivera, ha admitted he abducted Mollie, ‘drew a blank’ he told police, before awaking to himself disposing of her body
Rivera is believed to have lived, in the brown trailer [photo right], beside the dilapidated two-story home on an Iowa dairy farm – along with other migrants who work on the farm
Cristhian Rivera lived in the trailer to the left of the main farm before his arrest on suspicion of murdering Mollie Tibbetts, the 20-year-old college student who vanished a month ago
He led law enforcement to her body four weeks after she went missing.
There were at least four people inside the farmhouse when the FBI arrived.
They were led outside and spoken with, though two people, a man and a woman, were allowed to leave.
Two unmarked cars arrived on the property shortly afterward to assist with the search.
FBI officers could be seen examining the back of the trailer where Rivera lived.
An agent with the Evidence Response Team was then seen taking photos of the exterior of the farmhouse.
Dane Lang, co-owner of Yarrabee Farms, confirmed that Rivera had lived in this trailer ‘for the past couple of years’ while working on their dairy farm
K-9 handling agents and members of the FBI Evidence Response Team swooped on the Iowa farm where the suspect Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, an undocumented Mexican immigrant was living
Law enforcement Forensic Agents from the FBI’s Omaha, Nebraska, field office’s Evidence Response Team went to the farm minutes after Mollie Tibbetts was revealed to have suffered multiple stab wounds
A K-9 agent then took a dog out of a car and headed inside the building, which has a large basement according to property records.
The state medical examiner announced that her death has been ruled a homicide, but no details were released about what caused the sharp force injuries. The agency says further examination may result in additional findings.
The Division of Criminal Investigation released the information Thursday, saying the autopsy also officially confirms that the body found in Iowa corn field on Tuesday was that of missing student.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, a Mexican native who is suspected of being in the US illegally, has been charged in Tibbetts’s slaying.
Investigators say Rivera led police to the body on Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa.
When police arrested him on Friday, Rivera made a full confession and told them he had seen Mollie before. It remains unclear what his motive for chasing her down and attacking her was.
FBI K-9 units are seen searching the Iowa farm where Millie Tibbetts’s reported murderer lived in search of the murder weapon.
He told police in his interview that he ‘blacked out’ and that it was common for him to do so whenever he became upset.
Rivera’s chilling confession to police included his description of how he ‘came to’ after attacking Mollie in the street while he was driving.
He then remembered, he said, that she was in his trunk. When he went to retrieve her body, he noticed there was blood on the side of her head.
He then dragged her on foot before putting her over his shoulder before dumping her 20 meters into the cornfield where he hid her corpse beneath corn stalks and leaves.
![Iris Monarrez [left], and one of Rivera's relatives [right]](https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Iris-Monarrez-left-and-one-of-Riveras-relatives-right.jpg?resize=620%2C429&ssl=1)
Iris Monarrez, [left] Rivera’s long-term partner and mother of his daughter, was pictured at his hearing on Wednesday. One of the suspect’s relatives [right] cried as she watched him be led away by deputies at the end of the hearing
Suspect Rivera [left], pictured with his girlfriend Iris Monarrez and their baby daughter, Monarrez is said to be friends with the victim Mollie Tibbetts, on Facebook, same as Mollie’s brothers Scott and Jake
Cristhian Rivera’s girlfriend Iris Monarrez is seen [L-R] in a high school yearbook photos. Old school mates say the pair were dating throughout her years at the school
It is unclear if Rivera knew Mollie personally, but social media reveals his girlfriend, Iris Monarrez was friends with Tibbetts on Facebook and went to high school with her.
For years, his employer said the young man from Mexico presented himself as a legal US resident and reliable worker at Yarrabee Farms, a dairy farm in Brooklyn, Iowa.
Dane Lang, co-owner of Yarrabee Farms, confirmed that he had lived in a trailer on the farm ‘for the past couple of years.’
Dane’s brother is Craig Lang, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and a 2018 Republican candidate for state secretary of agriculture.
Monarrez declined to speak to reporters as she left court Tuesday. She is seen above in yearbook photos
Old high school mates Mollie Tibbetts and Iris Monarrez appear on opposite sides of the same page in the 2015-16 edition of the ‘Make It Count’ yearbook, circled [photo] left and right
The prominent Iowa family hires a number of migrant workers and accommodates them in a series of trailers and properties, including a tumbledown dwelling on 200th Street, Brooklyn.
Public records also linked Monarrez to a dilapidated house next to the trailer which sits on 39 acres of farmland and is a six-minute drive from the spot along 385th Avenue where Rivera allegedly dragged Mollie into his car.
But now Rivera is accused of illegally living and working in the US on fraudulent documents.
Rivera appeared in court Wednesday on a first-degree murder charge. He was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond.
The turn of events stunned the farm family that employed him the last four years. They said even after Tibbetts disappeared on July 18 while out for an evening run in the town of Brooklyn, Iowa, Rivera kept coming to work.
Mollie’s grieving family broke their silence on Wednesday during a vigil at the University of Iowa where she would have entered her sophomore year this fall.
![Mollie Tbbetts mother Laura Calderwood [center], in blue and brother Jake Tibbetts also in blue tee shirt.JPG](https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mollie-Tbbetts-mother-Laura-Calderwood-center-in-blue-and-brother-Jake-Tibbetts-also-in-blue-tee-shirt.jpg?resize=620%2C365&ssl=1)
Mollie’s mother Laura Calderwood [center, front in sunglasses], and brother Jake [back left], along with other family members on Tuesday during a press conference about her death
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