By Ryan J. Foley - The Associated Press
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the Hispanic who is being tried for the kidnapping and murder of a student at the University of Iowa in 2018, affirmed this Wednesday in a dramatic testimony before the court that those responsible for that crime were actually
two masked men
who They forced him to participate as an accomplice by pointing a pistol at him.
In an unexpected twist, the defense called Rivera as a witness in his own first-degree murder trial.
The man admitted that his black car is the one seen on
surveillance
video
following Mollie Tibbetts as she jogged in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18, 2018. He also acknowledged that she ended up in the trunk of his vehicle;
who hid his body in a cornfield;
and that he told investigators where to find her a month later.
But the defendant
presented a very different account of what happened
than the prosecutors, denying that he was responsible for the stab wounds to the head, neck and chest that killed Tibbetts.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera during his trial in Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa. Photo dated May 26, 2021. AP
Bahena Rivera, a Mexican immigrant worker, said that
two armed men wearing black and with their faces covered
showed up in his trailer after he finished showering that night.
The men instructed her to get into their vehicle, drive, and that they passed Tibbetts several times as she ran before they instructed her to stop.
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Rivera, 26, said that
one of the men got out of the car with a knife
in hand, walked along the rural road and disappeared for about 10 minutes while the second man, sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, became nervous. And it said, "Come on, Jack."
The defendant said he did not know the identity of the men, but his
lawyers have tried to raise suspicions about
Tibbetts'
boyfriend
, Dalton Jack, who said he had an affair with another woman and anger issues in the past.
Police said they ruled Jack out as a suspect after establishing that he was out of town that day for work reasons.
Bahena Rivera stated that
the masked men placed something in his trunk
, and told him to drive several kilometers to a rural area, turn off the car and wait a few minutes before leaving.
They said they knew his ex-girlfriend and young daughter, and would hurt them if he ever told anyone about what happened, he said.
The defendant pointed out that
the men left on foot along the road
and he did not see them again.
He said he opened the trunk a few minutes later and found Tibbetts' body, adding that it was heavy when he carried it to the cornfield.
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According to her, she covered the body with corn stalks because "she did not want it to be too exposed to the sun," and then she left and did not intend to talk about what had happened again.
Rivera said he left Tibbetts' phone, watch and headphones on the side of the road.
Rivera said he was not telling the truth when detectives began questioning him about Tibbetts' disappearance on August 20, 2018 because he was concerned for
his daughter's safety
.
At the time, he stated that he had approached Tibbetts while she was running, that they struggled after he threatened to call the police and then "lost his memory."
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He claimed that he agreed to guide investigators to Tibbetts' body early the next day because he was tired and wanted the interrogation to end.
He added that the police had urged him to "put himself in the position of the family and think" about how he would feel if it was his daughter who had disappeared.
Bahena Rivera recounted that she
grew up in an environment of poverty
in southern Mexico and that she came to the United States illegally after her 17th birthday, crossing the river to Texas on an inflatable raft with 10 other people.
He immediately went to live in Iowa, where his father's brothers had settled, and got a job within days milking cows on a farm.
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The defendant, who
has been incarcerated since his arrest in August 2018
, said he worked 12-hour days and was careful to avoid the police for fear of deportation.
He said he never had contact with law enforcement until investigators investigating Tibbetts' disappearance identified his vehicle in surveillance video taken from a home on the road where the victim was jogging.
Most legal experts
did not expect Bahena Rivera to testify
.
His attorney, Chad Frese, noted during the jury selection that he was undecided about whether to call his client as a witness.
He said that if he did not testify it would appear that he had something to hide, but that if he did, it could be considered that he was trying to save himself from the crime.
Jurors were shocked when Bahena Rivera took the stand and prosecutors took notes as he testified.
The defendant showed little emotion, but
his voice lowered and trembled slightly
when he spoke of the men's alleged threats to his daughter.
The defense completed its testimony on Wednesday.
Closing arguments in the week-long trial at Scott County Courthouse in Davenport were scheduled for Thursday.
Bahena Rivera
could face life in prison
if convicted.