Cristhian Rivera, the 24-year-old alleged killer of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, has a 3-year-old daughter. The mother of his daughter is an ex-classmate of Tibbetts.
Iris Monarrez, the ex-girlfriend of Rivera and the mother of their daughter, attended Brooklyn, Guernsey, and Malcom High School in Brooklyn, Iowa. She was one year ahead of Tibbetts at school, according to the Daily Mail.
Monarrez and Rivera met in 2013 and had a daughter around 2014. Officials said that Monarrez connected Rivera with the job at Yarrabee Farms, where he worked before his being arrest. Evidence so far shows Rivera having only one relationship in Brooklyn, the Epoch Times reported.
Monarrez and Rivera lived together for about a year before they separated, New York Times reported.
Rivera’s ex-girlfriend attended the preliminary hearing this week following his arrest, holding their 3-year-old daughter.
The Facebook page of Iris Monarrez lists her as friends with Tibbetts. They attended the same high school. Monarrez is also friends with two brothers of Tibbetts on the social media platform, according to Epoch Times.
Rivera Tailed Another Teen Girl: Report
According to the defense lawyer Allan M. Richards, Rivera came to the United States when he was 17, with the equivalent of a middle school education. He worked “seven days a week, 12 hours a day.”
One teen told the media that her sister was also pursued by Rivera, in the same Iowa town, but that she thought nothing of it at the time.
“[My sister] told me that a little while ago he drove up to her while she was walking through Brooklyn. He told her she was really pretty and things like that,” Bailey Gibson, elder sister of the unidentified victim, told Daily Mail. “In the end, she was really creeped out by his behavior. She had to keep telling him she wasn’t interested.”
Gibson said that Rivera was not a stranger to her 17-year-old sibling and that this wasn’t their first encounter. Gibson said that she knew him too.
She revealed that the encounter was odd and that Rivera eventually left her sister alone.
“It was more flirty than sexual but my sister is very shy. She didn’t appreciate it. Even though she knew him a little she felt unsafe and didn’t want to talk to him.”
Tibbetts Died via ’Sharp Force Injuries’
A preliminary report has revealed the cause of death for Tibbetts, saying that she died via “sharp force injuries,” Fox News reported.
Rivera was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Tibbetts, who disappeared from Brooklyn on July 18.
A criminal complaint alleges Rivera followed Tibbetts while she was out for a run, abducted and killed her, and dumped her body in a cornfield. Investigators say Rivera led them to a body believed to be Tibbetts on Aug. 21.
Investigators 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, according to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Rahn.
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 said 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.
Rivera was cooperating with investigators and speaking with the help of a translator, Rahn said.
A conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty.
Colin Fredericson and Zachary Stieber from NTD.tv contributed to this report.
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