Mollie Tibbetts' alleged killer reportedly tailed another girl in his car and tried to flirt with her
The alleged killer of the 20-year-old Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts reportedly tailed another girl in his car and tried to flirt with her, the Daily Mail reports. The incident sounds eerily similar to what happened with Tibbetts, after the 24-year-old accused Cristhian Rivera, revealed that he had chased Tibbetts too.
Reports state that Rivera had pulled his car alongside a 17-year-old when she was walking through Brooklyn, Iowa — the same town where he chased Tibbetts. Rivera reportedly told the teenager that he found her pretty and had tried her to get her to stop while she was walking, according to reports.
The Iowa student’s body was found covered with corn stalks on Tuesday morning in a cornfield in Guernsey, Iowa. Tibbetts went missing nearly a month ago on July 18 when she went jogging in the evening at around 7.30 pm in the small town of Brooklyn, Iowa and had not been heard from since.
A massive search operation was ongoing when Tibbetts’ alleged murderer, Mexican immigrant Cristhian Behena Rivera, led the police to her body after allegedly admitting that he had abducted her. Rivera claims that he, however, blacked out and does not remember what happened when he began to pursue her on July 18.
Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Poweshiek County Jail, while officials investigate further.
The teenager's older sibling, 18-year-old Bailey Gibson, while talking to DailyMail.com, said that she knew about Rivera even before he came in the news. Gibson said that her younger sister was "creeped" out by the man's advances when he tried to approach her.
"I know Cristhian from my sister. She thought he was a nice, well-spoken person. They hung out a few times but nothing really happened romantically," she told the news outlet.
"She 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. 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. In the end she was really creeped-out by his behavior. She had to keep telling him she wasn't interested," Gibson added.
Gibson added that after her sister refused his advances, Rivera eventually left her and they did not think anything more about it until they read that the accused in the Mollie Tibbetts case was him, and had followed Tibbetts in a similar fashion he had followed his younger sister, reports state.
"It all clicked when we heard the news. It's so scary to think he did something similar with my sister," the elder sibling said, adding that she did not want her younger sister to be named, according to reports.
Rivera, who is a Mexican national, appeared in court on Wednesday and was being held on a $5million bond, according to reports. He added nothing during his hearing and replied in yeses and nos whenever prompted by his interpreter.