Murder trial in Mollie Tibbetts case delayed until November

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — The trial for a former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and killing of 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has been delayed.

The Des Moines Register reported Friday that 25-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera will face trial Nov. 11 in Woodbury County. His trial had been set for Sept. 3, but was pushed back to give Rivera’s attorneys more time to prepare. A judge in March approved his request to have the trial moved about 250 miles away from Poweshiek County to Woodbury County.

Rivera is accused of killing Tibbetts, who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. Officials say she was stabbed to death.

Rivera, a Mexican national, also is accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.