Mollie Tibbetts, the 20-year-old college student whose disappearance initiated a massive search and nationwide interest, died of multiple sharp force injuries, according to the Iowa state medical examiner.
Preliminary autopsy results released Thursday confirmed what was already presumed: that the body is Tibbetts and that it was a homicide.
Tibbetts had been missing since July 18 before her body was discovered in a cornfield about 12 miles southeast of her small hometown of Brooklyn.
The suspected killer, 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who is in the U.S. illegally, according to federal immigration authorities, has been charged with first-degree murder in the University of Iowa student’s death. He is being held in the Poweshiek County Jail in lieu of $5 million cash-only bail.
Rick Rahn, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, told reporters at a news conference earlier this week that Rivera had led authorities to the body. READ MORE:
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