IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #41

[Al Hoffman]

I am really confused about all of this. I live in a state with the death penalty so obviously he isn’t getting put to death. Seems like he has already won by getting Life no parole. I am in the medical field not legal, so what has to occur for the state of Iowa to reduce this to second degree?

A lot (that's not going to happen in this case) which would cause the State's case to implode on itself and collapse. There WILL be no plea deal for Murder Two, and/or a reduced sentence. Ain't gonna happen, as the State's case is to strong! More likely, IF there were to be a plea deal, it would be for Murder One and life without parole, WITH better, negotiated choice of institution/site of confinement and level of protective custody for CR. Possibly increased visitation rights to see his daughter and family.
Or, as I have posited before, the Feds could also develop their own list of charges including a Federal Homocide charge that DOES carry the death penalty, as a way for Iowa to lever CR's attorneys to accept a plea deal of life without parole and just quietly walk away. IF CR were to agree to a plea dea, he would have to allocute in open court, detailing exactly what he did, to leave NO doubt as to what he is pleading guilty to, this to assure there would be no valid basis for an appeal.
However, there likely will be no plea deal in this case, as it will make the careers and fortunes of all lead counsel involved! (If it doesn't all go to hell in a handbasket...Nope, ain't gonna happen and CR will go to the State Graybar Hotel for life...you can check in, but you can't check out!)
As I have also said before, if you want to see a case where a death penalty case imploded in on itself, and the murder was given 20 years, in place of a well deserved needle and walked free after 12 and 1/3 years, please Google "Christina Dillard enters guilty plea - Picayune Item" Bad Mirrandas while in custody and failure to provide counsel at the time of the most incriminating defendant statements were to blame, or that's just what the DA would admit to the MSM.

 

[gliving]

I can't imagine that he would allow a conscious victim to come to her feet once out of the trunk and be in a position to fight back. We don't know if some sort of tie or tape or other type of restraint was used to secure her to render her unable to move freely. Opening up a trunk to a live victim who can move freely is high risk.

I think it's a guessing game as to what condition she was in when she was put in the trunk and how he would have had to get her out. Dragging may well suggest that she was either too incapacitated, possibly already deceased, or restrained in some way, and he struggled to move her. I also don't know if I buy that he had her over his shoulder. I just think he uses a lot of details that never get to his crime against her and seem to be more about him. Driving, running, walking, blocking out, coming to, more driving, seeing things in his lap, dragging, carrying, covering... I think he's doing a lot of yammering about activity that frankly makes no sense.

jillycat, I agree. Seems she'd have to be restrained in some manner or incapacitated. Otherwise she could pop the trunk or use the release handle to lay down the back seats and climb through to escape.

 

[MsBetsy]

Right now my personal feeling is her phone was still in the armband and the Fitbit was still on her wrist when they found her. Maybe the earbuds, too. Or he found one (or both) earbud in the trunk, or picked it off the ground at initial attack site, and he threw them out long ago.

My thought (MOO, JMO, IMO) now is that he was never at the pig farm. I think the pig farm was in the cell phone range and was searched along with all the others searched near Guernsey. WC might have been looked at closer simply because of his record. The last ping was in that area because her phone was within that area when it died (or got rained on).

My thoughts evolve daily, however, so I might feel differently tomorrow.

That makes sense too. Didn't LE say that part of the headset was still on her when they found the body, or was that something someone assumed? I can't remember now.

 

[TL4S]

That makes sense too. Didn't LE say that part of the headset was still on her when they found the body, or was that something someone assumed? I can't remember now.

I didn't hear that, but I've also missed a lot from the threads.

 

[MassGuy]

That makes sense too. Didn't LE say that part of the headset was still on her when they found the body, or was that something someone assumed? I can't remember now.

We haven’t heard anything in regard to if this item was recovered. The only mention of it, was in the suspect’s statement to police, when he said it was on his lap.

 

[geevee]

I can't imagine that he would allow a conscious victim to come to her feet once out of the trunk and be in a position to fight back. We don't know if some sort of tie or tape or other type of restraint was used to secure her to render her unable to move freely. Opening up a trunk to a live victim who can move freely is high risk.

I think it's a guessing game as to what condition she was in when she was put in the trunk and how he would have had to get her out. Dragging may well suggest that she was either too incapacitated, possibly already deceased, or restrained in some way, and he struggled to move her. I also don't know if I buy that he had her over his shoulder. I just think he uses a lot of details that never get to his crime against her and seem to be more about him. Driving, running, walking, blocking out, coming to, more driving, seeing things in his lap, dragging, carrying, covering... I think he's doing a lot of yammering about activity that frankly makes no sense.

I agree, and if she was already stabbed and deceased when he took her from the trunk (as he implies), dragged and finally put her over his shoulder to carry into the cornfield, he'd have been covered head to toe in blood.

Granted it was likely dark by the time he left the cornfield but he'd have to have considered himself darn lucky not to have run into a single person before he got inside his trailer and removed his clothing.

I personally don't think he killed her until she was at her final resting place, but you're so right Jillycat, everything he talked about was a 'me, me, me' thing and very little to do with her or what he actually did to her.

 

[Jim G]

I think he may have run her over. I didn't know she was abducted essentially in the middle of a cornfield. I thought it was a city street.
This case makes me a slave to a hundred disordered and prowling thoughts. I'm consumed by stiff-backed outrage.

 

[MsBetsy]

I didn't hear that, but I've also missed a lot from the threads.

I've tried to read every single comment, which has been difficult, but it's still easy to forget things. I wish I knew where that info came from.

 

[MsBetsy]

We haven’t heard anything in regard to if this item was recovered. The only mention of it, was in the suspect’s statement to police, when he said it was on his lap.

Thank you!

 

[MsBetsy]

I think he may have run her over. I didn't know she was abducted essentially in the middle of a cornfield. I thought it was a city street.
This case makes me a slave to a hundred disordered and prowling thoughts. I'm consumed by stiff-backed outrage.

I don't think it was in the middle of a cornfield that she was abducted, rather that is where he took her. It did actually originate in the " streets", only in an isolated spot.

 

[scarlettbones]

We haven’t heard anything in regard to if this item was recovered. The only mention of it, was in the suspect’s statement to police, when he said it was on his lap.

There was another mention in his statement too:
"He went to get her out of the trunk and he noticed blood on the side of her head. The Defendant Rivera described the female's clothing, that she was wearing including an ear phone or head phone set."

Edited to add more detail from affidavit and since this thread is closing, I continued this on the next one.

 

[MsBetsy]

I agree, and if she was already stabbed and deceased when he took her from the trunk (as he implies), dragged and finally put her over his shoulder to carry into the cornfield, he'd have been covered head to toe in blood.

Granted it was likely dark by the time he left the cornfield but he'd have to have considered himself darn lucky not to have run into a single person before he got inside his trailer and removed his clothing.

I personally don't think he killed her until she was at her final resting place, but you're so right Jillycat, everything he talked about was a 'me, me, me' thing and very little to do with her or what he actually did to her.

I don't think he killed her before putting her in the trunk either, just because it would have made more sense to do it in a more isolated area. But he must have done something to cause her head bleeding, which possibly happened before he placed her in there. If he did kill her near the road where they believe the first encounter occurred, around that 1900 area, it certainly was very risky. It would also imply a complete loss of control.

 

[Sillybilly]

This thread is now closed.

Please continue discussion at Thread #42 .