Three hundred and sixty-five days ago, University of Iowa rising sophomore Mollie Tibbetts, 20, went for a run in Brooklyn, Iowa, and never returned.
Her body was found 34 days later in a cornfield south of Guernsey. An undocumented immigrant who had lived and worked in the area for years,
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 25, was charged with her murder and is set for trial in November.
Though a year has gone by, Poweshiek County Sheriff Tom Kriegel said remembrances of what happened to Tibbetts remain fresh for Brooklyn residents.
“I don’t think it is something that this community will ever completely recover from,” Kriegel said. “Brooklyn is a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone. And to have something like that happen here, it’s shocking.”
During the search for Tibbetts and in the months following the discovery of her body, Kriegel said he noticed significant changes in the community.
“People are more aware of safety issues, and typically walkers and runners are going out in pairs or groups,” he said.
Residents also have become more vigilant in monitoring neighborhood activity and alerting authorities to anything that seems wrong.
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“I’d say people are more suspicious now,” he said. “They are more alert and a lot more cautious, and if they see anything that it unusual or off, they’re picking up the phone to let us know.”
Shortly after Tibbetts’ body was found, Kriegel said Brooklyn residents teamed up to form Brooklyn Neighborhood Watch. The group, which was founded Aug. 18, 2018, by Brooklyn resident Scott Hawkins and some friends, maintains an active presence in the town’s neighborhoods.
Hawkins told media outlets the friends decided to form the group because the small town does not have a constant police presence.
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In the wake of Tibbetts’ death, Kriegel said he feels a fresh sense of urgency among his deputies to respond to calls with every tool they have — especially calls that involve children and missing people.
“We were all hurt and affected by Mollie’s death,” he said. “We wish we could have intervened and stopped it somehow. And I think it’s that memory that drives us to be even more proactive, to keep an even closer eye on our communities, and to react with more of a sense of urgency. We don’t take anything lightly. Instead we respond with every resource we have no matter what the situation.”
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Tibbetts’ family — Calderwood, her father, Rob Tibbetts, and her brothers Jake and Scott Tibbetts — declined to be interviewed for this article. But in a voicemail left Tuesday, Rob Tibbetts said he hopes his daughter will be remembered for who she was, and not how she died.
A year after Mollie Tibbetts tragedy, a community changes
