Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts was killed by ‘multiple sharp force injuries,’ an autopsy has revealed.
The state medical examiner has determined that the 20-year-old’s death was a homicide, but no details were released about what caused the sharp force injuries.
The agency says further examination may result in additional findings.
The Division of Criminal Investigation released the information Thursday, saying the autopsy also officially confirms that the body found in Iowa corn field this week was that of missing student.
Cristhian Rivera, 24, is accused of killing schoolgirl Mollie Tibbetts while working as a farmhand at Yarrabee Farms, in Iowa, on July 18
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, a Mexican native who is suspected of being in the US illegally, has been charged in her Tibbetts’s slaying.
Investigators say Rivera led police to the body on Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa.
He allegedly confessed to abducting Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run on July 18. Investigators say he killed her and later disposed of the body in a rural location.
For years, his employer said the young man from Mexico presented himself as a legal U.S. resident and reliable worker at a family dairy farm in small town Iowa.
But now Cristhian Bahena Rivera is accused of illegally living and working in the U.S. on fraudulent documents.
Rivera appeared in court Wednesday on a first-degree murder charge. He was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond.
The turn of events stunned the farm family that employed him the last four years. They said even after Tibbetts disappeared on July 18 while out for an evening run in the town of Brooklyn, Iowa, Rivera kept coming to work.