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Prosecutor urges jury to convict man in Iowa runner's death

Mollie Tibbets: New details emerge in case of missing college student
Posted at 1:10 PM, May 27, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-27 15:33:16-04

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor urged jurors to find a farm laborer guilty of first-degree murder in the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run.

Prosecutor Scott Brown said in a closing argument Thursday that the testimony revealed “overwhelming evidence” that Cristhian Bahena Rivera is guilty of murder in the death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts.

He called Bahena Rivera’s testimony that two men kidnapped him at gunpoint and forced him to take part in the crime “a figment of his imagination,” saying he concocted the story to try to explain away damning evidence.

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