MONTEZUMA, Iowa. (AP) – The trial of a man charged in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has again been delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Des Moines Register reports that Cristhian Bahena Rivera was supposed to stand trial on first-degree murder beginning Jan. 25.
But the Iowa Supreme Court in November ordered that all trials in the state be put on hold until Feb. 1 as virus cases have soared.
On Wednesday, court officials rescheduled Rivera’s trial to May 17.
Investigators say Rivera stalked Tibbetts while she was out for a run in July 2018 in Brooklyn, Iowa, and stabbed her to death. After a massive police and volunteer effort to find Tibbetts, authorities say, Bahena Rivera led them to her body.
(By the Associated Press.)
