The father of a missing University of Iowa student is going back to his California home with a heavy heart and still no knowledge about what happened to his daughter the night she vanished without a trace.
Rob Tibbetts, the father of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, whose disappearance has sparked nationwide media coverage and online conversation, told Cedar Rapids television station KCRG he’s reluctantly going home exactly one month after she disappeared.
"We've called this sort of a half-time, a break,” he said.
Mollie Tibbetts was last seen July 18 in her hometown of Brooklyn. She was on a jog and had been dog-sitting at her boyfriend's brother's house.
A man from Mexico living in the U.S. illegally has confessed to kidnapping college student Mollie Tibbetts while she was running in her small Iowa hometown, killing her and dumping her body in a cornfield, authorities said Tuesday.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 20-year-old Tibbetts, whose July 18 disappearance set off a massive search involving state and federal authorities.
Rivera led investigators early Tuesday to a body believed to be Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa, where Tibbetts was last seen running, Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Rahn said.
"I can't speak about the motive. I can just tell you that it seemed that he followed her, seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day, for whatever reason he chose to abduct her," Rahn told reporters at a news conference outside the sheriff's office in Montezuma, where Rivera was being held on $1 million cash-only bond.
A school friend of murdered Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has told DailyMail.com that her killer knew her and became 'uncomfortable' when her name was brought up three weeks ago before he confessed.
Haileigh Volkmer went to high school with Tibbetts briefly before moving from Iowa to Nebraska. She frequently returned to Brooklyn to visit family and would often see Mollie, a popular local girl, while she was out with friends.
She is also familiar with Cristhian Rivera, the 24-year-old illegal immigrant who was arrested for Mollie's murder yesterday after police uncovered surveillance footage of his car following the 20-year-old while she was out jogging on July 18.
Three weeks ago, while she was visiting friends in Iowa and while the hunt for Mollie intensified, Haileigh ran into Cristhian while she was out with a group.
Rivera's chilling confession to police included his description of how he 'came to' after attacking Mollie in the street while he was driving.
He then remembered, he said, that she was in his trunk.
When he went to retrieve her body, he noticed there was blood on the side of her head.
He then dragged her on foot before putting her over his shoulder before dumping her 20 meters into the cornfield where he hid her corpse beneath corn stalks and leaves. He led police there on Tuesday.