The monster convicted for kidnapping and brutally murdering Mollie Tibbetts in July 2018 understood a guilty verdict was ‘inevitable’ and ‘was in agreement’ with the decision to cage him indefinitely, an expert exclusively explained to Your Content.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera was found guilty of killing the 20-year-old University of Iowa student in July 2018 and hiding her body in a cornfield, sparking a monthlong manhunt that drew international attention.
Your Content spoke exclusively to Susan Constantine, a behavioral health expert and often relied on for her expertise in high profile criminal cases who said the head nod translates to Bahena Rivera ‘subconsciously’ saying ‘you got it right.’
“The head nod was a yes, you got it right (subconsciously),” explained Constantine.
“Bahena Rivera was in agreement and expected it. He and his attorneys were also stoic.”
In the United States, we think it’s universally known that shaking your head from side to side clearly means “No,” while nodding the head up and down means “Yes.”
“The head nod was a yes, you got it right (subconsciously). Bahena Rivera was in agreement and expected it.
Susan Constantine
The same goes for China, Canada, Mexico, and most parts of Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The 20-year-old rising sophomore at the University of Iowa vanished during a routine jog in her secluded hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa on July 18, 2018. Authorities found her body 30 days later in a cornfield.
“Never looking at Rivera or providing support. It was inevitable and expected.” Constantine concluded.
The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about three hours on Thursday and about four hours on Friday, according to a pool report.
Your Content was first to break the news as the jury found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty for the kidnapping and brutal murder of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, who vanished in July 2018 while on a routine jog in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
The trial on his first-degree murder charge began May 17 at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa.
The original court date was set for Feb. 4, 2020 but was postponed until Sept. 29, 2020 after a request was made for the Iowa Supreme Court to review an appeal regarding an evidence-suppression hearing held in November 2019.
The defense rested its case after Bahena Rivera took the stand in his own defense to testify that two masked men had killed Tibbetts, forced him to transport her body in his car, and threatened his family to keep him silent.
As Your Content readers know, Bahena Rivera, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, admitted in an August 2018 interview with police that he followed Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run, got angry at her and “blacked out,” according to an arrest affidavit and testimony at trial.
He said he later came to and realized she was bleeding in his vehicle’s trunk and then buried her in a remote Iowa cornfield, prosecutors said.
The investigation riveted the nation, garnering international attention over her baffling disappearance from a quiet agricultural and working-class community 70 miles east of Des Moines.
Authorities searched cornfields and questioned both residents and business owners while tracking down leads in the hopes of finding the missing Iowa University student.
Bahena Rivera allegedly spotted Mollie running on her routine jog when he parked his car, got out and ran alongside her, according to court documents.
The mandatory sentence in Iowa for first-degree murder is life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Register reported.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 15 at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa, according to the newspaper.