The Last Mile

Summary

Dateline NBC: The Last Mile
Host/Author: NBC News
Release Date: June 3, 2025

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Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "The Last Mile," Dateline NBC unravels the harrowing true-crime mystery of Molly Tibbets, a 20-year-old University of Iowa freshman who vanished under mysterious circumstances. This detailed account chronicles the relentless search, investigative breakthroughs, and the eventual resolution of Molly's disappearance, offering listeners an in-depth look into a case that captivated a community and drew national attention.

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Molly Tibbets: A Beloved Young Woman

Molly Tibbets was a vibrant and beloved young woman whose life was tragically cut short. Described by her cousin, Morgan Collum, as "a ball of sunshine to be around" (01:04), Molly was not only an honors student but also a dedicated cross-country runner and a natural with children, excelling in her role at a local summer day camp. Her enthusiastic participation in activities, such as pranking coworkers and maintaining a "6002" Snapchat streak with Morgan, highlighted her joyful and lively personality.

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The Disappearance: A Normal Evening Turned Nightmare

On July 18, 2018, Molly's routine evening took a dark turn. After a productive day at work, she stayed over at her boyfriend Dalton Jack's house before embarking on her regular evening jog. However, that night was different. Despite sending a Snapchat message to Dalton and informing her mother of her plans, Molly never returned. As days passed without any contact, alarm bells rang throughout her close-knit community of Brooklyn, Iowa.

Morgan Collum recalls the overwhelming panic: "I checked my phone and I saw I had a missed call from my dad, I had a missed call from my brother. I had a missed call from my Aunt Laura. And I just knew in that moment, this isn't good" (06:26). The community mobilized, with volunteers and law enforcement intensifying their search efforts along the "blacktop" road where Molly was last seen jogging.

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Initial Investigation: Building the Timeline

Special Agent Trent Valletta and Deputy Steve Kivi spearheaded the investigation for Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation and Powasheek County Sheriff's Office, respectively. Their primary focus was to reconstruct Molly's movements from the evening she disappeared (02:36).

Key discoveries included:

• Security Camera Footage: A home security camera captured Molly jogging on the "blacktop" at approximately 7:48 PM (25:09), providing a crucial timestamp.

• Cell Phone and Fitbit Data: Investigators cloned Molly's missing phone using her password, revealing her location and activity patterns. Additionally, her Fitbit was analyzed to determine her running routes, though it did not provide new leads (17:43).

Despite extensive searches covering road ditches, fields, and waterways, initial efforts yielded no substantial findings, leading investigators to explore potential personal issues Molly might have been facing. However, her impeccable reputation left little to go on.

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Breakthrough: The Black Chevy Malibu

A pivotal moment in the investigation occurred when Deputy Steve Kivi identified a distinctive black Chevy Malibu on security footage just minutes after Molly was last seen. The vehicle's unique aftermarket modifications, including custom mirrors and chrome accents, made it stand out despite the grainy footage (26:20).

As Deputy Kivi pursued leads, he encountered the same black Malibu on Highway 63, leading to a critical interaction with Christian Behina Rivera, an undocumented worker at a local dairy farm. Rivera's demeanor during the initial conversation was cooperative yet nonchalant (30:22), but inconsistencies in his story raised suspicions.

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Interrogation and Confession

Officer Pamela Romero, inexperienced in such high-stakes interrogations, conducted the questioning of Rivera. Initially maintaining a light and conversational tone, Romero gradually pressed Rivera for more information regarding his sighting of Molly (32:34).

Rivera eventually admitted to seeing Molly and disclosed that he had driven past her multiple times, leading investigators to a cornfield where Molly's remains were discovered shortly before sunrise (37:07). Rivera's confession was pivotal, although it faced legal challenges when an incomplete Miranda warning led to the exclusion of part of his initial confession. Fortunately, a subsequent Miranda warning preserved the integrity of his second confession, which, coupled with DNA evidence from blood found in his car, solidified the case against him.

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Legal Proceedings and Conviction

Three years after the disappearance, Rivera stood trial for the first-degree murder of Molly Tibbets. Despite efforts to recant his initial confession, the prosecution presented a strong case built on multiple pillars:

1. Security Footage: Confirmed the presence of Rivera's black Malibu near the time and location of Molly's disappearance (29:19).

2. DNA Evidence: Blood matching Molly was found in Rivera's vehicle (40:04).

3. Confession: Rivera’s admission of involvement, obtained after proper Miranda warnings, underscored his culpability (37:20).

The jury found Rivera guilty of first-degree murder, sentencing him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Morgan Collum reflected on the verdict: "It's good to know that at least justice has been served in the way that it can" (42:17).

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Aftermath and Legacy

Molly Tibbets’ tragic death left an indelible mark on her family, friends, and the broader community. In her memory:

• Commemorative Ribbons: Each year, teal ribbons, Molly's favorite color, are displayed around the time of her disappearance.

• Memorial Fund: A fund for child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Iowa has raised over half a million dollars in her honor.

• Personal Tributes: Morgan Collum continues to honor Molly by participating in running events, embodying her spirit and dedication (43:31).

Molly's legacy serves as a poignant reminder of the impact one individual can have on a community and the enduring quest for justice.

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Conclusion

"The Last Mile" encapsulates the relentless pursuit of truth and justice in the face of tragedy. Through meticulous investigation, community solidarity, and unwavering determination, the episode highlights both the challenges and breakthroughs inherent in solving true-crime cases. Molly Tibbets' story stands as a testament to resilience and the enduring hope that justice will prevail.

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For more detailed moments and emotional reflections from those involved, listeners are encouraged to tune into the full episode of Dateline NBC's "The Last Mile."

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Notable Quotes

• Morgan Collum (06:26): "I just knew in that moment, this isn't good."

• Deputy Steve Kivi (25:42): "Is this it? Is this the break we needed?"

• Officer Pamela Romero (37:07): "So he said he saw her. Molly smiles at him, and then he decides to park his car, like, 100ft behind her."

• Morgan Collum (42:22): "There's not a day, I think, where I don't either think of her or just feel her."

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Timeline of Key Events

1. 7:00 PM: Molly sends text message about going for a jog after dinner (07:53).

2. 7:48 PM: Security camera captures Molly jogging on the blacktop (25:09).

3. 7:49 PM: A black Chevy Malibu passes shortly after Molly (25:50).

4. 8:02 PM: The Malibu is seen on camera again, heightening suspicions (34:17).

5. 8:53 PM: Molly's phone signal dies 15 miles southeast of Brooklyn (20:25).

6. 8:00 AM (Next Day): Extensive volunteer search efforts begin (12:45).

7. Day 33: Rivera's initial confession leads investigators to the cornfield (37:07).

8. Trial and Conviction: Three years later, Rivera is convicted of first-degree murder (41:58).

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Key Takeaways

• Community Effort: The collective response from Molly’s family, friends, and volunteers was instrumental in maintaining momentum in the search.

• Technological Advances: The use of cell phone cloning and Fitbit data exemplifies the role of technology in modern investigations.

• Critical Investigation Moments: Identifying the black Chevy Malibu was a turning point, demonstrating how small details can lead to significant breakthroughs.

• Legal Procedures Matter: Proper adherence to Miranda warnings proved crucial in securing a lawful conviction, underscoring the importance of protocol in criminal investigations.

• Lasting Legacy: Molly’s story continues to inspire and remind communities of the importance of vigilance, support, and perseverance in the face of tragedy.

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Dateline NBC expertly weaves together the emotional journeys of those involved and the meticulous steps taken by investigators to bring justice for Molly Tibbets. "The Last Mile" stands as a compelling narrative of loss, determination, and the unyielding pursuit of truth.

Transcript

[Lester Holt]

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[Tom Yamas]

It's carried forward.

[Lester Holt]

Tom Yamas is there for us.

[Tom Yamas]

Firefighters are still working around the clock.

[Lester Holt]

As the world changes, we look for what endures.

[Tom Yamas]

We are coming on the air with breaking news right now, we look for.

[Lester Holt]

A constant and from one era to the next, trust is the anchor.

[Tom Yamas]

For NBC Nightly News, I'm Tom Yamas. A new chapter begins.

[Lester Holt]

NBC Nightly News with Tom. Evenings on NBC. Tonight on Dateline.

[Morgan Collum]

Molly was just a ball of sunshine to be around. I love her so much. Who has her? Who knows where she's at? I knew there was an answer out there.

[Trent Valletta]

One of the biggest cases ever in Iowa. We were desperate to find Molly.

[Steve Kivi]

She had been gone a little over 24 hours.

[Lester Holt]

Those are crucial hours, aren't they?

[Steve Kivi]

Yes, they are. All we really had was that she went out for a jog and came home.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

We dispatched search parties, checking road ditches, fields.

[Trent Valletta]

A home security camera caught Molly running.

[Lester Holt]

For an instant after she goes by. You see this black Chevy Malibu?

[Steve Kivi]

We were thinking, what are the odds that we'll ever find this car?

[Pamela Romero]

I said, okay, so I think we got something.

[Lester Holt]

You weren't a detective.

[Pamela Romero]

I was not a detective.

[Lester Holt]

You'd never investigated a murder before?

[Pamela Romero]

Never. I feel the pressure.

[Steve Kivi]

I mean, that was a huge roll of dice.

[Trent Valletta]

We had a mission and we knew what that mission was.

[Morgan Collum]

It's terrible. It eats you. I knew I had to do this for Molly.

[Lester Holt]

An urgent and mind boggling mystery. What happened to Molly? I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with the Last Mile. It's a winding road on the outskirts of town. Here they call it the blacktop.

[Morgan Collum]

It really is such a beautiful route. You get out there and you're just surrounded by nature.

[Lester Holt]

Her running shoes pounding out a steady beat.

[Morgan Collum]

There's a certain spot when you're on that road where you can see our grandparents farm.

[Lester Holt]

The rhythm of her breathing in sync with her favorite music.

[Morgan Collum]

She would always put her phone on. Do not Disturb when she was running. Because that was her time.

[Lester Holt]

Her time. As the sun quietly set over the vast cornfield surrounding her home, Molly couldn't have known there would be no more sunset runs, no more anything. Not for her. It was July 18, 2018. Molly Tibbets was 20 years old. She'd just completed freshman year at the University of Iowa, and this summer was going to be the best of her young life. Did you see her on that day? How'd she seem? Her happy, go lucky self. She was excited to be at work. Molly had a great job working at a summer day camp at a local elementary school. Supervisor Jill Scheck said Molly was a natural with children. She loved being able to play with the kids, loved being on the playground, loved being inside doing crafts, loved doing the reading with them. That was. It was her cup of tea. She didn't seem concerned about anything or worried. No, definitely not. Just before lunch, Molly was all smiles as she pranked a co worker and used his phone for selfies. You gotta be a big kid yourself. And Molly definitely fit that. That day, it was Molly's turn to close up the camp. She left about 5 o' clock. She was the last person there. Yep. Molly's brother had picked her up and then dropped her off at her boyfriend Dalton's house. Dalton was out of town and not coming home that night, so Molly sent him a Snapchat message, then texted her mom saying she'd stop by for dinner. And then she got ready for her usual evening run.

[Morgan Collum]

She would lace up her shoes and out the door she went.

[Lester Holt]

Morgan Collum was seven years older than Molly. They'd grown up together and were more like sisters than cousins. You ever talk to her about whether or not it was safe to go out there and run at night?

[Morgan Collum]

It never crossed my mind to say, hey, that's probably not safe to do that.

[Lester Holt]

Later that night, storm clouds rolled in and it poured. But the next day dawned warm, summer bright.

[Morgan Collum]

I remember distinctly messaging her, saying, wow, it rained so much last night. And the thunder was really loud. Loud.

[Lester Holt]

Morgan and Molly were so close. They had exchanged Snapchats every day without fail for almost two years.

[Morgan Collum]

This sounds so silly, but we took great pride in our Snapchat streak. I think we were in the 6002, so it was pretty cool.

[Lester Holt]

So you get the hourglass, meaning your streak is in danger.

[Morgan Collum]

Right. Which means that she hasn't responded to what I sent to her.

[Lester Holt]

Morgan wasn't the only one wondering where Molly was when the camp day began. Molly wasn't there. Molly was Reliable? Oh, yes, very much so. Not like her to not show up. Definitely not. That question where is Molly? Was being asked all over. Brooklyn, Iowa. I reached out to her cousin and I said, hey, is something going on? Like, Molly didn't show up for work today and they hadn't heard from her. No one has seen her. That phone call sparked a chain reaction. Molly's family started calling each other, and they were increasingly frantic.

[Morgan Collum]

I checked my phone and I saw I had a missed call from my dad, I had a missed call from my brother. I had a missed call from my Aunt Laura. And I just knew in that moment, this isn't good.

[Lester Holt]

Some of Molly's friends and family hurried to Dalton's house, hoping maybe she was sick or asleep. It was empty. And now panic was setting in. Everybody's calling you because they want to find her.

[Morgan Collum]

I was overwhelmed with that, you know, in that moment, I just wish that I had better answers for people. And I didn't. And that's when it started to get scary.

[Lester Holt]

At 5:56pm, Powasheek County Sheriff's Office received a call. Molly was missing. Special Agent Trent Valletta caught the case for Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation.

[Steve Kivi]

She had been gone a little over 24 hours, but reported missing maybe 12.

[Lester Holt]

Those are crucial hours, aren't they?

[Steve Kivi]

Yes. Yes, they are.

[Lester Holt]

Six o' clock at night, Deputy Steve Kivi headed up the investigation for the Powersheck County Sheriff's Office.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

We didn't know if she had a medical issue or if she'd been hit by a car or if she'd been abducted. We had no idea.

[Lester Holt]

So Valletta and Kivi started where investigators always start, finding out everything they could about what Molly had been up to on the day she disappeared.

[Steve Kivi]

She was supposed to be at work, but she didn't show up for work. So that pushes us back until the prior evening. And the best we could tell was around 7pm she had a text to her mother saying she was going to go for a jog or something and then maybe come over for dinner.

[Lester Holt]

So that's your starting point, 7pm Pretty much, yes. Now the race was on to build a timeline. Minute by minute, from 7pm on the night Molly went missing. At the same time, much of Brooklyn, Iowa, held its breath, desperately hoping she'd be found alive. She went for a run after work. That was normal. Now, no one in Molly Tibbett's circle of family and friends had heard from her in almost 24 hours. And that wasn't. She's not going to just Vanish without telling anybody.

[Steve Kivi]

Right.

[Morgan Collum]

And, you know, I had several people say to me, well, are you sure she didn't run away? Did I maybe question it for a minute? Yeah, sure. But then I thought, no, this is Molly. This isn't what she does.

[Lester Holt]

Molly's best friend, Alexis Lind, was on vacation and rushed home when she got the news. We were just so confused and shocked because not a single person had heard from her.

[Morgan Collum]

Right on me.

[Lester Holt]

That's funny. Ever since Molly moved to Iowa in the third grade. Seatbelt safety. Safety first. They had been inseparable. What was it like to be around her? You were always laughing if you were around her. She was like a little ball of sunshine every time she walked in the room. What'd she like to do?

[Morgan Collum]

Loved running.

[Lester Holt]

She enjoyed babysitting kids around Brooklyn and around the area. We'd drive around listening to music. She was obsessed with Taylor Swift. In Brooklyn, Molly had blossomed into an honors student, a cross country runner, and a three time participant at Iowa's annual speech competition.

[Morgan Collum]

My sophomore year, I found out that my talent was speaking. I talked all the time. I decided to make people listen.

[Lester Holt]

Molly's impeccable reputation left investigators with no obvious personal problems to explore. So they went back to building a timeline of Molly's last day. The last place Molly was known to have been was at the home where her boyfriend, Dalton Jack lived. Why was she staying in that house?

[Steve Kivi]

Dalton was out of town working, so Molly had to stay there to let the dogs out. She was essentially dog sitting.

[Lester Holt]

Detective Valletta wanted to know if something had happened there and went to speak with the owners, Dalton's older brother and his wife.

[Steve Kivi]

They basically give us a tour of the house and they say, look, Molly's wallet's here. All her clothes are still here. We look for kicked in doors, signs of a scuffle inside the house. The house was exactly the way it was supposed to look.

[Lester Holt]

If Molly had gone for a run, the question was where. Investigators got their first clue from someone who had seen Molly that night. Christina Stewart told police she was on her way to feed her family's horses and was driving east of town on a road known as the blacktop when she saw Molly running. The time was about 8pm How'd she know it was Molly?

[Steve Kivi]

Because she's a hairdresser and she cut Molly's hair and she gave a pretty good description of what Molly was wearing. Black running shorts, a pink sports bra. She said she could see her ponytail bouncing. It was our first real definitive timestamp.

[Lester Holt]

Their first solid lead confirming Molly did go jogging that evening. Now they had to figure out what happened next. Did she run into someone else? Had she been attacked or was she lying injured beside the road?

[Steve Kivi]

Ditches in July in Brooklyn are waist to chest high in grass. Corn is 8 to 10ft high on both sides of the road.

[Lester Holt]

So if you wanted to hide something, you wouldn't have to try that hard.

[Steve Kivi]

You could hide 100 bodies along that road and they'd be hard to find.

[Lester Holt]

Friday morning, two days after Molly was last heard from the town of Brooklyn, turned out an assembly of shaken but determined volunteers to look for her along the blacktop and beyond.

[Morgan Collum]

I will never forget that day. I was parking my vehicle thinking, you know, we'll be lucky if we get 20 people that show up because it is a Friday. It's during the work week. Are people going to be able to take time off to come and help us with this? We had people on four wheelers. There were helicopters there, people by the hundreds.

[Steve Kivi]

I remember seeing trucks with boats, canoes, that kind of thing behind them. They were going to search waterways, that sort of thing.

[Lester Holt]

So far, we've been searching by air and foot both.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

We had covered systematically not only the canvassing from house to house in town, but also the surrounding countryside, the road, ditches, the fields, ponds.

[Lester Holt]

Even as they searched, investigators and volunteers alike were thinking nothing good would be found there. It was with that grim possibility in mind that police would begin to look at a local farmer, a man with a history of troubling behavior. DATELINE True Crime Weekly Andrea Canning and the Dateline team cover breaking crime news around the country. And now a special series with daily updates from the trial of Sean Combs. I'll be talking to NBC News correspondent Chloe Meloss every day after court about what she's seeing inside the witnesses, the evidence and what it all means. DATELINE True Crime Weekly. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. The NBC Nightly News from one era to the next. I'm Tom Brokaw. We hope to see you back. I'm Lester Holt.

[Tom Yamas]

Trust is the anchor for NBC Nightly News. I'm Tom Yamas. A new chapter begins.

[Lester Holt]

NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas evenings on NBC. Hey, guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with Ina Garten in front of a live studio audience for the second ever Sunday Sit Down Live event. We talked about her rise from home cook to culinary icon with some hosting tips and a proper dessert tray mixed in too you can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts. Molly Tibbett's family and friends had joined the citizen army of Brooklyn, Iowa, that was looking all over town for the missing college freshman. A lot of us girls that grew up together, we were just trying to hope and pray that they were going to find her alive and well. Even as they kept vigil, they asked the difficult question. Was there some secret Molly had been hiding?

[Morgan Collum]

I was looking at Molly's Instagram. Then I'm talking to her friends as well, like, hey, is anything going on that Molly didn't want to share with me?

[Lester Holt]

Molly's cell phone was an obvious place to look for clues, but it was missing, so investigators came up with an ingenious way to replicate it.

[Steve Kivi]

What we were able to actually do is we had her password. We were able to clone her phone and get all the data off it just by buying a new iPhone at Walmart.

[Lester Holt]

So you're reading all those texts on that last day, right? And she's not angry at anybody, and nobody else is angry at her.

[Steve Kivi]

It was frustrating because generally, you will find an aha moment that points you in the right direction, but we weren't picking up on any of that.

[Lester Holt]

Now, there was one person who had to know something about Molly's state of mind and maybe even what happened to her. Her boyfriend, Dalton Jack. What kind of vibe you get off him?

[Christian Behina Rivera]

Pretty calm guy. He seemed concerned but not panicked.

[Lester Holt]

Dalton and Molly had known each other since the sixth grade and had been dating for the past three years. Molly's cousin Morgan thought they were a good match. What'd you think of him?

[Morgan Collum]

I'm kind of that protective, overbearing cousin who's like, well, nobody's ever gonna be good enough for Molly. But I think Dalton treated her really well, and she felt very loved by him.

[Lester Holt]

Dalton Jack seemed genuinely concerned, truthful, cooperative.

[Steve Kivi]

We were able to right away put Dalton Jack about two hours away in a hotel with co workers, and he actually went into Walmart and bought groceries right around the time Molly started jogging.

[Lester Holt]

Another dead end that took one of the usual suspects off the table. After several days of searching had turned up nothing, the FBI was brought in. Supervisor Molly Ammon put her team to work on recovering the data from the Fitbit Molly was believed to have been wearing.

[Trent Valletta]

We were very interested in the Fitbit because we know that you can set your Fitbit to store your past running routes Once a run is completed. We were able to discern Molly's past running routes, but not where she'd been that night.

[Lester Holt]

So you start looking even closer along those routes that you regularly took.

[Steve Kivi]

We did sex offenders along the routes. We were not only talking to the people, we were searching every bit of the property. We'd go into the. The garden shed, the garages, the rafters of the garage, the basements of the house.

[Lester Holt]

And you didn't find anything?

[Steve Kivi]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Another dead end in Brooklyn. Outside of town, investigators were checking out a local pig farmer named Wayne Chaney for what seemed like a good reason. He had a record.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

Yeah, he was familiar to all of us at the sheriff's office and has a history of violating no contact orders with women numerous times. Stalking, harassment.

[Lester Holt]

You asked Wayne Chan to take a polygraph?

[Steve Kivi]

Yes, we did. It's interesting because he got mad and he ended the polygraph before he finished it. So it didn't look good for him.

[Lester Holt]

As investigators continued to look at Cheney, FBI analysts moved on from the Fitbit to Molly's cell phone data. They were able to perform a more detailed workup than police.

[Trent Valletta]

One of the very first things I did was call for a deployment of cast. That's the cellular analysis survey team. A CAST operator will record phone pings against a cell tower. Where they come from and what time they come in. And from that, you can extrapolate an.

[Lester Holt]

Average rate of speed and when they got that data. A breakthrough with critical new information to put into the timeline of the night Molly went missing. So they went back to that precise moment.

[Trent Valletta]

So what Cass told us was that between 8:15 and 8:28pm Molly's phone was moving in an easterly direction at about a 10 minute mile pace commensurate with running.

[Steve Kivi]

And then there's a stoppage.

[Lester Holt]

How long does she stop running? And she's just in one place.

[Steve Kivi]

We had as much as four minutes. And then all of a sudden, Molly is now moving on a different road south, about 60 miles an hour. Well, we know she can't run that fast, so we knew it had to be in a vehicle.

[Lester Holt]

Investigators had their second solid lead, which revealed when and where Molly's run had ended, that she likely had been driven out of town, and that her phone signal had died at 8:53pm 15 miles south of Brooklyn.

[Trent Valletta]

Moving fast like that, the fear was that she was out of our reach. I was hoping for anything but that.

[Lester Holt]

Following Molly's trail, federal investigators expanded the their search beyond the town's limit. Soon, local police would spot a clue much closer to home.

[Steve Kivi]

So while we're looking at cars, one of the agents, Matt George, is staring at the screen and he sees Molly. We reached the end of 385th and now this is where the cell phone data starts. Show where Molly is Suddenly moving at 60 miles an hour down this road.

[Lester Holt]

Federal, state and local investigators were urgently pursuing a new lead in the Molly Tibbets case. Cell phone records showed her evening run had come to a sudden stop at 8:28pm and then she or her phone or both had sped away in a car.

[Steve Kivi]

The thing you always got to keep in your back of your mind is just because it's the cell phone data we're tracking doesn't mean it's the body we're tracking.

[Lester Holt]

Even though investigators did not have the cell phone itself, it left an important clue. Where does it end up?

[Steve Kivi]

Either the phone shut off or it's destroyed. So we had an idea where the phone stopped peening. That could just mean that someone decided to kick it out the window or run it over.

[Lester Holt]

Investigators quickly switched the focus of their search to the area where her phone died at 8:53 that night, 15 miles southeast of Brooklyn. What are people saying?

[Morgan Collum]

Well, you know, Brooklyn is very close to Interstate 80. And the talk of someone taking her, possibly putting her into, like, the sex trafficking world, human trafficking world, that was definitely talked about. And that was a really horrible place to be mentally thinking, you know, who has her, who knows where she's at.

[Lester Holt]

The case was getting national attention, too. This morning.

[Andrea Canning]

There is new information coming to light.

[Lester Holt]

In the desperate search for a University of Iowa student missing now for more than two weeks. Police were dealing with dozens, even hundreds of leads.

[Steve Kivi]

She was supposedly seen down at a rest stop in Missouri or eating tacos in Colorado. It was chasing your tail, you know, chasing red herrings.

[Lester Holt]

One of those red herrings turned out to be Wayne Chaney. Investigators could not connect him to Molly, so they dropped him as a person of interest.

[Steve Kivi]

Kind of looked at each other one day and thought, I wonder if this is what we're going to be doing for like, the next five or six years.

[Lester Holt]

Molly's parents weren't giving up, and they were offering a reward for any information. As of 10 o' clock this morning, we have raised $172,000 that would be paid to you as soon as Molly is safely home. Almost four weeks after Molly's disappearance, the lack of progress was starting to wear on Agent Trent Valletta and his team. You didn't find anything that you thought was a murder weapon. You didn't find her Fitbit, you didn't find her phone.

[Steve Kivi]

We still have not found Any of that.

[Lester Holt]

What's the security cam situation in Brooklyn? I'm guessing not a lot of them.

[Steve Kivi]

We collected all the video we could, but most of it was not very good.

[Lester Holt]

With so few leads developing, investigators decided to look once again at video from four cameras mounted on a garage on Brooklyn's east side.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

Two of significance to us were one facing to the southeast and one to the northeast.

[Lester Holt]

The cameras captured the approach to the road known as the blacktop. So behind this tree is 385th Avenue. Chief Deputy Joel Vanderleas led eight investigation teams who spent an entire day logging every second of the video from the evening Molly disappeared. While looking at that video, one of them saw something. The time was 7:48.

[Steve Kivi]

So while we're looking at cars, one of the agents, Matt George, is staring at the screen and he sees Molly.

[Lester Holt]

So she'll jog through right here on Boundary street between the bush and this house. Only lasts about a second and a half. And if you expand the video, you can actually see the ponytail bouncing as she jogs. And there she goes.

[Steve Kivi]

That's about first time in the case. We all started looking at each other like, holy cow, is this it? Is this the break we needed?

[Lester Holt]

It also meant the timeline of Molly's disappearance could now be compressed potentially to the few moments after she passed the security camera at 7:48pm now, the timing of cars coming and going starts to matter because immediately, the first thing after you see when she goes by is this black chevy Malibu. At 7:49 seconds after Molly, the black Malibu drives by for the first time. A unique car.

[Steve Kivi]

It's aftermarket stuff that's put on the car. If you wanted us to go find a black Malibu, we could find hundreds that all look the same. This one was different.

[Lester Holt]

Even on the grainy video, they could tell this car had custom mirrors and chrome that set it apart. Can't see who's driving it.

[Steve Kivi]

No, it was just a fuzzy driver is all we could really see.

[Lester Holt]

At 7:56, Christina Stewart's white minivan passes the same security camera. This is just a few minutes before she saw Molly on her run. As she would later tell police, once we saw her on the video, then we knew that was a valid witness sighting. And now everything started to fall into place. Then at 8:02, the black Malibu drives by again. Can't get a plate number. No, because this isn't a TV show. At 8:10, the Malibu drives by one last time, almost as if it's circling its prey.

[Steve Kivi]

All we had is a car, and we were thinking, what are the odds that we'll ever find this car?

[Lester Holt]

Investigators now had their third and most substantial lead yet and their first potential suspect, the driver of the black Malibu. Following Molly. Now the mission was clear and urgent. Find the car, find the driver, and maybe finally find Molly Tibbets. Hey, everyone, I'm Jenna Bush Hager from the Today show and I'm excited to share my podcast Open Book with Jenna. It is back for season two.

[Andrea Canning]

Each week, celebrities, experts, friends and authors.

[Lester Holt]

Will share candid stories with me about.

[Steve Kivi]

Their lives and new projects.

[Andrea Canning]

Guests like Rebecca Yarros, Kristin Hannah, Ego Wodom and more.

[Steve Kivi]

Like a good book, you'll leave feeling inspired and entertained.

[Lester Holt]

Join me for my podcast Open Book with Jenna. Listen now on Apple Podcasts. The NBC Nightly News from one era to the next. I'm Tom Brokar. We hope to see you back here. I'm Lester Holt.

[Tom Yamas]

Trust is the anchor for NBC Nightly News. I'm Tom Yamas.

[Lester Holt]

A new chapter begins NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Evenings on NBC. Investigators had their first major breakthrough in the four week search for Molly Tibbets. It was this tiny bouncing dot they spotted on security footage a blurred image they believed was Molly jogging by at 7:48pm just before she disappeared. You see Molly, but you also see a car.

[Steve Kivi]

Yes, we do.

[Lester Holt]

We figure out that it's a 2008-2012 Chevrolet Malibu. Not only did the car drive right past Molly, it circled back three times. He'll pop out right here before a flashing left turn signal marked a final trip out to the blacktop where Molly was running. Finding that black Malibu suddenly became the major focus of the entire investigation.

[Steve Kivi]

They were able to eliminate a lot of cars in that area by knowing the owners.

[Lester Holt]

But not this one.

[Steve Kivi]

No.

[Lester Holt]

The next day, Deputy Sheriff Steve Kivi was on the road, not looking for anything in particular.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

Six o' clock at night, I was running home to check in with my family. And as I'm driving north here on Highway 63, I notice at the off ramp here at Black Malibu with the silver mirrors and the characteristics we were.

[Lester Holt]

Looking for, Kivi called in the plates and followed at a distance.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

I decided I would just kind of see where they went and try to identify the driver without actually doing a traffic. Traffic stop.

[Lester Holt]

Don't be with this guy that gets out from behind the wheel.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

I tried to talk to him, but he apparently didn't speak any English. So some older guy working in his yard came over and helped us communicate.

[Lester Holt]

The driver identified himself as Christian Behena Rivera and said he worked at a local dairy farm. You asked him about Molly, about her case?

[Christian Behina Rivera]

I did. And he said, I heard that there was a girl missing from Brooklyn, but that's all he knew.

[Lester Holt]

Is he telling the truth? Is he nervous?

[Christian Behina Rivera]

He wasn't nervous at all. Seemed cooperative and kind of nonchalant about the whole thing. He let me take his picture, and I took a picture of the car, and I relayed that back to the command post.

[Lester Holt]

Investigators confirmed the black Chevy Malibu Deputy Kivi had just followed was a perfect match to the car seen on video circling Molly.

[Steve Kivi]

You don't use the term divine intervention.

[Lester Holt]

Much, but you're finally getting lucky. Investigators learned Rivera was an undocumented worker who was in Iowa to work in local agriculture. They also discovered he'd been living here seven years using an assumed identity. Does he have a criminal record?

[Steve Kivi]

So we don't know. He's. He's essentially a ghost.

[Lester Holt]

Any of his co workers tell you anything interesting?

[Steve Kivi]

Everybody thought he was a good worker, decent guy, kind of quiet, worked a lot of hours.

[Lester Holt]

Four days later, investigators brought Rivera in for questioning. They also asked him if it was okay to search his two cars.

[Steve Kivi]

He not only agreed to that, he agreed to letting us tow them into the sheriff's office.

[Lester Holt]

Lawmen knew they needed a Spanish speaker, and they preferred to have a woman interview Rivera. Luckily, they had recently met Pamela Romero from the nearby Iowa City Police Department. You weren't a detective?

[Pamela Romero]

I was not a detective.

[Lester Holt]

You'd never investigated a murder before?

[Pamela Romero]

Never.

[Lester Holt]

And you'd never done anything like this?

[Pamela Romero]

Never.

[Lester Holt]

A lot of pressure.

[Pamela Romero]

Yes.

[Steve Kivi]

Talk about rolling the dice. I mean, that was a huge role in dice.

[Andrea Canning]

Nice to meet you. My name is Pamela Romero.

[Lester Holt]

Romero started the interview by keeping things light.

[Tom Yamas]

I go to work at like 5 or 5:30, and I get out at about 5, about 12 hours.

[Andrea Canning]

That's a lot of hours.

[Tom Yamas]

It's a lot. That's what we're here for.

[Lester Holt]

This doesn't sound like the kind of interrogation you see on TV and in movies, you know, where they're sweating the guy. This was just a conversation. Kind of like the one we're having now.

[Pamela Romero]

Yeah, we were joking around. I was asking him about his family. He was telling me everything.

[Lester Holt]

Rivera told Officer Romero he had an ex wife and a three year old daughter. And he repeated what he told Deputy Kivi, that he'd known about the missing jogger, but nothing more.

[Andrea Canning]

How did you hear about. About the girl that disappeared?

[Tom Yamas]

Because of the posters and all that, I think. Later it started appearing on Facebook a lot of my friends were sharing that.

[Lester Holt]

Then Officer Romero began to dig in.

[Pamela Romero]

We got to the point of also his vehicles. Who was the owner of the vehicle that he was driving?

[Andrea Canning]

Who else drives them aside from you?

[Tom Yamas]

Only me.

[Lester Holt]

Next, she confronted Rivera with images from the video of his Chevy Malibu passing Molly minutes before she disappeared.

[Andrea Canning]

The same car.

[Lester Holt]

Mm.

[Andrea Canning]

Which is your car.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. At some point, you start asking questions a little more pointedly about Molly Tibbets, about whether he saw her and what he was doing that day. And the video that shows him sort of driving past her.

[Pamela Romero]

More than once, he said, well, I believe I was driving my car. Oh, where were you going? And then he starts telling me that he was going over to visit some family member.

[Andrea Canning]

I feel you're still keeping another small part of this from me that you haven't told me.

[Tom Yamas]

Well, that's all I recall. I looked at her that time. Nothing more.

[Lester Holt]

And then, for the first time, Rivera acknowledged not just that he had driven by Molly, but that he had seen her and that he was attracted to her.

[Andrea Canning]

You liked her. She seemed attractive. She caught your attention. You turned around.

[Tom Yamas]

She was good looking. But I didn't look at her face.

[Andrea Canning]

No. All you noticed was the physical.

[Tom Yamas]

Well, yes.

[Pamela Romero]

So at that point, everything in my mind switched. That is when I said, okay, so he has something to do with her.

[Lester Holt]

I mean, this is not some guy. This is the guy. Even if he was, could Officer Romero get him to admit was day 33 of the investigation into the disappearance of Molly Tibbets, Police believed Christian Rivera knew what had happened to Molly, but he wasn't giving them anything.

[Tom Yamas]

I don't feel bad because, well, I didn't do anything. What else do you want me to tell you?

[Andrea Canning]

The truth.

[Steve Kivi]

There were a lot of ebbs and flows to the interview. The amount of stress was almost unbelievable.

[Tom Yamas]

I don't have anything. Nothing else to tell you?

[Andrea Canning]

Yes, you have something, and you know it. But you're scared because you know it's going to change your life.

[Lester Holt]

From the time when the interview begins, can you tell whether your instincts were correct and it is a good idea to have a woman involved?

[Steve Kivi]

Yes. And to take it one step further? Well, we decided to pull her partner out of there because he was only engaged with her.

[Tom Yamas]

What's going to happen to me?

[Andrea Canning]

I can't tell you what's going to happen to you, Cristian.

[Lester Holt]

And then Officer Romero finally did what every investigator hopes to do. She got Christian Rivera to crack and reveal the truth about Molly Tibbett's disappearance.

[Pamela Romero]

So he said he Saw her. Molly smiles at him, and then he decides to park his car, like, 100ft behind her. She was listening to music, so she was not aware that he was behind her.

[Lester Holt]

He had the advantage of surprise.

[Tom Yamas]

I do remember that I was fighting with her.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay.

[Tom Yamas]

I remember that I brought her into my car.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay?

[Tom Yamas]

She had blood, but I can't. I can't say if she was alive or dead.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay.

[Lester Holt]

Then he suddenly said what investigators had been trying to figure out for weeks. He knew where Molly was.

[Tom Yamas]

I remember that we were in the corn.

[Andrea Canning]

Mm.

[Tom Yamas]

Like, I remember that's where I put her.

[Pamela Romero]

And then he looks at me, and he goes, I will tell you where she's at.

[Lester Holt]

Rivera took investigators to a cornfield that was just a mile away from where they had concentrated their search. Just before sunrise, investigators finally found Molly Tibbets.

[Steve Kivi]

It's depressing. Makes you angry as to what you believe. Probably what happened.

[Lester Holt]

And what happened was as bad as it gets. What did the autopsy show?

[Steve Kivi]

You stabbed it off.

[Lester Holt]

Still tough for you to think about this, isn't it? It's soon everyone in Brooklyn was learning the devastating news that sent shockwaves through Molly's family.

[Morgan Collum]

I fell to the floor, and I was just sobbing, you know, because I knew in that moment I was never gonna get to hug her again, and I wasn't gonna get to welcome her back.

[Lester Holt]

Cristiano Rivera was indicted for first degree murder. His trial came three years later. Morgan was there every day to bear witness.

[Morgan Collum]

I'm a Christian woman. I knew I had spirit of God with me. I wasn't alone, and I had to do this for Molly.

[Lester Holt]

By then, Rivera had recanted his confession and pleaded not guilty. If convicted of first degree murder, he faced less life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[Steve Kivi]

Ladies and gentlemen, when you examine this.

[Lester Holt]

Evidence together.

[Steve Kivi]

There can be no other.

[Lester Holt]

Conclusion than that the defendant killed Molly Tibbets. Powashett County Prosecutor Bart Claver and Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown presented the pillars of the case against Rivera. The video of Molly jogging and Rivera's car blood found in his car's trunk that matched Molly's DNA and Rivera's confession to Officer Romero. Those three components all prove beyond a.

[Morgan Collum]

Reasonable doubt that Christian Rivera committed murder.

[Christian Behina Rivera]

In the first degree.

[Lester Holt]

A potentially insurmountable challenge loomed for the prosecution. The rookie investigator who had delivered in the interrogation room had also made a rookie mistake when she recited the constitutionally required Miranda warning to Rivera.

[Pamela Romero]

I skip a part.

[Lester Holt]

What part did you leave out?

[Pamela Romero]

The one where it states that anything can be used against you. In a court of law, anything you.

[Lester Holt]

Say, that's an important part.

[Pamela Romero]

Very important part.

[Lester Holt]

And because of that, the judge excluded six hours of Rivera's subsequent interview with Officer Romero, including his confession.

[Steve Kivi]

It was a devastating moment for the case, for the prosecution.

[Lester Holt]

Fortunately, Agent Trent Valletta had made sure Rivera was Mirandized a second time after he led them to Molly's body. And Rivera made another confession on the spot. And that little moment ended up saving you?

[Steve Kivi]

Yes, it did. It was maybe one of my bright, shining moments in my career.

[Lester Holt]

Mr. Bahina, I'm going to ask that you rise along with your attorneys, please. The jury wasn't out for long. We, the jury, find the defendant, Christian Behina Rivera, guilty of the crime of.

[Morgan Collum]

Murder in the first degree.

[Lester Holt]

Thank you, Carrie. Rivera was convicted of first degree murder and received a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

[Morgan Collum]

His voice saying he's convicted. That will never leave my memory.

[Lester Holt]

It doesn't even the scales, though, does it?

[Morgan Collum]

No, it doesn't. It doesn't. But it's good to know that at least justice has been served in the way that it can.

[Lester Holt]

How are you doing?

[Morgan Collum]

I'm doing okay. Therapy helps. Sharing Molly's story helps. Doing things that honor Molly in her life help.

[Lester Holt]

Molly's legacy and commitment to good deeds lives on in Brooklyn, Iowa and beyond. Every year, people put up new ribbons from the year before, around the time when Molly gone missing. Teal ribbons, Molly's favorite color. You still sort of feel her presence, don't you? All the time. There's not a day, I think, where I don't either think of her or just feel her. Nearby, a memorial fund for child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Iowa has received more than half a million dollars in Molly's memory. For Morgan, part of keeping the memory of Molly alive means running in her shoes. Running just as Molly did that last day.

[Morgan Collum]

You know, we got to have her. And we can carry on Motley's legacy in such beautiful ways and pay tribute to the life that she lived here on Earth.

[Lester Holt]

That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again Friday at 9, 8 Central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight. For NBC Nightly News, I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.