Jury reaches verdict at murder trial in death of Iowa runner

A jury has reached a verdict and is expected to announce it Friday afternoon in the murder trial of a farm laborer charged with killing a University Iowa student in 2018

Student Killed Iowa

A jury reached a verdict Friday afternoon in the murder trial of a farm laborer charged with killing a University Iowa student in 2018.

Jurors at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport reached the verdict after about seven hours of deliberations on Thursday and Friday in the case of Cristhian Bahena Rivera. Court officials were expected to announce the verdict Friday afternoon.

Bahena Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts who disappeared while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn Iowa, on July 18, 2018.

Prosecutors allege that Bahena Rivera attacked Tibbetts while she was running and then dumped her body in a cornfield.

Bahena Rivera claimed that two mystery men killed Tibbetts but forced him to drive them and left him with the body.