DAVENPORT, Iowa – A farmworker accused of killing a University of Iowa student in 2018 fell asleep during a lengthy police interrogation, indicating his partial confession may have been coerced while he was sleep deprived, the suspect's defense attorney said Friday.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2018 stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts.
The partial confession is key to the prosecution’s case. Videos played in the courtroom in Davenport show Bahena Rivera appearing to sleep for several minutes during the 11-hour interrogation at the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office in Montezuma, Iowa, in August 2018.