you likely remember her name? Molly Tibbits. Her disappearance in a small Midwestern town held the attention of the nation. As events unfolded, Her case became a flash point for a national issue at the height of summer. On July 18th 2018 20 year old University of Iowa student Molly Tibbets was dog sitting alone at her boyfriend's brother's house. That evening, she went for a routine job and never returned. Mollie had just vanished. First night, she went missing. I was distraught, and I knew her phone was dead. But I sent her a text anyway, saying, I love you were looking for you and will find you no matter what. Nobody has any idea why how this could happen in a place like in the days that followed, missing posters could be found in every corner. Her name and face covered storefront windows, cars, T shirts and buttons. It's really tough. You'd never think you know what's gonna be in your small town. It's gonna be someone you know. Wanna missing poster? You're praying here. Good words that they found her. It was okay. Those words mean with Interstate 84 5 miles south of town here you could be anywhere in this country and a day and 1/2 to 2 days, so we're very thankful of. The national media has picked up the story and praying a lot. Share it every time it comes up across my Facebook. I think that people just have seized on Molly Story because it's similar to their own Children, and they know that if it wasn't, Molly could have been one of their kids. Molly's father, Fluto, Iowa, from his home in California to aid with the search any way he could. Frantically handing out posters and fliers, the family implored anyone with information to come forward, seeking any tip that would lead them to Molly. People here in the state that saw something or know something that get back to the authorities with that information that ultimately will bring Molly back. She's a real person, not a missing girl. On a poster. Reward money for information leading to Molly's safe return climbs toe almost $400,000. A steady stream of tips came in from the public, but several weeks after her disappearance, there were still no breaks in the case. There's people that don't even know Molly from the sound. They're doing all that they can. It's almost like a daughter to anybody else in this town. Also pretty extraordinary. The compassion that Iowans have offering support and their prayers and all the encouragement in the world. Just hang in there. Pi. Everybody's looking a matter of time. Then, after more than a month had passed, and shortly after Molly's father announced he'd be returning home to California, a rush of information came forward. This is breaking news on K C. C. I ate news. The first degree murder charge was filed today in connection with the disappearance of Molly Tibbits. Molly's body was found hidden in a corn field about 10 miles southeast of Brooklyn. She had died from multiple sharp force injuries. Investigators said the discovery wasn't an accident. They had been led there by Molly's alleged killer, 24 year old Christian Baheen. A. Rivera was charged with Molly's murder. Investigators say they homed in on Rivera after someone provided them with a home surveillance video. The footage shows Molly jogging as well as a black Chevy Malibu investigators identified as Rivera's thinking he may have been one of the last people to see her alive. Police went to speak with him during the interview. He tells us that he sees Molly running and was able to approach her, and while he was interfacing with her, he actually tells us that he ran alongside of her or behind her. And then at one point, Molly said, You need to leave me alone. I'm gonna call the police And then she took off running. He in turn, chased her down. And then he tells us that at some point time he blacks out and then he comes to near an intersection, which we believe he then placed moment. Can't really speak about the motive. I can just tell you that he seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day, and for whatever reason, he chose to abduct her. Background details on Rivera quickly emerged after his arrest. Investigators learned he'd been living and working in the area for 4 to 7 years. What we learned in the last 24 hours is that our employees was not really, said he waas. This guy stayed around for 35 days. After he did that, nobody noticed anything. There were death threats, people threatening to burn down a building. Somebody threatened to kill my dog. This is really scary situation. Rivera had given the farm where he worked a false name and information to hide that he'd illegally immigrated to the U. S. From Mexico. When the public learned this, Molly's death became a political talking point in the immigration debate. Politics has always been, ah, hardball game to play, so to speak. But over the past 25 or 30 years has become increasingly a nasty form of hardball. Molly's family disagreed with the way her death was being politicized. Her father went so far is to publish a column in The Des Moines Register, saying, On behalf of my family and Molly's memory, I'm imploring you to stop. For most of the summer, the search for Molly brought this nation together like no other pursuit. There was a common national will that did transcend opinion, race, gender and geography. Let's not lose sight of that miracle. Let's not lose sight of Molly. She was a beautiful young woman who had a great life ahead of her, but she was also someone always smiled, and I think she was very energetic and that energy was contagious. Molly was a very happy person. She was always very supportive of everybody. She always wanted to make sure they were happy and smiling. It's good days and bad days. I'll have a week of bad and then a week of good and I just try and find the silver lining in it. I know that this is how she would want me to react. And when I am sad, I think about her seeing me and I don't want that. I want people to remember that Molly lived life to its fullest, and she wants us all to go on living our best potential life. Molly's alleged killer has pleaded not guilty. The trial, which was originally scheduled for February 4th 2020 has been delayed toe. Learn more about the case and the impact this ordeal has had on Molly's family and the community. We spoke with local KCC I reporter Laura Terrel. I can honestly say I've been pretty amazed by Molly's mom. She always tries to honor Molly's memory for good, and I think that's the way she copes. I even asked her. I said, How can you be so okay under the circumstances. And she said, I just know this is what Molly would want and she just really wants to honor her daughter's memory. Her strength through all of this has really been incredible. And she was actually in the headlines in December 2018 after an article was published in The Washington Post. Can you talk a little bit about that? Molly's mom or a color would it took in, Ah, young man into her home. He's actually the sign of Mexican immigrants, and so his parents were getting a lot of death threats after the charges and everything came out. So they fled. And she wanted their son to still be able to go to school to still be able to play basketball and still be able to live his life. And so she took him in, and she found out after the fact that there was actually a connection there with the suspect, and so she didn't really know that until after she took him in. But she still treated him with respect and, you know, knew that he had nothing to do with it. And I think it garnered a lot of attention because, you know, immigration is a hot topic. She was very clear. She didn't want to make this a political issue. What happened to her daughter and her whole point was to allow this young man to continue to go to school and to not feel unsafe in the town where he grew up because somebody else did something that he had nothing to do with it. Given the circumstances, when Molly went missing that she was out for a run When all this happened, what kind of conversations were had in the wake of her disappearance? We did a lot of safety stories. We talked about it a lot because you know, there's a lot of women that run alone or that bike or that do outdoor activities. And people were scared, especially when we didn't know where she was or what had happened. Yet. I know, even for me, I felt nervous to go for a walk by myself. You know, we talked a lot of experts. I think in the end, you know, people realize that you still have to live your lives. You can't live your life in fear, but you just need to be aware of your surroundings and What more do we know about Molly's disappearance? It sounds like investigators had very few leads until they got that surveillance video leading them to Rivera. There's a lot of talk about her Fitbit and her cell phone and, you know, tracking it. And those things were turned off, and we just didn't know a whole lot until the day that the suspect was arrested in the court documents. And in that press conference they said that the suspect led them to Mom's body. Otherwise, they may never have found her. I know Molly's mom the greenest, really, for her was knowing where Molly Woz and knowing that she was found, she feared that they would never know. And the unknown would be the worst heart. Is there anything else about Molly's story that you want to share? Any parting message is, you know there's something now called Molly's movement. Molly was so passionate about helping people, she was passionate about mental health. She wanted to be a child psychologist, So there's a fund in her name where you could donate money to the bay via West and Family Children's Hospital Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. So huh family, specifically her mom has taken this unthinkable tragedy and tried to create something positive out of it. Molly's movement is just about spreading her positive message forward, and her mom doesn't want people to just remember the horrible, unthinkable, gruesome way that she died. She wants people to remember the way that she lived. This'll has been your weekly dispatch subscribed to stitch for more stories like this.