Hearing into new murder allegations of Mollie Tibbets is scheduled for Thursday

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – On Thursday there will be a hearing into new allegations in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, and whether it may be linked to a boy’s disappearance.

Earlier this year, a jury convicted Cristhian Bahena Rivera for the death of Molly Tibbetts. Bahena Rivera led police to the body of University of Iowa students in a cornfield in 2018.

Bahena Riveras’ sentencing was set for Thursday, but her lawyers appealed, causing a delay.

They believe the Tibbetts case is linked to the disappearance of Xavior Harrelson.

The 11-year-old disappeared from Poweshiek County during the Bahena Riveras trial last May. This is the same county where Tibbetts went missing and where his body was later found.

The defense said a detainee showed up after Bahena Riveras testified at the trial, claiming that a cellmate admitted to killing Tibbetts.

The inmate claimed that the death of Mollie Tibbetts and the disappearance of Xavior Harrelsons were linked to a New Sharon-based sex trafficking ring. It’s southwest of Brooklyn and Montezuma.

The lawyers never discussed this information at the Bahena Riveras trial.

The defense claims the state was aware of this during the penultimate day of testimony, but they said they only got a recording of an interview with one of the detainees. beginning of this week.

The new motion alleges that James Lowe, 50, was running a sex trafficking ring from a trap in New Sharon.

The motion alleges that Lowe tied Mollie Tibbetts to the house at one point.

The motion says that an inmate, who was not Bahena Rivera, admitted to killing her.

Legal analyst and lawyer Eric Tindal said there may be a pre-sentencing defense strategy.

Well, the strategy is to create doubt or lack of confidence in the verdict so that you can try to get a new trial and a new jury and present that new evidence and try to get an acquittal, Tindal said.

Court documents show Lowe lived with Xavier Harrelsons mother Sarah for some time. This is how the defense claims that the two cases are linked.

Court records show that the defense believes that an inmate, Gavin Jones, in fact killed Mollie Tibbetts.

As of Thursday morning, Lowe does not face any charges related to Harrelson or Tibbetts.

The prosecution said the new information is not new at all, saying the defense was aware of this during the trial and did not raise it.

The prosecution also said the allegations did not match the details Bahena Rivera testified.

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

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