By Associated Press - Saturday, February 2, 2019

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) - A new trial date has been set for a former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register reports that a judge on Friday set trial for 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera on Sept. 3 in the Poweshiek County courthouse in Montezuma. Trial had been set for April 16. Defense attorneys said they needed more time to go through a massive investigation file from prosecutors.

Rivera is charged in the killing of Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. A medical examiner has said Tibbetts was stabbed to death.

Rivera is a Mexican national who has been accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com

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