Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Iowa Jogger Mollie Tibbets' Killer to Walk Free?

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

Sentencing for the man convicted of killing University of Iowa student, Mollie Tibbetts, has been delayed amid new information. Judge Joel Yates ordered Cristhian Rivera’s sentencing be delayed after two witnesses told investigators that a different man confessed to the crime. The delay came about after the defense filed a motion, blaming the prosecution for withholding evidence. According to Bahena Rivera’s attorneys, an inmate at the county jail said in May that he heard someone identified as “inmate 2” admit that Tibbetts was “bound and gagged in a trap house but that he was directed to kill Tibbetts once the search for her got too close,” CBS 8 reports. Inmate 2 allegedly said he was ordered to stab Tibbetts, who was initially kidnapped for sex trafficking, but killed after the case became too high-profile. Inmate 2 allegedly said he was ordered to hide the body near a Hispanic male in Tibbetts’ area, to pin the blame on someone else. The witness said he came forward after he heard Rivera testify during the trial that two other men killed Tibbetts and put the blame on him. State prosecutors said the inmate is not credible and evidence presented at trial proved that the real killer is Rivera. Still, the defense requested that the inmate be given the opportunity to testify, although the defense had already rested its case.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Jason Oshins - New York Defense Attorney Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" Featured on "The Piketon Massacre: Return to Pike County" on iHeartRadio Matt Finn - FOX News National Correspondent Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Just when you thought the Molly Tibbetts case was done, the right guy has been convicted of murder, murder of the gorgeous young Iowa co-ed. He's gone away for life. We'll never hear another word of it. In the last hours, a stunning bombshell. Six weeks after his guilty verdict, Christian Bahena Rivera's attorney says he deserves a new trial, and these court documents spell out why. The motion says new evidence came to light during the trial. That evidence is a state prison inmate who came forward claiming another inmate confessed to killing Molly Tibbetts

while the two men were both in jail. This witness inmate says he initially thought the confession was made up, but then saw Rivera's testimony and believed it was likely true. Court documents show the inmate, who allegedly confessed, said he was staying in a trap house owned by a 50-year-old man involved in sex trafficking. He says he saw Molly Tibbetts bound and gagged and that the sex trafficker hatched a plan to kill her. The inmate claimed he and another person carried out that plan to stab Molly Tibbetts and dump her body near a Hispanic male in order to make it

appear that the Hispanic male committed the crime. Okay, let me just digest what I just heard. We are now looking at potential new murderers in the Molly Tibbetts case, the case that just went to trial, the case where a Hispanic male, Christian Bahena Rivera,

was convicted of murder. Are we reopening the entire case? You were just hearing our friends at KCCI Des Moines. Can I digest what I just heard? That Molly Tibbetts was actually kidnapped, held at a trap house, and then instead of being sex trafficked, which was the original plan, they decided, nah, we'll just kill her and then we'll go all the way back and dump her body in a cornfield. This sounds a lot like the ransom note in the John Bonet Ramsey case, where the kidnapper comes in, writes several ransom notes,

not afraid at all of detection, then decides at the last minute, nah, you know what, forget that plan. I'm just going to kill the child and leave her here in the house. None of this is making sense. And with me to try and make sense of it all, an all-star panel, Jason Oceans, defense attorney joining me out of New York, New Jersey, throughout the tri-state area, Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction and Angela Arnold, MD.com, death investigator, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of the Piketon Massacre on iHeart Radio, Justice Scott Morgan.

But first, let's go straight out to Fox News national correspondent that broke the story regarding Molly Tibbetts. Matt Finn is with us. Matt, you know, just when you thought you could finally get a good night's rest, it's over, buddy. What's happening? Well, Nancy, we thought last Thursday was going to be a final chapter in this years-long case. I was told that Molly Tibbetts' own mother was preparing to give a victim impact statement about the murder of her daughter. And in a last-minute twist, instead of sentencing, Judge Joel Yates holds a hearing for these new motions about a man who allegedly confessed to killing Molly Tibbetts, Gavin Jones. The defense team presented its evidence or what it says happened,

and then the state rebutted and said that there is absolutely no truth to any of this, that this is a phishing expedition. And then on Friday, Judge Joel Yates denied the defense's request that the prosecution has to comply with these motions for new evidence. The judge even wrote that it's a phishing expedition. He wrote in part that defense has produced no legal authority to support their new arguments of a Brady violation. The state was allegedly sitting on evidence. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Hold on, man. Listen, not everybody listening today has a J.D., a juror's doctorate. Now, slow down.

You're saying the judge said there was no evidence of a Brady violation. What he's talking about is Brady versus Maryland, which says if there's any evidence that exists that the state knows about, they will exonerate the defendant, Christian Rivera. They have to hand it over. The judge said, no, the state didn't know about any of this. So that's out. He also referred to this as a fishing expedition. I don't know about that. What I want to hear about, with me, everybody, taking a big break from the news today to join us is Fox News national correspondent, Matt Finn. Matt, what is being claimed by the defense that Rivera's not the real killer? And that leads me to the question, who are the, quote, real killers?

You know, forget about JonBenet Ramsey's case. Let's talk about the O.J. Simpson case. It's been claimed he's not the real killer, that it's his son, that it's drug lords, that it's just a host, a potpourri of real killers. Who are the real killers in Molly's case? The defense claims an inmate named Gavin Jones confessed to another man that he killed Molly Tibbetts. Gavin Jones said that Molly Tibbetts ended up in a sex trafficking ring and that when the case got too hot, the investigation got too close, that he and another man named Dalton Hanson decided to kill Molly Tibbetts. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me digest what you're saying. It's like drinking from the fire hydrant with you, Matt Finn.

Too much information, too fast. Let's break it down. Okay, so you're saying that an inmate behind bars says Rivera did not kill Molly Tibbetts, that in fact she was kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring, held in a trap house, and then when the investigation became too intense, instead of her moving her to where she was going to be sex trafficked, they killed her and went basically back to the scene where she had been jogging, planted her body, and implicated Christian Rivera. Is that the story? That is the story, and it goes against Rivera's first confession when he was being questioned by police. It goes against his testimony on the stand during the trial. So this is now kind of a third version.

Who are these two defendants? Apparently there are two people behind bars that are claiming it's Arnie Mackey told investigators that a fellow inmate, Gavin Jones, claimed responsibility. Is that right? Yes, and the Associated Press reports they got in touch with both Gavin Jones and Hanson, this gentleman named Dalton Hanson who allegedly helped Gavin Jones. They now deny killing Tibbetts, and Jones says he has malarkey. Well, hold on. To Jason Oceans, New York defense attorney, of course they're denying it now.

What do you think they're going to go? Oh, yeah, I murdered Molly Tibbetts because that's setting themselves up for the death penalty. Nancy, this entire narrative sounds just farcical. Just at each angle, it just doesn't seem to connect as being believable. You just reminded me what I love about defense attorneys. This entire narrative sounds farcical. In other words, it's BS. Why don't you just say it like never say that defense counsel concocted it because that's, you know, perjurious. But by the same token, defense counsel is required to explore every angle that they possibly can. Well, yeah, if one of these guys said this behind bars, the defense has got to explore it.

But to be granted a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, that evidence has to not exist at the time of the first trial, not be discoverable. I don't know if this is discoverable or not at the time of trial. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are talking about a beautiful, on the inside and out, Iowa co-ed who went out jogging and is never seen alive again, Molly Tibbetts. Now, as you all know, there was a conviction in the case. Christian Rivera, a Mexican worker at a farm nearby. He had been in the States for many years illegally, I believe. And long story short, he admits to planting her body in the cornfield. He admits that he began following her when she threatened to call police as she was jogging. He got mad at her, blacked out, and then found her dead body in the trunk.

Now, hold on just a moment. I want you to take a listen to our friends at ABC, Alex Perez. The search for missing Molly Tibbetts has come to a tragic end today. A body was discovered early this morning in a farm field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. We believe it to be the body of Molly Tibbetts. She was found in a cornfield and there were corn stalks placed over the top of her. And tonight, a suspect in custody, 24-year-old Christian Rivera. Police say Rivera led them to her body this morning and confessed to her murder.

The case will be prosecuted by the Iowa Attorney General's Area Prosecution Division, and first-degree murder carries a penalty of life without the possibility of parole. According to authorities, Rivera encountered Molly Tibbetts near the intersection of Boundary and Middle Streets in eastern Brooklyn while she was out jogging. He actually tells us that he ran alongside of her or behind her. And then at one point, he tells us that Molly grabbed a hold of her phone and said, you need to leave me alone. I'm going to call the police.

And then she took off running. He, in turn, chased her down. According to authorities, Rivera then panicked and got mad. He tells us that at some point in time he blacks out and then he comes to near an intersection. Rivera told police he then drove to a cornfield in Guernsey where he dragged Tibbetts on foot for 20 meters and left her face up and covered in corn leaves. No one has said this was a sexually driven crime, but it certainly fits the pattern of dozens and dozens of sexual predator attack type crimes. Authorities say an autopsy is being done and have not yet released

a cause of death. Rivera has been charged with first degree murder. And at the end, when it was all said and done, this is what happens in court. At this time, Mr. Bahena, I'm going to ask that you rise along with your attorneys, please. And I would ask that the court attendant read the jury's verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant, Christian Bahena Rivera, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. Joining me, Matt Finn, Fox News national correspondent who's been on the story from the very beginning. That backs up what you were saying at the very beginning, Matt Finn, that this new allegation by his own defense attorneys contradicts what he, the defendant, told police at the beginning. How does it contradict?

Well, you know, when Rivera gave his shocking testimony, he basically said that the entire incident happened in one fell swoop, that he was at home in the shower, got out of the shower. These masked men, armed men, appeared in his home. They forced him to drive over to Brooklyn, Iowa, where he said these two men killed Molly Tibbetts. Then they forced him to drive to the cornfield, where he says the two men dumped her body and then threatened to harm Rivera's daughter and his ex-girlfriend if he ever confessed to anything. So basically it all happened, you know, in a matter of hours. So now you open up this possibility of Molly Tibbetts being alive for days or weeks, being held in a sex trafficking ring. None of that was ever presented in court, Nancy. Well, let's go to our cut 35, Jackie. This is Andrea Fuji at ABC

News backing up what Matt Finn is saying. Listen. He testified that on the day the 20-year-old was killed, he got out of the shower to find two strangers in his living room. Bahena Rivera, who speaks little English, says the men wanted him to drive them in his car. One man armed with a gun, the other with a knife. As they drove, Bahena Rivera says they passed Tibbetts running three to four times. He claims the men then asked him to turn the car around and one of the men got out, heading towards Tibbetts, disappearing for about 12 minutes. Bahena Rivera testified that something was later put inside the trunk of the car.

He says he then drove the men to a house next to a cornfield and was told that if he called police, his ex-girlfriend and daughter would be hurt. Because I remember that they said that if I would say something, they were going to do something to my family, my ex-girlfriend, my daughter. Bahena Rivera testified that once the men were gone, he opened the trunk and found Tibbetts dead. He says he put her body in the cornfield and decided not to tell police out of fear. Okay, back to you, Matt Finn, Fox News national correspondent. Matt Finn, you said the news story about the real killers is not consistent with what Rivera told Cotsen who was first arrested, but it's also not consistent with what he said at trial because at trial, under oath, Rivera foolishly takes a stand and says,

he saw these two guys, unknown guys, standing in his home when he gets out of the shower. They force him into the car. They then all together see Molly Tibbetts jogging. And then the next thing he remembers is she's put in the cornfield. That's entirely different than the news story that she was held in a trap house. She was abducted for sex trafficking. They killed her and then framed him and got him to put her in the cornfield.

Do I have that right? Are there three stories now, Matt? Yes, there are three versions now. And Rivera's attorneys claim that from the beginning, he gave them the same story about these two masked men, that that story never changed. So now we have this third version to consider as well, Nancy. Okay. Let me go straight out to Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator, professor of forensics. Let's just take the story that's being told now, the new story about the real killers that

have bragged behind bars. Okay. That they kill Molly Tibbetts. Number one, one says I had an alibi. I bet that alibi was they were both sitting in jail at the time Molly Tibbetts was killed. All right. Number one, I'm just throwing that out there. I haven't looked at their jail record, but I'm just guessing they were somewhere that would have made it impossible for them to kill Molly Tibbetts. But Joe Scott, let's talk about your field.

How can we look at Molly Tibbetts' body at the time it was found and disprove this new story i think that it's very simple nancy because you know if you begin to to match up the timeline with what they're talking about her body was in an advanced state of decomposition now what they're trying to do he's trying to he's trying to dilute this idea that she had been down as long as she had been, Nancy. She had been essentially, forgive me for saying this, but decomposing in this hot Iowa cornfield. And not just decomposing, but she had leaves piled on top of her. So you've got all these other scientific elements that are going along with this.

What he's saying is that she was killed. Wait a minute, you said it was simple and easy, but you're still talking. Well, no, it is kind of simple and easy. People all people everywhere understand decay. And and so what he's trying to say is that she was actually alive for a protracted period of time, that she was being held in this house that she had been. You know, there's certain accounts where they're saying that she was bound held in this house, that she had been, you know, there's certain accounts, you know, where they're saying that she was bound in a trap house, a trap house, Nancy, on the edge of a cornfield in Brooklyn, little Brooklyn, Iowa, you know, place has got a

population of 1,703 people. And, you know, trap house is what we used to call a crack house. And not only that, they're not saying, he's not just saying that there's one trap house. There are multiple trap houses in this little town. You're telling me that no one around there knows about these places? Give me a break. And that out of, this is a geographic anomaly. Not only that, you've got sex traffickers that are operating in this town of, you know, 1700 people. And they're, they're holding on to bodies there. They're holding on to people. And the G-men are closing in. So they decided to pull out the knives. And what kind of professional sex trafficker would actually, this was butchery, Nancy. She was absolutely butchered. She was stabbed multiple, multiple times. They would have just cut

her throat. They would have shot her in the head and be done with it. That's what would have happened. Exactly. End of story. You would not see a multiple stabbing just to get rid of somebody. They would not have gone to all that trouble. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about a huge, huge wrench in the works. A fly in the ointment.

Therein lies the rub. The conviction of Christian Rivera in the brutal murder of jogger Molly Tibbetts could be reversed based on new evidence. What new evidence? Take a listen to Our Cut 36. Hannah Adamson, KCAU 9. We begin tonight in Poweshiek County, Iowa, where two men identified by Christian Rivera's defense lawyers as potential suspects in the killing of Molly Tibbetts, say they are innocent. Christian Bahena Rivera was convicted in May of murdering the University of Iowa student in July 2018. His defense lawyers say two men, Gavin Jones and Dalton Hanson, were possibly responsible for her death in court filings this week. At a hearing Thursday, an inmate came forward claiming Jones told him he and Hansen killed Tibbetts after she was kidnapped and held at a home used for sex trafficking. Jones and Hansen say they have not yet spoken with investigators but are hopeful to clear their names. Rivera will be back in court July 27th for a hearing on his request for a new

trial. Oh, I can't wait to hear this. Now, for more information on that very point, take a listen to Michael Schur at News Nation Now. It was in a trap house allegedly run by 50-year-old James Lowe in New Sharon, Iowa, that inmate Gavin Jones says he saw Molly Tibbetts bound and gagged in a new motion filed by the defense. Prosecutors pushed back. We resist providing anything that they're asking for. There is no discovery post-trial. I understand the discovery rules apply pre-trial and don't apply post-trial. The Constitution applies all the time. And tomorrow, it is expected that Judge Yates will apply his ruling. And Rob,

you know, here's what's interesting. There are a lot of players in this now. And if this evidence goes forward, Gavin Jones is the inmate. And he apparently told not just the person who shared a cell with him, but also his girlfriend that he killed Molly Tibbetts. And his girlfriend was involved with James Lowe, who had that trap house in Iowa. Man, it's getting really confusing. And you know why it's getting really confusing out to you, Matt Finn? Because I don't think it's true.

And the more you elaborate this lie, the more difficult it will be to prove it. And the judge wrote in his own ruling on Friday that there's no nexus to Molly Tibbetts' case and this sex trafficking ring. And, you know, you heard the state say that this is just a phishing expedition, Nancy. Well, you know, I've said that a million times myself, phishing expedition, which it usually is. But I do agree with the defense in one point. The Constitution demands discovery pre-trial. In other words, you've basically got to hand everything over to the defense, and then they'll take all your evidence and spend their time trying to shred it. That's what happens at trial. Now, the defense says the duty to hand over evidence should exist post-trial, not under Brady v. Maryland, but under the Constitution. And with that, I agree. If a prosecutor gets information the defendant is innocent, hand it over. Go for the right guy.

I don't know that they really have that information or if this is something cooked up by the defense or by the defendant. Take a listen again to our friends at ABC, our Cut 34. This morning, a courtroom bombshell in the murder trial of Molly Tibbetts. The man accused of killing the University of Iowa college student in 2018 says he didn't do it. Instead, Christian Bahena Rivera claims he was kidnapped and forced to drive two masked men, and one of them killed Tibbetts, whose body was found in a cornfield. On day six of the trial, the 26-year-old Mexican national took the stand in his own defense, recounting this never-before-heard theory. Did you tell law enforcement the truth that night? Not all. Not all.

Matt Finn, how feasible is this story that he, the defendant, Rivera, is in his shower. I believe he shares a home. Nobody else saw these guys. They just magically appear in his den. When he gets out of the shower, there they are. They force him to drive his car while they identify this girl. And he's caught on video. His vehicle with distinctive paint markings, i.e. scratches, along the side going back and forth and back and forth, forward, reverse, forward, reverse. As Molly's running along, it's on video that really there are these two other guys in the car. They kill her and then they deposit her body in a cornfield. And then they disappear, tell him to drive away. And he does. That doesn't jive with his story that he found her in his trunk and got rid of her body. And it doesn't jive with his story now. But the feasibility

of his story. Let's talk about the one at trial. How believable is that? Well, I was on the ground for weeks in Iowa during the manhunt. And, you know, that entire region was so heavily analyzed and scrutinized. You know, ultimately, it was surveillance that cracked the case that, you know, revealed Christian Rivera's Black Malibu on video circling Mali Tibbetts. And so one question I asked myself was, if these two masked men were walking around that area, if they were in that vicinity at any point they likely would have showed up on video somewhere or someone would have said yeah I saw two unusual men walking on the side of the road it's a very rural area there's not a lot of foot traffic

so if there were these two men anywhere in that area I think someone would have spotted them or we may have even seen them on camera just like we saw Christian Rivera's car ultimately the state told the jury that these two men are figments of Christian Rivera's imagination. The defense claims this was his story from day one, Nancy. Okay, so who is this jailhouse informant that is claiming he overheard Molly Tibbetts' real killer? Take a listen to Laura Terrell at at kcci des moines our cut 31 ordered mount pleasant inmate arnie mackie to testify at a hearing thursday it's unclear if he's who confessed or who witnessed it mackie is set to be released later this year after serving

time for punching his girlfriend and her child in the face. Well, yes or no. Rivera's attorneys who declined an interview Monday also claimed that a second and separate source came forward accusing the same inmate of killing Tibbetts. This person showed up to the Powishee County Sheriff's Office on May 26th and told deputies that the month before the man held a gun to their head and said that Mexican shouldn't be in jail for killing Molly Tibbetts because I raped her and killed her. Okay. Isn't it true, Matt VanFox News national correspondent joining us, that the snitch behind bars also says that there's a girlfriend involved, Lindsay Marie Voss, who states that her

ex admitted to killing Tibbetts a month earlier. Yes, that is true. She said that he had told her that in a car. Her name is Lindsay Voss. Have we seen Lindsay Voss? Has she appeared yet? I have not seen her, spoke to her. Does she exist? We'll have to find out. I don't like what you just said. Because it seems to me, if this were a real witness, there would be a warrant for her, a witness warrant, a material witness warrant today. And she would be found and picked up and brought to the courthouse. That's how that works. Believe me, I've learned it the hard way. When witnesses don't want to come to court, you have to make them come to court.

And if they don't want to testify under oath and tell the truth, they can go sit in the county jail under a contempt order until they decide they do want to testify. That's how that works. So I'm wondering, is she real? Is this girlfriend real? Have we seen her? Do we know she exists? Has she been brought to court? More questions than answers right now in the case of Molly Tibbetts. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

We thought it was all sewn up and put away. No, it's not. Because in the last days, a snitch out of the jail says somebody else confessed to murdering Molly, not the guy that was convicted. I want to go to Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Can you even imagine, Dr. Angie, what this is doing to Molly's family? No. I mean, Nancy, I'm sure it's doing something similar to all of us to have to hear the descriptions of what that little girl went through. So now we have, particularly their family, they have to relive this all over again.

And to me, there are so many holes in everything that the accused, that the convicted killer says. I mean, first he blacked out. Remember how long we questioned that, that he had blacked out. And I don't understand why if somebody finds a dead body in the back of their car, why they don't immediately go to the police station if they're not the ones that killed that person. Well, and remember, Dr. Angie, with me, Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Dr. Angie, and I've seen this in many defendants and witnesses, they turn their head, they look away, they black out at the critical moment. They can tell you everything leading up to the shooting or stabbing and then everything within seconds after the shooting or stabbing. But that critical moment here, he remembers following her in his car. He remembers her threatening to call police. He then blacks out and then kind of wakes up and realizes, oh, there's a dead body in

my trunk. Let me go throw in a cornfield. That's pretty convenient to have that blackout at exactly the moment Molly's murdered. And I don't understand why these two people weren't brought up at his original trial if they were riding around in the car with him you know he's very manipulative well he did didn't he say at trial matt finn that these two guys that appeared in his living room were in the car with him yeah he said that they instructed him to get into his car they basically wanted to use his car was kind of his version and

they were in the car with him and they said he claimed that he never spoke out or initially told police the truth because they threatened to harm his daughter and his ex-girlfriend and i do want to say real quick nancy uh the defense team tells me that they are uh considering asking lindsey voss for a written affidavit. So we'll have to see. Considering? They better drag Ms. Voss to court and put her under oath. A written affidavit? Oh, H-E-double-L-N-O. If I were the prosecutor in that case, I'd say no.

This is not the, quote, highest and best evidence, which is a legal objection, as you'll back me up on that, Jason Oceans. The highest and best evidence will be Lindsay Voss herself on the stand under oath. So I can cross-examine her because wait a minute, wait, isn't that true, Jason Oceans? You got to have the highest and best evidence. No, of course. And I think certainly the- Is it no or is it of course? Well, you know, Nancy, certainly you want to have the highest and best evidence. Absolutely. Yes, you do.

I wouldn't settle for an affidavit. No, no, no, no. We're not settling for an affidavit. Obviously, on the defense side, if I want to convince the judge, I'm going to produce her. And certainly from the prosecution's desire to find out if the truth has been proffered or if there's perjury, whatever there might be, your prosecution is going to want out if the truth has been proffered or if there's perjury, whatever there might be, your prosecution is going to want that in the same vein. I'm curious, Joe Scott Morgan, about these other two now killers. If they were in his car, as Matt Finn is telling us, he testified at trial, wouldn't their prints be in his car? Were any of their prints picked up in

the car? Yeah, exactly. You know, Edmond LeCard, it goes back over a hundred years. Every contact leaves a trace, Nancy. Not only are you talking about one person, now you're talking about two people. So we're not only going to have possibly latent prints that are there that are left behind by these individuals, we might have touch DNA that's left behind. We might have some of their hair that's left behind. And we're not talking about just some kind of passive activity. We're talking about two individuals that are engaged in what amounts to a kidnapping of Rivera. Okay, so this is a forceful event. You're going to have a lot of contact, manipulation, things that are going on. So you're going to leave physical evidence behind within this environment.

And I can guarantee you this. The individuals that looked at this car, I'm talking about the forensics people, they went over it with a fine-tooth comb. Where's the evidence? I haven't heard about anything. Now, back to Matt Finn, Fox News national correspondent. Matt, again, thank you for being with us. This Lindsay Voss, Lindsay Marie Voss that I keep screaming about needs to be brought to court and put under oath. Apparently, she did tell investigators, so she does exist, that she had been in a car with Jones, the, quote, real killer,

when he points a gun to her head and says, quote, the Mexican shouldn't be in jail for killing Molly Tibbetts because I raped and killed her. Now, let's just talk about that for a moment. We know that there are court documents indicating Voss was given a restraining order against Jones on June 11. The defense is also trying to link the disappearance of a little 11-year-old boy, Xavier Harrelson, in the area to the real killers. I mean, Matt Finn, what a big mess. Yeah, the defense tells me that Gavin Jones has a long, violent history. And then also in court Thursday, you know, the state said that the fact that the defense is even bringing up this missing boy, which is an active case,

was immaterial. It was irrelevant because that's still an active investigation. We don't know the outcome of that. And the judge wrote in his ruling that there is no nexus to that, you know, alleged sex trafficking ring and that missing boy and molly tibbets nancy you know um joe scott morgan brought up a fact which i completely oppose and that is in a small town there's no sex trafficking surprise even in my little hometown of making the surrounding area you go to the massage parlors and the nail salons you'll find that people in the massage parlors, many of them are being forced to work. And that was also uncovered in the Atlanta shootings of various massage parlors

where people were brought here to this country, forced to work, people sex trafficked as well. I mean, it just, it can happen anywhere, but I do agree with him and that I find it hard to believe that there are that many sex trafficking rings in this one small town. But Matt Finn, interesting, the defense noted that the quote, real killer Lowe had been accused of running a sex trafficking ring out of a home back in, I think it was May of 2018. Yeah. And anything's possible. You know, I just think that so far this new story doesn't add up or coincide with any of the other former versions of testimony from Christian Rivera. And, you know, we've been talking about the Tibbetts family. Throughout the trial, they were telling me they were so satisfied with the prosecution and ultimately the guilty verdict because, quote, Christian Rivera could never hurt anyone again.

So as we've been discussing, you can imagine that this is all being dragged back up in the family. It's just got to feel immense grief that, you know, Rivera is not being sentenced. The information about the prior allegations of a sex trafficking ring against this one guy are going to surface again in the courtroom. Where do we stand right now? Take a listen to our Cut 32. This is our friends at News Nation Now. The Iowa judge presiding over the sentencing of the man convicted in the 2018 kidnapping and murder of University of Iowa student Molly Tibbetts says he will decide by week's end on a defense motion to introduce new evidence.

I do anticipate that by week's end I will have a ruling one way or the other telling you what we are going to do. The proceedings rocked this week by revelations of potentially exculpatory evidence ahead of the sentencing of Christiane Bahena Rivera. They had that information for two years prior to trial. They sat on information. Defense attorney Chad Freeze saying that the out-of-court testimony of a former inmate and that of another woman saying she too was trafficked from Brooklyn, Iowa two months prior to Molly Tibbetts' abduction from the same town needs to be heard. She's picked up by a state trooper, an Iowa state trooper, who then she relays this horrific story of sex trafficking in this, it's a trap house, brothel, drug house. Trap houses are homes rented for the purpose of selling and distributing drugs and used also for sex trafficking.

The reality is, Matt Finn, Fox News national correspondent, all of that may very well be true, that there is a sex trafficking ring, and that this guy, Lowe, was accused of sex trafficking in the past. But the reality is this story does not jive, does not coincide, does not fit with anything the defendant himself said happened in any of his previous stories. That's right. And, you know, we were also discussing, you know, Molly Tibbetts' decomposed body. We saw some of those gruesome pictures. And unfortunately, her corpse was almost unrecognizable. decomposed body we saw some of those gruesome pictures and unfortunately her corpse was almost unrecognizable so it this new version doesn't align with the claim that she was you know alive and being tortured in a house somewhere for

some time and the judge you know pretty much agreed in the statement he said there we I can't find a nexus to the allegation of a sex trafficking ring and Molly Tibbetts' death. Back him up, Joe Scott Morgan, regarding the period of decomposition of Molly's body. Does it make this news story impossible? Yeah, it does, Nancy. She had been down probably immediately. And it's really hard.

You know, folks out there think that we can actually give you an exact date and time of death. However, with brackets around this, we can frame it to say that, no, once she disappeared, she wasn't alive. She wasn't alive for, say, a week or two weeks or three weeks after she had last disappeared. She had been down for a protracted period of time that would fit within that time frame of when she was last seen alive, Nancy. This is very critical, Joe Scott Morgan, and let me go back. I've already cited two previous cases. Let me cite the Scott Peterson case, the theory that Lacey Peterson was kidnapped by someone that wanted a baby and held hostage for weeks. And then the baby Connor was cut out of her stomach. No, because baby Connor emerged from her stomach after her body degenerated in the water. And he, Connor, was pristine like a little baby doll. So that whole story was disproven by the facts surrounding the decomposition of Lacey's

body. And I believe that will be the single strongest element in this scenario to disprove the new theory. We wait as justice unfolds, God willing. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart podcast