Monday, August 27, 2018
BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The father of Mollie Tibbetts, whose body was found last week in a central Iowa cornfield, asked hundreds of mourners to remember the 20-year-old by “celebrating something wonderful” rather than focusing on how she died.
Tibbetts was memorialized Sunday afternoon at a ceremony in the gymnasium of Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
Rob Tibbetts urged congregants to remember his daughter’s passion for life and her desire to help others. To highlight his call to celebrate “wonderful” things, Tibbetts recognized a couple who had just married the day before during his eulogy.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death. Authorities have said Tibbetts was abducted while running July 18. An autopsy shows she died from stab wounds.