Iowa duo deny any involvement in Mollie Tibbetts' death
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press
July 16, 2021 — 5:11pm
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two childhood friends named by defense lawyers as alternate suspects in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts said Friday they had nothing to do with the crime.
Lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man convicted of killing Tibbetts, named Gavin Jones and Dalton Hansen as perhaps responsible for Tibbetts' 2018 stabbing death in court filings this week.
They made that assertion after inmate Arne Maki came forward in May to say Jones told him that Jones and Hansen killed Tibbetts after she was kidnapped and briefly held at a home used for sex trafficking. Jones' ex-girlfriend came forward independently the same day to say that Jones, 21, also told her that he killed Tibbetts.