Mollie Tibbetts funeral plans announced

KABC logo
Friday, August 24, 2018
New home videos show Mollie Tibbetts dancing, laughing
New home videos show Mollie Tibbetts dancing, laughingVideo taken by Mollie Tibbetts' friend shows the missing college student's fun-loving personality. The first clip was taken the day before she went missing.

Funeral plans have been announced for Mollie Tibbetts, the Iowa college student missing more than a month before her body was found this week.

"Mass of the Resurrection for Mollie Tibbetts" will be held on Sunday, August 26 at 2 p.m. in a high school gymnasium in her small town of Brooklyn, Iowa.

Tibbetts was last seen on July 18 going for a run. Her body was discovered on August 21 after investigators said Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the suspect in her murder, led them to her.

There is some confusion surrounding Rivera's immigration status. Tibbetts' aunt spoke out on Thursday, saying she did not want Mollie's memory to be forgotten in the larger discussion surrounding her death.

"I don't want Mollie's memory to get lost amongst politics," Billie Jo Calderwood told CNN.

RELATED: Mollie Tibbetts' aunt doesn't 'want Mollie's memory to get lost' amid immigration debate

Friends and family have remembered Mollie as a kind, playful young woman with many interests including Harry Potter, running, speech and theater.

Tibbetts, who spent her early childhood in the Bay Area and her adolescence in Brooklyn, was a sophomore psychology major at the University of Iowa. This summer she was staying with her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, and his brother in Brooklyn and working as a camp counselor.

Earlier this summer, Mollie was the best man at the wedding of her father, who lives in Fresno. Her mom said she was also supposed to be the maid of honor when Jack's brother Blake got married in early August.

During the time she was missing, her boyfriend spoke out to the media and made it clear what kind of person she was, saying, "She's the sweetest, kindest most caring person that I've ever met in my life."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

RELATED STORIES:

Autopsy results indicate Mollie Tibbetts was stabbed to death

Employers say Rivera was working under a fake name

What happened to Mollie Tibbetts? Everything we know about the case

Who is Cristhian Bahena Rivera? What we know about the suspect

The disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts: A timeline

A history of women murdered while jogging

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.