Alberto Bazbaz, an ally of the president, has been handed the top intelligence job despite leading a nine-day search for missing girl later found dead in her own bed

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Mexicans have expressed incredulity at the appointment of a former prosecutor to the country’s top intelligence position, even though he once oversaw a notorious nine-day search for a missing girl who was eventually found lying dead in her own bed.

Alberto Bazbaz, a close ally of President Enrique Peña Nieto, was named on Thursday as the new head of Mexico’s intelligence agency, Cisen, at a time when the country’s authorities are struggling to contain violent crime.

Bazbaz previously led the finance ministry’s intelligence unit since shortly after Peña Nieto took office in December 2012.

But he is best known for overseeing the case of Paulette Gebara, a four-year-old who was reported missing from her family’s apartment in a Mexico City suburb in 2010.

Despite extensive searches and a media coverage, investigators found no trace of the girl for nine days, when her decomposing body was found in her own bed – even though the room had supposedly been sealed by police.

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At the time, Peña Nieto was the governor of the state of Mexico, (which surrounds the national capital on three sides), and Bazbaz was the region’s attorney general.

Bazbaz resigned amid outrage over the bungled investigation, and a subsequent investigation concluded that Paulette died accidentally of asphyxiation.

Analysts say that during Bazbaz’s leadership of the financial intelligence unit, Mexico failed to make progress tracking down the fortunes of the country’s drug cartels.

His appointment to Cisen comes less than six months before presidential elections.

The switch in leadership at Cisen – which is part of the interior ministry – follows the resignation of the interior minister, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, who stepped aside on Wednesday to seek a senate seat. He left after an especially violent 2017 – which is set to be the country’s most murderous in recent memory.

Political observers said that Bazbaz’s appointment owed more to his links with Peña Nieto’s inner circle than his skills as a law enforcement official.

“The question here is not what is your area of expertise, but what [political] group do you belong to,” said Carlos Bravo Regidor, professor at the Centre for Teaching and Research in Economics. “If you have some relevant experience, that’s great, but it’s not a prerequisite for the job.” </s> Officials believe they have found the body of Mollie Tibbetts, a student at Iowa who had been missing for more than a month.

Officials believe they have found the body of Mollie Tibbetts, a student at Iowa who had been missing for more than a month.

Investigators believe they have found the body of Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who has been missing for more than a month. (Source: Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation via AP, File)

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) - A man from Mexico living in the U.S. illegally has confessed to kidnapping college student Mollie Tibbetts while she was running in her small Iowa hometown, killing her and dumping her body in a cornfield, authorities said Tuesday.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Tibbetts, whose July 18 disappearance set off a massive search involving state and federal authorities.

Rivera led investigators early Tuesday to a body believed to be Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa, where Tibbetts was last seen running, Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Rahn said.

"I can't speak about the motive. I can just tell you that it seemed that he followed her, seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day, for whatever reason he chose to abduct her," Rahn told reporters at a news conference outside the sheriff's office in Montezuma, where Rivera was being jailed.

The news that the highly publicized and gruesome crime was allegedly committed by a person in the country illegally drew immediate outrage. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, said: "As Iowans, we are heartbroken, and we are angry."

"We are angry that a broken immigration system allowed a predator like this to live in our community, and we will do all we can to bring justice to Mollie's killer," she said in a statement.

The arrest is likely to spark calls for a further crackdown on illegal immigration, which President Donald Trump has made a core policy of his administration.

He often has claimed widespread crime by people living in the country illegally, citing among other things the indictments of 11 suspected MS-13 gang members from El Salvador charged in connection with the slayings of two Virginia teens. Trump also has held events at the White House with members of "angel families," whose relatives were killed by immigrants.

Although Trump claims legal U.S. residents are less likely to commit crime, several studies from social scientists and the libertarian think tank Cato Institute find that isn't accurate and states with a higher share of people living in the country illegally have lower violent crime rates.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that it lodged a federal immigration detainer for Rivera after he was arrested on the murder charge. That move means the agency has probable cause to believe he is subject to deportation.

Investigators said they believed Rivera had lived in the area from four to seven years. Rahn declined comment on his employment history, but described Rivera as someone who lived in a rural area and kept to himself. A search of Iowa court records revealed no prior criminal history, and it's unclear whether he had ever been subject to prior deportation proceedings.

Rivera's Facebook page described him as being from Guayabillo, a community of less than 500 people in the state of Guerrero. It's about a three-hour drive from the resort city of Acapulco.

Investigators said they zeroed in on Rivera after obtaining footage from surveillance cameras in Brooklyn. The footage showed a Chevy Malibu connected to Rivera that was driving back and forth as Tibbetts was running in the area, Rahn said.

An affidavit attached to the criminal complaint against Rivera alleged that he admitted to investigators he got out of his car and started running alongside Tibbetts.

Tibbetts grabbed her phone and said she was going to call the police. The affidavit says Rivera panicked and then said he blacked out. Rivera next remembers seeing her earphones on his lap, and taking her bloody body out of the trunk of his car, it said.

"The defendant further described during the interview that he dragged Tibbetts on foot from his vehicle to a secluded location in a cornfield," the affidavit said.

Investigators said they had earlier searched the area for Tibbetts but didn't find her, noting the body was covered by corn stalks when recovered early Tuesday.

Rahn said that Rivera was cooperating with investigators and speaking with the help of a translator. He said an autopsy would be performed on the body Wednesday by the state medical examiner's office, which would assist investigators in understanding whether Tibbetts had been assaulted or tried to fight him off.

A conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which doesn't have the death penalty.

On Tuesday night, deputies were guarding a trailer where the suspect had lived on a gravel road outside Brooklyn near a dairy farm.

Tibbetts' disappearance set off a massive search involving dozens of officers from the FBI, as well as state and local agencies. They focused much of their efforts in and around Brooklyn, searching farm fields, ponds and homes. Investigators asked anyone who was around five locations, including a car wash, a truck stop and a farm south of town, to report if they saw anything suspicious on July 18.

Last week, Vice President Mike Pence met privately with the Tibbetts family during a visit to Iowa and told them that "you're on the hearts of every American."

At Brooklyn City Hall, city clerk Sheri Sharer said Tuesday was a sad day for the town.

"It never crossed our mind that she wouldn't come home safe," she said.

The University of Iowa mourned the loss of Tibbetts, a psychology major who would have started her junior year this week.

"We are deeply saddened that we've lost a member of the University of Iowa community," said university official Melissa Shivers, who urged students to seek counseling and other support services as needed.

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Mexicans react with incredulity after President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto appointed Alberto Bazbaz to the position of head of the CISEN intelligence service. Bazbaz is known for having overseen a 9-day search for a missing girl, Paulette Gebara Farah, who was eventually found dead in her own bed.