A 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico has been charged with the murder of missing Mollie Tibbetts.

Christian Rivera, 24, was charged on Tuesday after leading police to the corn field where he dumped Mollie's body after attacking her on July 18.

Rivera, who has been in the US illegally for between four and seven years but is from Guayabillo in Guerrero, Mexico, followed her in his black car as she ran at around 7.30pm on July 18.

He 'blacked out' and attacked her after she threatened to call the police unless he left her alone. Rivera was identified by surveillance footage obtained last week from someone's home.

It showed him following the student in his car and Mollie running ahead of him. It is not yet clear how Mollie died.

'He followed her and seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day. For whatever reason he chose to abduct her,' Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Ryan said on Tuesday afternoon.

Rivera told police he had seen her in the area before. She is friends on Facebook with the mother of his daughter but it is not clear if he and Mollie knew each other.

Mollie was staying alone overnight in her boyfriend's home the night she went missing and was last seen going for a jog in the neighborhood at around 8pm but what happened afterwards has remained a complete mystery for weeks.

Her boyfriend opened a Snapchat photograph from her at 10pm which appeared to suggest that she was indoors but it is not known what time Mollie sent it.

Last week, the FBI said it believed she had been abducted by someone she knew.

They warned that the person was 'hiding in plain sight' and had even attended vigils held in her honor but no arrests were made.

A $400,000 fund for her safe return was established but it did not produce any leads either.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6084291/Illegal-immigrant-held-death-missing-Iowa-student-Mollie-Tibbetts.html