DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa woman wanted in connection with the death of her 5-year-old son has been arrested while her one-time boyfriend remains at large. The Quad-City Times reports that 24-year-old Jacqueline Majanise Rambert, of Davenport, was taken into custody Tuesday in Chicago. Murder warrants were issued for Rambert and 26-year-old Tre DeSean Henderson for the death of 5-year-old Ja’Shawn Bussell. The boy died on May 1, 10 days after he was assaulted.

Authorities say Henderson fled the Davenport area and remains at large. Rambert’s pastor in Chicago, Brad Beier, says Rambert never fled from police and has been cooperating with them. Authorities say Henderson assaulted the boy, causing head and other injuries. Bussell was taken to a Davenport hospital and then airlifted to Iowa City, where he died.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — For years, the young man from Mexico presented himself as a legal U.S. resident and reliable worker at a family dairy farm in small town Iowa, his employer said.
But this week, the image of Cristhian Bahena Rivera transformed in a matter of hours. Now he’s a man accused of illegally living and working in the U.S. on fraudulent documents, of being a predator who kidnapped and killed a beloved young woman, and to some, the monstrous face of a lax immigration system. Rivera made his initial court appearance Wednesday in a rural Iowa courthouse on a first-degree murder charge in the death of 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts. He sat stone-faced and handcuffed in a striped jail jumpsuit as he said through an interpreter that he understood he faced life in prison if convicted. He was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond after a prosecutor said he was a danger to the community who was accused of a “heinous crime.”

The turn of events stunned the prominent farm family that employed him for the last four years. They said the 24-year-old worked under a different name and was a good employee who helped take care of their cows and got along with co-workers. Even after Tibbetts disappeared on July 18 while out for an evening run in the small central Iowa town of Brooklyn, Rivera kept coming to work and “nobody saw a difference” in his demeanor, said Dane Lang, the manager of Yarrabee Farms. His colleagues were stunned Tuesday to learn that he was not only the suspect in Tibbetts’ death, but that he had a different real name than what he went by on the farm, Lang said. “Our employee is not who he said he was,” Lang said at a news conference at the farm. “This was shocking to us.”

When Rivera was hired in 2014, he presented an out-of-state government-issued photo identification and a matching Social Security card, Lang said. That information was run through the Social Security Administration’s employment-verification system and checked out, he said. Rivera’s defense attorney, Allan Richards, acknowledged Wednesday that his client received his paycheck under a different name and that he was uncertain of his immigration status. He said he was prepared to argue that his client was in the country legally, noting that he came to the U.S. as a minor and had worked and paid taxes for years.
“He showed up every day and he did his job. He was patted on his back. They turned a blind eye to the reality of documentation,” Richards said.

Rivera lived in a trailer owned by his employer, and is the father of a young girl. But little else is so far known about Rivera, who only came on to investigators’ radar this week. “A major part of the investigation now is: Who is he? Where did he come from, and what has he been doing?” Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director Mitch Mortvedt said Thursday. Investigators say they believe Rivera abducted Tibbetts as she went on an evening jog, killed her and dumped her body in a cornfield. A judge on Wednesday agreed to increase Rivera’s bond to $5 million from $1 million after prosecutor Scott Brown noted he was a potential flight risk who was charged with a “heinous crime.” His attorney, Richards, lashed out at President Donald Trump for publicly declaring his client guilty within hours of his arrest Tuesday. He said his client was a hard worker with the equivalent of an eighth-grade education, had no prior criminal record and deserved the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. “Sad and Sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members,” Richards wrote in a court filing.

Trump has claimed that people living in the U.S. illegally often commit crimes, and has prioritized cracking down on illegal immigration. But studies by social scientists and the libertarian Cato Institute reject that assertion, saying states with higher shares of people living in the country illegally have lower violent crime rates. In an interview that aired Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” Trump called Tibbetts a “beautiful young girl.”
“She was killed by a horrible person that came in from Mexico, illegally here,” Trump said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer for Rivera, which means the agency has probable cause to believe he is subject to deportation.

Yarrabee Farms is a small family farming operation that dates back to 1860 and has been owned for six generations by the Lang family, which is prominent in the community, farming circles and Republican politics. Dane Lang said the farm had received dozens of disturbing phone calls and messages since the employee’s arrest, including threats to kill his dog and burn down his buildings. “This is a scary situation,” he said.
His father and farm co-owner Craig Lang, a former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau who ran earlier this year for state agriculture secretary, said the farm was cooperating with investigators and had already turned over Rivera’s hiring records. He said now was not the time to debate immigration but to grieve the loss of Tibbetts, who was studying psychology at the University of Iowa.

Rivera led investigators Tuesday to a body believed to be Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Brooklyn, where she was last seen, police said. Rivera allegedly confessed to following her and then panicking when she threatened to call police. He told authorities that he blacked out and then dumped her bloody body in the secluded location. An autopsy began Wednesday seeking to confirm that the body found was that of Tibbetts and to determine the cause and manner of death.

Rivera’s Facebook page described him as being from Guayabillo, a community of less than 500 people in the Mexican 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. The farm where he worked was just a couple miles away from that location. A conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty.

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today (Thursday), that she is appointing her first Governor’s Teachers Cabinet to give teachers a more prominent voice in education policy decisions. The teachers will meet quarterly with Gov. Reynolds, Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg and Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise to offer their advice about how to better prepare all students for the knowledge economy, elevate the teaching profession and strengthen the direct line of communication between the governor’s office, schools and communities. Gov. Reynolds named seven members to the cabinet and is seeking nominations for up to eight additional teachers by Oct. 15. Cabinet members will discuss issues like personalizing learning for every student and exploring how to provide teachers more opportunities to blend real-world work-based projects into the curriculum. The first cabinet meeting will be held this fall.

Among the seven members named to her cabinet, was Vanesa Sanchez, Elementary Dual Language Teacher, Denison Elementary School, in the Denison Community School District. Reynolds said  “We are looking for ways to better support the critical work teachers are doing across the state,” Gov. Reynolds said. “We also want to hear from teachers about how to better connect the classroom to future careers. With the goal of 70 percent of our workforce with education or training beyond high school by the year 2025, teachers are the front line of Future Ready Iowa.” Lt. Governor Adam Gregg said “Conversations about issues like how to deliver high-quality computer science instruction statewide – including ensuring access for rural students as well as urban students – will help us make more informed policy decisions.”

You can submit nominations for the Governor’s Teachers Cabinet by Oct. 15 at govteacherscabinet@iowa.gov.  Be sure to include, in 250 words or less, why you are recommending your nominee. Anyone may nominate teachers, including school administrators, community leaders, parents and students. Self-nominations are welcome. Cabinet members will serve for one year.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested for Fraudulent Practice in the 3rd Degree, Wednesday afternoon, following a traffic stop on a vehicle whose registered owner was wanted on a warrant. A Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol near the Underwood Fire Station, noticed a Chevy S10 pickup traveling southbound on Railroad Highway, and being driven by a male subject who appeared to be in 50’s. A check of the license plate indicated the owner, 56-year old Troy Little, of Council Bluffs, had a warrant for Fraud-False Application, an aggravated misdemeanor. Once the traffic stop was initiated and just south of Underwood, the deputy made contact with the driver and confirmed he was Troy Little. After the warrant was confirmed through the Pottawattamie County Communications Center, Little was taken into custody and booked into the Pott. County Jail, where his bond was set at $2,000.

And, a man from Henderson was arrested at around 2:30-a.m. today (Thursday), on a warrant for Failure to Appear in court on an original charge of Driving While Barred. 33-year old Nicholas John Horgdal was arrested in Henderson, and transported to the Pott. County Jail.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday, 33-year old Shawn Leroy Schmidt, of Kimballton, was arrested August 16th. Schmidt was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Probation. Schmidt has since posted bond, and was released.

Sheriff’s officials in Ringgold County report a man and a woman from central Iowa were arrested over the weekend on 1st offense Trespassing and 2nd Degree Burglary charges. 39-year old Cody Carpenter Reynolds, of Des Moines, and 36-year old Tara Leanna Campfield, of Ankeny, were arrested last Saturday for their alleged crimes, in Kellerton. Reynolds and Campfield are being held in the Ringgold County Jail until seen by a magistrate. And, a Mt. Ayr couple, 31-year old Andrew James Cason and 29-year old Kara Danee Cason, were arrested Aug. 17th. Both were charged with Domestic Abuse Assault, a simple misdemeanor. They were being held without bond in the Ringgold County Jail until seen by a magistrate.