Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 from Brooklyn, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Associated Press) 
 
 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. 
 
 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 at a rally Tuesday night. 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 noted the arrest at the rally in West Virginia: "You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. Should've never happened. Illegally in our country." 
 
 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have lodged an immigration detainer for Rivera, a move that means the agency has probable cause to believe he is subject to deportation. No hearing has been held yet on his status. 
 
 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. 
 
 Investigators have not released the cause and manner of Tibbetts' death, and didn't release any information following an autopsy conducted Wednesday. 
 
 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. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv ||||| CLOSE Dane and Craig Lang say they received threats after revealing they employed Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man charged in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts. Rodney White, rodwhite@dmreg.com 
 
 Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, is lead from the courtroom after making his initial appearance on a charge of first-degree murder during at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa, on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018. Rivera is accused of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts. (Photo: Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette/Pool) 
 
 When the Lang family watched the news about Mollie Tibbetts unfold on Tuesday, a familiar face flashed on the screen. 
 
 They were shocked. The face of the suspect was familiar to them as one of their employees at Yarrabee Farms, but the name that went with the picture was completely different. 
 
 "What we learned within the last 24 hours is that our employee was not who he said he was," said Dane Lang, manager of Yarrabee Farms. 
 
 Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the 24-year-old immigrant accused of abducting and killing Tibbetts, allegedly used a different name and provided false identification when he applied for employment at the farm just outside of Brooklyn, his employer said Wednesday. 
 
 Rivera worked at Yarrabee Farms in rural Poweshiek County for four years, Lang said. Yarrabee Farms is owned by multiple generations of the Lang family, including Craig Lang, former Farm Bureau President and prominent Iowa Republican. 
 
 Rivera was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in the July 18 disappearance of Tibbetts, whose remains were found in a cornfield in rural Poweshiek County. A criminal complaint released Tuesday said Rivera directed law enforcement to Tibbetts' body. 
 
 Rivera worked on day-to-day operations with the cows. He was introduced to the Lang family and gained employment there through a former girlfriend. 
 
 He also lived on the property in a mobile home, said Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. 
 
 "We continue to cooperate with the investigation, and we have provided information about our former employee, including his hiring records, to authorities," Craig Lang said during a press conference on the farm on Wednesday. "There will be plenty of time later to discuss immigration. However, now is not that time." 
 
 COMPLETE COVERAGE:All the latest Mollie Tibbetts information here 
 
 Dane Lang is Craig's son. He said Rivera provided a state-issued government ID and social security number when applying for employment. The information is required to file a Form I-9, which verifies the identity and employment eligibility of a person in the U.S. 
 
 As a voluntary second verification step, the business put Rivera's information through the Social Security Administration’s number verification service, but Dane Lang said he and others assumed it was E-Verify.gov. 
 
 E-verify.gov allows employers to check if the information on a Form I-9 matches Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. 
 
 Employment verification officials consider E-Verify a more robust backgrounding system, because it includes immigration status and eligibility to work in the United States. A check of only a social security number verifies that the number, name and birth date an employee provided match information that exists in the federal Social Security database. 
 
 Dane Lang said Rivera provided a different name when he applied for employment, but he would not share it on Wednesday, citing the investigation. 
 
 "This employee was considered in good standing," Dane Lang said. Rivera showed up to work on time, cooperated with the other employees and showed up every day, he said. 
 
 Over the last month, the younger Lang said he didn't notice any changes in Rivera's behavior. He said he always worked well with his colleagues. 
 
 "I wish I had seen a difference, but I didn't," Dane Lang said. 
 
 About 10 full-time and part-time employees work on the farm. He said the family was consulting with their immigration attorney on whether they can use E-Verify to check existing employees’ background. 
 
 Dane Lang would not confirm whether there were any non-U.S. citizens employed at the farm. 
 
 He said the farm's employees are a part of the community and some of their kids have gone on to become homecoming king or a valedictorian. 
 
 At least 100 threatening voicemail messages have been sent to Dane Lang since Tuesday, he said. People have threatened to burn down buildings and even kill his dog after learning Rivera was employed at the farm. 
 
 "This is a really scary situation," he said. "And the unfortunate thing is, people are paying attention to me and we’re forgetting about the heartbroken family in Brooklyn and the heartbroken community." 
 
 The Register's Donnelle Eller contributed to this report. 
 
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 Aug. 23, 2018, 9:31 PM GMT By Corky Siemaszko 
 
 President Donald Trump and his Republican allies seem to be convinced there is political gold in the tragic death of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts — and they began mining for it as soon as her accused killer was identified as a Mexican immigrant. 
 
 And the Iowa State Medical Examiner's announcement Thursday that Tibbetts death was a "homicide resulting from multiple sharp force injuries" is likely to fuel more outrage. 
 
 Calling the nation's immigration laws a "disgrace," Trump at a Tuesday rally in West Virginia zeroed-in on Tibbetts rather than comment on the conviction of former campaign manager Paul Manafort or the guilty plea by his former fixer, Michael Cohen, which both happened earlier that same day. 
 
 "You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from Mexico," he told the crowd at the Charleston Civic Center. "And you saw what happened to that incredible beautiful young woman." 
 
 President Donald Trump speaks a rally at the Charleston Civic Center on Aug. 21, 2018 in Charleston, West Virginia. Spencer Platt / Getty Images 
 
 Iowa's two Republican senators, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, meanwhile said in a joint statement: "Too many Iowans have been lost at the hands of criminals who broke our immigration laws. We cannot allow these tragedies to continue." 
 
 And former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich has declared on Fox News that "if Mollie Tibbetts is a household name by October, Democrats will be in deep trouble" come Election Day. 
 
 Another Fox News contributor, former GOP congressman Jason Chaffetz, has declared that Tibbetts' death would resonate with voters far more than the investigations into Trump's former cronies. 
 
 "Personally, I don't believe that the Cohen and Manafort story really moves the meter in one direction," said Chaffetz, who was filling in for Fox host Laura Ingraham. "But what will touch the hearts, what does touch people's emotion, is what happened to Mollie Tibbetts because they can relate to her and she was murdered. All the polls are showing that the No. 1 issue is immigration." 
 
 Chaffetz did not specify which polls. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 28 to July 2 found that immigration (15 percent) nudged out the economy (14 percent) and health care (12 percent) as the most important issue among U.S. voters. 
 
 That same poll, however, found that 52 percent of registered voters disapproved of the way Trump was handling the immigration issue. 
 
 Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee echoed Chaffetz's remarks. 
 
 "There's not a lot of sympathy, even among Republicans, for Paul Manafort," he said on Fox News. "But all of us are attached to the unnecessary death of a young lady whose life was ahead of her and who's dead because we have broken immigration system. And I think the Republicans have a great opportunity to say, 'Let's fix this.'" 
 
 Asked by Chaffetz whether the GOP runs the risk of being accused of politicizing Tibbetts' death, Huckabee insisted Democrats politicized the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, and "every shooting that happens." 
 
 But the GOP narrative is getting some pushback from some members of Tibbetts' family. Billie Jo Calderwood, who has been widely reported to be Mollie Tibbett's aunt, posted her dismay on Facebook. 
 
 "Please remember Evil comes in EVERY color," she wrote in a post that has since been made private. "Our family has been blessed to be surrounded by love, friendship and support throughout this entire ordeal by friends from all different nations and races." 
 
 Sam Lucas, a distant cousin of the slain college student, was outraged by tweets from conservative commentator Candace Owens, which she said vilified immigrants and fired back with some choice words of her own on Twitter. 
 
 "I was just like, 'Holy cow, my family just lost a member and this is the immediate response,'" Lucas told The Washington Post. 
 
 Trump's rally remarks also got a lukewarm reception on Wednesday from the prominent Iowa Republican who employed the suspect on his family farm. 
 
 "I respect the president regardless of party," a clearly uncomfortable Craig Lang answered when asked if Trump was politicizing Tibbetts' death to push an anti-immigration agenda. 
 
 Criticism of attempts to politicize Tibbetts' murder also came from the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute which noted that "the vast majority of research finds that immigrants do not increase local crime rates and that they are less likely to cause crime and less likely to be incarcerated than their native-born peers." 
 
 "This terrible murder is already feeding into a political firestorm," the Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh wrote. "People with a political axe to grind, those who want to distract from the recent conviction of Paul Manafort and plea deal for Michael Cohen ... want to convict all illegal immigrants of this murder in the court of public opinion, not just the actual murderer." 
 
 It's not the first time Trump has seized on the death of a young woman to make his case for building a wall and cracking down on undocumented Mexican immigrants 
 
 As a presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly mentioned Jose Ines Garcia Zarate after he was charged with fatally shooting Kathryn Steinle in 2015 while she was strolling on a pier in San Francisco. 
 
 When Zarate was found not guilty last year, Trump called the verdict "disgraceful." 
 
 A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017 
 
 In the Tibbetts case, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday after the body of 20-year-old Tibbetts was found in a field east of her hometown, Brooklyn, Iowa. 
 
 In a court filing ahead of Rivera's first court appearance on Wednesday, his lawyer, Allan Richards, sought a gag order claiming that Trump and the federal government was promoting the idea that his client was in the country illegally. 
 
 Cristhian Rivera, 24, accused of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, is led from the courtroom after making his initial appearance on a charge of first-degree murder during at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa, on Aug. 22, 2018. Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette / Pool via Reuters 
 
 Richards' motion was denied. And in an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Richards was evasive when asked for proof that Rivera was in the U.S. legally. 
 
 "The proof would be, he's been in the community for seven years, working 12 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. 
 
 Michael Bars, a spokesman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said, "We have found no record in or systems indicating he has any lawful immigration status." 
 
 Lang's son, Dane, said earlier that Rivera used a different name when he applied for a job on the farm four years ago. He said the Social Security card and Iowa state identification Rivera produced checked out when they ran them by the Social Security Administration.
– One of roughly 10 employees at Yarrabee Farms in rural Poweshiek County, Iowa, the 24-year-old lived in a mobile home on the property, always showed up for work, and got along with his co-workers as he took care of the cows over the course of four years. It was only Tuesday that his employers learned his real name. Cristhian Rivera, accused of killing 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, used a different name associated with an out-of-state government ID and matching Social Security card when he got a job at the dairy farm through a former girlfriend in 2014, reports the Des Moines Register. When the information was run though the Social Security Administration's verification service, everything checked out, farm manager Dane Lang tells the AP. But "our employee was not who he said he was," adds Lang, son of farm co-owner and prominent Republican Craig Lang. "This was shocking to us." Immigration officials now suspect Rivera was in the US illegally. Per the AP, a Facebook page in his name gives his hometown as Guayabillo, Mexico, a community of less than 500. The AP adds Rivera's attorney, Allan Richards, on Wednesday said he might argue his client was here legally, saying Rivera had been in the US since he was a minor and paid taxes. But Richards did say he hadn't verified Rivera's immigration status. At a vigil at the University of Iowa where Tibbetts would've started her sophomore year on Monday, her brother had one request for the hundreds gathered: make a friend. "You can always attribute that friendship … to my sister, and that would mean the world to her," he said, per the Register.