The illegal alien accused of murdering 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts allegedly crossed illegally into the United States through the southern border as a child, an acquaintance of the accused killer says.

In an exclusive report by Ben Ashford for the Daily Mail, an acquaintance of illegal alien Cristhian Bahena-Rivera — a 24-year-old from Mexico who has been charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death — reveals the story she was told by the illegal alien of how he arrived in the U.S.

Christina Evans, who cleaned the property where Bahena-Rivera lived, told the Daily Mail:

She says the Mexican workers laboring on the farm shared their stories of hardship with her. ‘Hearing the stories of what happened in Mexico, I have no doubt these guys had it hard,’ she said. ‘Cristhian told me that he came over with a couple of cousins when they were young. Their uncle helped them cross. [Emphasis added]

Investigators and federal immigration officials have yet been able to nail down exactly when Bahena-Rivera entered the U.S. illegally. Officials have continued to say that the illegal alien has been in the country for about four to seven years.

Bahena-Rivera has demanded that the government and media stop referring to him as an “illegal alien,” though federal immigration officials confirmed to Breitbart News that the suspect is in fact illegally in the country despite his claims otherwise.

Accused Mollie Tibbetts Killer Demands He Not Be Called ‘Illegal Alien’https://t.co/4ssHlLa2NG — John Binder 👽 (@JxhnBinder) August 23, 2018