The grieving friends and family of murdered student Mollie Tibbetts gathered for her funeral on Sunday.

The 20-year-old went missing while out for a run on July 18, prompting a major search effort that ended in tragedy when she was found dead a few weeks later. An autopsy determined that she had died as a result of stab wounds.

The man accused of murdering her, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, is being held on a $5m cash bond as he awaits trial.

Speaking at her funeral at the Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School in Brooklyn, Iowa, on Sunday, her father Rob Tibbetts called his daughter his "hero." 

"Today, we need to turn the page. We're at the end of a long ordeal," he said. "But we need to turn toward life — Mollie's life — because Mollie's nobody's victim. Mollie's my hero."

Tibbetts' murder has intensified the immigration debate in the U.S. as there were reports that Rivera was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. 

But on Sunday, Rob Tibbetts spoke warmly of the local immigrant community, saying, "The Hispanic community are Iowans. They have the same values as Iowans. As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food."

Other family members also spoke at the funeral, with her cousin Morgan Collum telling people not to be mad at God for what happened.

"Please, don't be mad at God for taking Mollie away from us," she said, according to the Des Moines Register.

"Rather, praise God for His perfect creation in making a soul so sweet, so pure and so caring to all."

Over a thousand people turned out for Tibbetts' funeral in the gymnasium of the high school she graduated from in 2017.

She was studying psychology at the University of Iowa and had been back in her hometown of Brooklyn for the summer break at the time she went missing.

The Rev. Corey Close, pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where Mollie occasionally attended, described her in his homily as a "bright, shining light" who had an "infectious joy."

"When I think of the life of Mollie Tibbetts and her tragic death, I wonder why she is gone and I am still here," he said.

But he continued with a call to others to live a life of goodness in Mollie's memory.

"Do not let Mollie die in vain," he urged.

"Rededicate yourselves to live a good life, a faithful life, a life of goodness and compassion. It is so easy to be bitter, to feel like we have nothing to contribute. But Mollie's energy, her smile and her tenacity for doing good reminded me who I am called to be."