Laken Riley Murder | The trial of Jose Ibarra begins

On November 17, 2024By Pranco

Editor’s note: ATlanta News First is providing live coverage of the murder case. Some details in the livestream and in this story may be graphic and contain disturbing images, details and sensitive material. Viewer discretion is advised.

ATHENS, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – In a case that became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration during the 2024 election, the trial of the suspect in the murder of a nursing student on the campus of the University of Georgia ( UGA) place is underway.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, is the undocumented immigrant from Venezuela charged in the February 22, 2024, death of Laken Hope Riley. The 22-year-old Augusta University student’s body was found on the UGA campus after a friend told police had said Riley had not returned from her morning run. After a full day of testimony on Friday, the court will close for the day shortly before 5 p.m. The court will meet again on Monday, November 18 at 8:30 am.

On Friday, Sheila Ross, a veteran attorney with the Georgia Prosecuting Attorney’s Council who was tapped by Western Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez to prosecute the case, gave a chilling account of the timeline of Riley’s first disappearance; discovery of her body; and a subsequent trail of evidence that ultimately led to Ibarra’s arrest.

“Jose Ibarra went hunting for women on the University of Georgia campus,” Ross said. ‘The evidence will show that Laken fought. She fought for her life; she fought for her dignity.”

Attorney Dustin Kirby acknowledged that the evidence surrounding Riley’s death is “graphic and disturbing” and that her death was “a tragedy,” and while “the evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered, the evidence is that Jose Ibarra Laken Riley has been murdered indirectly.”

Ross said cell phone and camera records showed Riley left her apartment for a run around 9:03 a.m. on Feb. 22; After she didn’t return home, her roommates started searching for running trials in the neighborhood around 11:30 a.m., where they discovered one of her AirPods.

Ross said Riley’s roommates then returned home to report her missing. Police began searching the running paths in the area where Riley’s phone pinged and eventually found her body covered in leaves under a tree. Riley’s body was found 20 yards from a trail. Her phone was also found nearby, also covered in leaves. Police would later say that Ibarra’s left fingerprint was found on the device.

Ross said data from Riley’s Apple Watch showed she was pulling over around 9:10 a.m. when she called 911. That call was played in court, but no dialogue is heard; however, at the end of the conversation, what sounded like a man’s voice sounded.

At 9:28 a.m., Apple Watch data showed Riley’s heart stopped beating.

CCTV photos of Riley running were shown in court, as well as her phone, and photos of the woods where her body was found.

Ross also showed surveillance camera footage of a man they identified as Ibarra walking to a dumpster in his apartment complex, dumping a black jacket and then dumping gloves in a nearby bush. Ross said both the jacket and gloves contained Riley’s blood and DNA.

The prosecution’s first witness was Lily Steiner, who said she tracked Riley’s iPhone when she didn’t return home and noticed the device hadn’t moved for three hours. Steiner then said she called 911 to report Riley missing; that call was played in court.

Kevin McGreevy, communications training coordinator for the Athens-Clarke County Sheriff’s Office 911, oversaw a digital enhancement of Riley’s 911 call. He said the 911 call was terminated “by the caller;” when a 911 dispatcher called back, there was no answer.

A 911 call was replayed from a UGA student reporting that someone tried to break into her home around 7:75 a.m., about 90 minutes before police said Riley was killed.

Riley’s roommate, Connolly Huth, became emotional as she remembered going running with Riley three to six times a week. She said Riley always listened to music or called her mother while running, and always wore an Apple Watch or a Garmin and tight clothing for compression.

Riley passed away blunt trauma at the attack; Police believe there is no connection between her and Ibarra, who died earlier this week waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to a bench trial.

Sergeant Kenneth Maxwell, the Athens-Clarke County police officer who discovered Riley’s body, attempted to revive the August University nursing student and set up a perimeter around the scene once other emergency medical personnel arrived.

Ibarra is charged with malice murder, murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, obstructing a 911 call and concealing the death of another. State court judge H. Patrick Haggard presides over the trial against Ibarra.

Ibarra’s arrest warrants accuse him of “mutilating” Riley’s skull by hitting her with an unknown object. He also allegedly dragged her body to a “remote area” to conceal the death, according to arrest warrants.

Riley grew up in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, graduated from River Ridge High School in Cherokee County, where she was on the cross country team, and then attended the University of Georgia in Athens. She later transferred to Augusta University’s nursing school and took classes at the Athens campus, not far from the sprawling UGA campus. She remained active in the student organization she joined at UGA.

The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Ibarra “was released on parole due to detention capacity at the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas,” and ICE officials have said that Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally.

The matter of illegal immigration was a major focus of the president-elect Donald Trump’s successful quest Unpleasant regain the White House.

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