Heartbreaking police bodycam footage captured the moment Laken Riley’s devastated family arrived at the murder scene and were told she had been murdered.
In the footage, Riley’s parents Allyson and John and sister Lauren were seen crying after being told the news of Laken’s murder.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” her mother could be heard screaming. She then lay on the ground with her head in her hands as Laken’s sister and father cried on the side of the street.
As the footage ended, played at the end of the trial of Laken’s killer Jose Ibarra, prosecutors summed it up: “That’s what they endured.”
The images caused astonishment during the trial, where 26-year-old Ibarra, an illegal immigrant, was present sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the student’s murder.
The Venezuela native, a member of the infamous Tren de Aragua who had pleaded not guilty at the University of Georgia to the murder of the 22-year-old man in February, stared coldly as the verdict was read out in front of his victim’s family cried in court.
Ibarra was left stone-faced when he learned he would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Prosecutors had declined to seek the death penalty in the case.
Heartbreaking police bodycam footage captured the moment Laken Riley’s devastated family arrived at the murder scene and were told she had been murdered
“Oh my God, oh my God,” her mother could be heard screaming. She then lay on the ground with her head in her hands as Laken’s sister and father cried on the side of the street.
Laken Riley’s killer Jose Ibarra was found guilty of her murder on Wednesday
Ibarra showed no emotion as Riley’s heartbroken mother begged the judge to give the killer the maximum sentence.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found him guilty after waiving his right to a jury trial. The trial started on Friday.
Ibarra was convicted of all ten charges against him: malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily harm, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.
The case fueled the immigration debate during this year’s presidential elections.
President-elect Donald Trump responded to the verdict, writing on Truth social: “JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The illegal who murdered our beloved Laken Riley has just been found GUILTY on all counts for his heinous crimes.
“While the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for justice, and ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they went through.
‘We love you, Laeken, and our hearts will always be with you. It is time to secure our border and remove these criminals and thugs from our country so something like this cannot happen again!”
Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing near a lake on the University of Georgia campus
Family members and friends of Laken Riley react as Supreme Court Justice HA Patrick Haggard announces the verdict Wednesday
Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus. She studied there until 2023, after which she transferred to Augusta.
Her housemates reported her missing after becoming concerned that she had been away longer than usual.
Prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers to the trial, as well as Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.
Riley fought for her life for 18 minutes as Ibarra tried to rape her before her life was snuffed out. DNA evidence found on her body later linked him to the crime.
The photo was taken at 9:05 a.m. on the day of her death from CCTV cameras near her home on the University of Georgia campus. She held her iPhone in her left hand, wearing all-black workout clothes and her noise-canceling AirPods
Riley’s parents Allyson and John Phillips (center and right) were filled with emotion as the trial started Friday
“She marked her killer for all the world to see. It’s his DNA. Just his DNA, under Laken’s right nails,” Georgia Special Prosecutor Sheila Ross said.
“He left his fingerprint on her iPhone, which was found next to her body at the crime scene.”
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening statement that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case compelling and disturbing. But he said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove his client killed Riley.
Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case on Wednesday morning.
On Friday, prosecutors said Ibarra’s DNA was a direct match to the DNA under Riley’s fingernails, and was “10 billion times more likely than a chance match.”
During the first day of the trial, officials also showed images of suspicious scratches on Ibarra’s body at the time of his arrest.
The judge said that as he listened to the closing arguments, he wrote down in a notebook two things the attorneys had said. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence “overwhelming and powerful” and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him to “put my emotions aside” in making his ruling.
Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022 and was allowed to remain in the country while pursuing his immigration case.
He has been identified as a member of the ruthless Tren de Aragua gang.
Scratches of varying lengths were identified by officers, imaged and submitted as evidence in the case against him
Donald Trump met backstage at his Rome, Georgia rally on Saturday with Laken Riley’s family and friends, including the roommate who reported her missing
On Monday, the court saw images of Ibarro’s brother and roommate Diego Ibarra, who has a tattoo of a five-pointed crown on his neck, a symbol of association with the TDA.
TDA became a national story after shocking footage showed apparent members taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. The gang started in prison in Venezuela and has spread across the Western Hemisphere as the oil-rich country experiences the world’s worst migrant crisis.
Also on Monday, Ibarra’s other roommate, Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello, told the court that she moved to Georgia because Diego Ibarra told the alleged killer that there were jobs in Athens.
Flores-Bello said she met Ibarra in Queens, New York, and within a month she decided to move to Georgia with him.
Diego Ibarra and a third brother, Argenis Ibarra, pleaded guilty in July to having fake green cards.
When asked how they obtained the plane tickets, Flores-Bello said they were provided by New York officials.
“In Manhattan, at the Roosevelt Hotel, we requested a humanitarian flight to Atlanta, on October 9 or 10, 2023,” she testified.
Ibarra was arrested four months later for the student’s murder.