Laken Riley suspected killer is charged: Illegal migrant Jose Ibarra is indicted for student’s murder and peeping on UGA staff member
- Jose Ibarra was indicted on 10 counts by a grand jury in Georgia on Tuesday
The suspected killer of Laken Riley has been officially charged with the murder of the 22-year-old nursing student.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was indicted on 10 counts by a grand jury in Georgia on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old is also accused of peeking through a window to spy on a University of Georgia employee on the same day he allegedly killed Riley, as first reported by Fox News.
Riley was beaten to death on February 22 while running on the Athens campus.
The complaint alleges that Ibarra injured her head with blunt force and “asphyxiated her in a manner unknown to jurors.”
It also says Ibarra “severely disfigured her head by hitting her head several times with a rock.”
The suspected killer of Laken Riley has been officially charged with the nursing student’s murder
Jose Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant, was indicted by a grand jury in Georgia on Tuesday
Ibarra is charged with malice murder, kidnapping with bodily harm, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from calling 911, tampering with evidence and acting as a peeping tom.
He allegedly entered one of the university’s apartment complexes “with the intention of becoming a peeping tom, in the sense that he peeked through the window and spied and invaded.” [the employee’s] privacy.’
Riley’s body was found the same day on campus in a wooded area near Lake Herrick, with trails popular with runners and walkers.
Ibarra crossed the border into El Paso, Texas, in September 2022, but was released from a detention center due to lack of space. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Sunday that he had previously been arrested in New York.
Police say he hid a jacket and gloves that were evidence in the alleged murder.
Riley attended the University of Georgia until spring 2023 before transferring to Augusta University’s College of Nursing, according to a statement from the University of Georgia, which does not have a nursing program of its own. She remained active in the sorority she joined at the University of Georgia.