Laken Riley murder trial resumes in Georgia
Retired NYPD inspector and attorney Paul Mauro analyzes the testimony so far in the trial of Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant accused in the murder of a Georgia college student.
ATHENS, Ga. – Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley in February while she was on a morning run, is back in court Monday for the second day of his trial.
Security guards escorted Ibarra, who was wearing a striped shirt and black pants with handcuffs around his wrists, into Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard’s courtroom at the Athens-Clarke County courthouse Monday around 7:15 a.m.
Prosecutors say Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens the morning of Feb. 22.
The suspect is charged with 10 counts total, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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Jose Ibarra listens through an interpreter during the second day of his trial at the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement Friday.
Ross said Ibarra then encountered Riley on her typical morning run and attacked her.
“The evidence will show that Laken fought. She fought for her life.”
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said. “…The evidence will show that Laken fought. She fought for her life. She fought for her dignity. And in that fight, she caused this defendant to leave evidence behind. She also marked her killer for the entire world to see. The forensic evidence that he left behind in this fight is his DNA, and only his DNA.”
Allyson Phillips, mother of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student killed earlier this year, reacts as John Phillips, Riley’s stepfather, comforts her during Jose Ibarra’s trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Between Riley’s Garmin watch, a Christmas present she used for running, and her iPhone, investigators were able to determine that she placed a 911 call at 9:11 a.m., just minutes after she left for her run at 9:03. She then fought for her life for 17 minutes until her heart stopped at 9:28 a.m.
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Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running.
The defendant’s attorney, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening statement that evidence would not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He said it would take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial evidence.”
Allyson Phillips, mother of Laken Riley, second left, listens during the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
“If that happens and the presumption of innocence is respected, there should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged,” Kirby said on Monday.
The first witness to testify on Monday — the state’s 10th witness so far in Ibarra’s trial — was UGA PD Sgt. Joshua Epps, who responded to Ibarra’s apartment in Athens, where he lived with four other individuals, including his two brothers, on Feb. 23. Epps said police detained and questioned Ibarra’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, that morning around 8:30 a.m. with Spanish-speaking officers translating. Police-worn bodycam footage was played in court on Monday showing the encounter, partially on mute because the brothers will be testifying in court later this week.
Jose Ibarra reacts as he listens through an interpreter during the second day of his trial at the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. Jose Ibarra is facing charges for the murder of Laken Hope Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus in February. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Police questioning that morning began with Diego Ibarra, who was wearing what appeared to be the same black Adidas hat as a suspicious individual who was captured on security camera footage on the day of Riley’s murder. The footage shows the individual disposing of an object in dumpster at an apartment complex not far from the crime scene. Police obtained the footage after finding a dark jacket with long, brown hair tangled in its buttons.
Sgt. Epps said the Adidas hat appeared to have dirt on the back of it while Diego wore in on the morning of Feb. 23. Diego also presented a false ID that showed two different birthdates.
At one point during their questioning of Diego, Agrneis walked out of the apartment carrying what appeared to be a five-gallon, white garbage bag. Officers quickly obtained a search warrant for the apartment.
Athens-Clarke County Police Officer Zachary Davis points out the jacket he collected from a dumpster on a photograph as he testifies on the witness stand during the trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
“Well, based on the fact that he was wearing that hat, the time frame that … [UGA PD Sgt.] Tim Johnson encountered him was within 24 hours of the murder,” Epps said of their reasoning behind obtaining the search warrant. “He was walking back towards the general direction of campus, which was concerning as well.”
Later on in the bodycam video footage, Epps and other officers entered the apartment and found another individual, later identified as Jose Ibarra, sleeping in bed not far from the entrance of the apartment.
Officers identified themselves and said “hola” multiple times upon entering the apartment, trying to wake Jose. Eventually, he got up out of bed, and police began questioning him. They also asked to inspect his body for any signs of injury.
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“I noticed on his right arm — his bicep — there was a scratch, which I identified as a potential defensive line,” Epps testified. “On his left arm, he had a forearm scratch that was very similar, which in my mind, looked like fingernail scratches to me. While he was sitting there speaking to us. I also noticed on his left wrist just below the palm, he had a puncture, maybe half an inch wide. … I could see, like, wet flesh … almost like it was fresh. It wasn’t very old.”
Diego Ibarra’s teardrop tattoo that authorities believe to be gang-related. (Middle District of Georgia)
UGA PD Patrol Cpl. Rafael Sayan, who speaks Spanish, testified Wednesday that while he was inspecting Jose for injuries he noticed a red mark on his head that Jose said was from wearing a hat. Bodycam footage of the interaction was played in court Monday morning.
“I ask him what type of hat, and he motions over to Diego, who’s sitting to the right of him, that it’s a hat very similar to that one that was on Diego,” Sayan testified.
Diego and Argenis, meanwhile, did not appear to have any signs of injury when police inspected them that morning.
Jason Riley, center, Laken Riley’s father, listens during the Jose Ibarra trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The state’s 11th witness to testify on Monday, GBI Special Agent Annie Moorman, said that during a search of the Ibarra brothers’ apartment on Feb. 23, investigators located three plastic, restaurant-style black gloves from a drawer in the kitchen.
“Earlier in the day, officers had located gloves that had been described as looking sort of like these from a bush at the apartment complex,” Moorman said. Other law enforcement officers previously said black disposable gloves had been recovered from a bush near the dumpster where authorities recovered the black jacket with long hair wrapped in the buttons.
Rosbeli Flores-Bello, the Ibarra brothers’ former roommate, testified that she met Jose in Queens, New York, in 2023 through a mother-in-law when she came to the United States with her partner. She had been staying at the Roosevelt Hotel at the time.
Migrants reach for food being handed out while filmed by a woman outside of the Roosevelt Hotel where dozens of recently arrived migrants have been camping out as they try to secure temporary housing on August 02, 2023 in New York City. The migrants, many from Central America and Africa, have been sleeping on the streets or at other shelters as the city continues to struggle with the influx of migrants whose numbers have surged this spring and summer. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Diego Ibarra was already in Athens and promised they could find work in the college town, she said. Around Sept. 9 or 10 in 2023, they requested a “humanitarian flight” from Manhattan to Atlanta and eventually traveled to Athens, where she moved into the same apartment with Jose, Diego, Argenis and another male roommate.
Flores-Bello shared a bed with Argenis, she told the courtroom Monday.
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She later identified photos of Jose, Diego and Agenis Ibarra and then identified Jose as the suspicious male seen in security camera footage throwing an object into the dumpster where officers found the dark jacket evidence.
On Monday afternoon, FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez, who speaks fluent spanish, testified that she listened to a recording of a May 11 prison phone call between Jose Ibarra and his wife, Layling Ibarra, who lives in New York, more than 10 times.
In the contentious call played aloud in court and translated by Ramirez, Fanco confronts Jose about Riley’s murder.
“She said that she thinks it’s crazy that they don’t have anyone else’s DNA.”
“She said that she thinks it’s crazy that they don’t have anyone else’s DNA. They only have his. And she says she doesn’t understand how someone can see someone dying and not calling 911,” Ramirez said while translating the call before the court.
Laken Riley smiles for a photo while running. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
UGA PD Officer Wesley Durkit, the prosecution’s 16th witness, testified Monday that Riley’s phone data showed that she initiated an SOS call on her phone about six seconds before she stopped running at 9:10:44 a.m. At 9:10:50 a.m., her phone recognized that a 911 call needed to be placed, and that 911 call went out at 9:11:06 a.m. Riley’s mother cried in court as Durkit described Riley’s final movements before her heartbeat stopped.
The state’s 17th witness, a UGA graduate student, said she heard sounds coming from the door of her single apartment. Her testimony stemmed from a “peeping Tom” charge filed against Ibarra in connection with Riley’s case.
“I was in the shower, and I heard somebody trying to open my door.”
The student said she was in the shower and got out when she heard sounds coming from her door and walked into her living room, where she saw an unknown person through her windows. The person was wearing a black hat, black hood, black jacket and black gloves when she saw the person through her window.
Jose Ibarra pays attention to a witness during his trial at the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool) (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
On Friday, the court heard from nine of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Riley’s roommates and several law enforcement officers with different agencies.
Evidence included screenshots of her roommates’ phones when they used the Find My Friends app to try to locate Riley when she did not come back from her run; her AirPod they found on the ground when they went out searching for her along her regular running route; police-worn body camera footage; security camera footage; Riley’s phone, which had a male’s thumbprint on the bottom; and the athletic clothing Riley was wearing when she was attacked.
Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard speaks during the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark previously described the murder as a “crime of opportunity” during a February press conference.
Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.
Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
On Friday afternoon, the defense subpoenaed Diego Ibarra and their younger brother, Argenis Ibarra, to testify during Jose’s trial on Wednesday.
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ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.