Laken Hope Riley and investigators are shown searching the area where her body was found. Jose Ibarra has been indicted for her murder.
On Tuesday, a grand jury charged the undocumented immigrant who allegedly killed 22-year-old University of Georgia student Laken Riley. GeorgiaSome people view this case as a representation of the country’s illegal immigration issue.
26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra faces multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with intent to rape, kidnapping with bodily injury, obstructing or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence, and peeping Tom.
The peeping Tom charge is a new addition. The indictment states that it occurred on Feb. 22, the same day as Riley's murder, when he peeped into a window at the University of Village Housing building.
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark previously mentioned that the suspect did not know Riley and that the crime was an opportunity. He also stated that the suspect lived in an apartment near Oconee Forest Park where the crime took place.
Clark emphasized the substantial evidence, giving credit to the campus security cameras for their crucial role.
According to a news release from the University of Georgia Police Department, Riley was a student at UGA until the spring of 2023 when she transferred to the Augusta University College of Nursing program in Athens, where she was enrolled at the time of her death. The case began when UGA police received a call from a friend of Riley reporting that she had not returned from a morning run at the Intramural Fields as expected. After searching the area, first responders found Riley's body in the forested area behind Lake Herrick.
First responders immediately began performing CPR on Riley, but she was ultimately pronounced dead by emergency medical responders.
A criminal investigation was launched, and a perimeter was set up by the police.
The crime created shock waves in the community, marking the first recorded homicide on campus in 20 years. There is no connection believed to exist between Riley's death and another student's death the following Wednesday.
In response to the incident, the university stated that the past 24 hours had been traumatic for the campus.
The university community was described as grieving the sudden loss of one of its students and facing a unique test of resolve.
In a statement following the killing, the university expressed the campus community's grief and the devastating news that had occurred.
The university extended its condolences over the sudden deaths that had affected the campus.
Nationally, the situation has become a point of contention in the immigration problem on the U.S.-Mexico border, where illegal crossings have increased. It has become a topic among conservatives like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, who wore a t-shirt with the words “Say Her Name” and a button on her lapel with Riley’s pictureto President Biden’s State of the Union speech, which occurred shortly after the killing.
Biden also mentioned the killing in his speech.
“To her parents, I express my sympathy to you as I have also lost children. I understand,” he said.