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The prosecution details evidence in the murder of a student on the UGA campus

Vaseline November 16, 2024

Police bodycam video showing an officer finding the deceased body of nursing student Laken Riley was viewed in court Friday as a trial began for the man accused of the violent fatal attack.

Riley’s mother, already emotional from previous evidence, left the courtroom before the video was played.

The suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, watched the tragic scene unfold on TV screens, showing officers’ desperate attempts to resuscitate the young woman, which testimonies showed were ineffective.

The trial in Clarke County Superior Court before Judge Patrick Haggard will resume Monday at 8:30 a.m. as the prosecution continues to present evidence. Haggard will make a decision on Ibarra’s guilt on charges ranging from murder, attempted rape and aggravated battery. Ibarra had decided not to hold a jury trial.

Riley, 22, a former University of Georgia student who was studying to become a nurse at an Athens-based Augusta University program, was killed Feb. 22 in a wooded area of the inpatient field complex. The autopsy report shows that she died. from blunt force trauma to her head that fractured her skull and asphyxiation, as the killer also deprived her brain of oxygen during the attack.

Much of the state’s case was uncovered during the proceedings by Special Prosecutor Sheila Ross, who presented evidence collected at the crime scene, along with security camera footage and clothing stained with Riley’s blood that Ross said was was from Ibarra. Two blood-stained rocks, which Ross will claim were used in the attack, were also introduced into evidence.

Another key piece of evidence was Riley’s phone, which contained a thumbprint that Ross said matched Ibarra.

Ross also introduced evidence of a peeping tom incident that had occurred earlier in the morning in the same general area when a graduate student called 911 to report that a strange man was trying to enter her apartment.

UGA Police Sgt. Preston Norris pointed out on a map the vicinity where the events took place. Ibarra lived on South Milledge Avenue. Riley lived nearby on Milledge Avenue Extension. The peeping tom case took place on nearby Rogers Road. All of these areas are adjacent to the intramural field area, where Riley was killed.

Riley’s three roommates all testified about that tragic morning when Riley, an avid runner, left for a morning jog around campus. Lilly Steiner, Sofia Magana and Connolly Huth all graduated from UGA in May and are now pursuing careers or graduate school.

Their testimony showed how they were all concerned when Riley never returned from her flight. She had class that day and according to their testimony, she wasn’t the type to stray from her schedule. Riley also didn’t answer her phone.

Steiner and Magana went to the intramural field because an app on their phone showed Riley’s phone was still at that location. Magana, who brought her dog Champ, said her dog was pulling on its leash on something on a hiking trail and she saw an AirPod, which she recognized as Riley’s.

They called the police.

UGA Police Sgt. Kenneth Maxwell arrived and the young women showed him on their app where they had tracked the phone. Maxwell began walking through the woods, the bodycam shows. He saw Riley’s body near a young magnolia tree, partially covered in leaves and other forest debris.

Maxwell rushed to her side and immediately began attempting to help the woman, at one point exclaiming, “I can’t get a pulse.”

Maxwell begins CPR and when Cpl. Mason Bridges arrived and took over life-saving measures. Another officer arrives to assist and sirens can be heard in the background as an Athens-Clarke County fire truck arrives at the intramural fields.

Ibarra, listening to testimony through an interpreter, watched the video as officers worked fervently on the woman, but at times his gaze drifted downward and away from the video.

The prosecutor also detailed the facts that led to Ibarra’s arrest.

The photo of the peeping tom suspect was collected on a surveillance camera and showed the man wearing a hooded jacket and holding a Styrofoam cup. Such a cup was found just yards from where Riley was killed. Ross said Ibarra’s DNA was found on the straw of the cup.

According to the testimony, another surveillance camera from a private home proved crucial. It showed a man placing a jacket in a recycling container at the Cielo at Azulyk Apartments on South Milledge Avenue. The apartments were also referred to as Argo Apartments in testimonials, but are now known as The Grove at Five Points.

Ibarra lived with two brothers and two others in an apartment in the complex.

The surveillance video obtained here also shows the man casually walking away from the dumpster and placing some gloves in a thick hedge. One of the gloves had a tear in the thumb area, which the state said constituted fingerprint evidence on Riley’s phone.

Athens-Clarke Police Officer Zachary Davis, who previously worked for UGA police, testified that he had a “grainy” photo of the peeping tom suspect wearing a hooded jacket. He testified that he started looking in dumpsters and at the dumpster location in Cielo he saw a blue jacket inside.

After UGA police arrived, Davis testified that he climbed into the dumpster to retrieve the jacket and soon noticed a hair tangled in the clothing.

After collecting the jacket and also noticing bloodstains, he testified that he saw a security camera near a home pointing toward the dumpster. This led to the video showing the suspect throwing away the jacket and hiding the gloves.

Riley’s cell phone was not found at the crime scene until after darkness had fallen.

Sergeant Norris testified that an earlier search could not find the phone, but he knew it was in the area. When he searched the crime scene again, he found the phone partially hidden under leaves and a piece of wood.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Daniella Stuart, who also collected the blood-stained rocks while working the crime scene, testified that she saw and photographed the fingerprint on Riley’s phone. Norris then picked up the printout as evidence.

Other evidence at the crime scene showed an area of ground disturbance on the forest floor just yards from where Riley’s body was moved and partially hidden. Also, a young tree, about an inch thick, had a blood stain and a strand of hair stuck to the bark, Stuart said.

Part of the tree was admitted into evidence.