Laken Riley

Case background and investigation

Laken Hope Riley was 22 and studying nursing at Augusta University's college of nursing in Athens, Georgia. She had graduated from River Ridge High School in Cherokee County and had previously attended the University of Georgia, according to Atlanta News First. On the morning of February 22, 2024 she went for a run on the University of Georgia campus.

According to the timeline summarized by Wikipedia from trial testimony, Riley texted and called her mother shortly before 9:05 a.m., and a security camera recorded her jogging toward Oconee Forest Park at about that time. Her phone placed a 911 call at 9:11 a.m., and data from her smartwatch indicated that her heart stopped at 9:28 a.m. A roommate reported her missing to university police shortly after noon, and an officer found her body about half an hour later in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick, near the intramural fields. The medical examiner found that she died of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.

University of Georgia police arrested Jose Antonio Ibarra, then 26, on the evening of February 23, 2024, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. He was charged with malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping and related offences, and a judge denied bond the following morning. Police Chief Jeff Clark described the killing as a crime of opportunity and said investigators had found no prior connection between Riley and Ibarra. He said it was the first homicide on the campus in at least 30 years. Ibarra is a Venezuelan national who, according to the sources consulted, had entered the United States unlawfully in 2022.

A grand jury indicted Ibarra on ten counts in May 2024 and he pleaded not guilty. He waived his right to a jury, and the case was heard as a bench trial before Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard beginning November 15, 2024. Prosecutors presented DNA, fingerprint, video and smartwatch evidence, along with testimony from Riley's roommates, police officers and forensic examiners. The defence argued that the evidence was circumstantial. On November 20, 2024 Judge Haggard found Ibarra guilty on all ten counts and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for malice murder, with additional terms on other counts, Atlanta News First reported.

The case drew national attention because of Ibarra's immigration status and featured in the 2024 presidential campaign. Congress passed the Laken Riley Act in January 2025 and President Trump signed it; according to UPI, the law provides for the detention of immigrants arrested for offences such as theft, burglary and shoplifting.

In March 2026 Judge Haggard denied Ibarra's motion for a new trial, writing that the evidence against him was overwhelming, UPI reported. His lawyers had argued that his rights were violated by the denial of two pretrial motions, one seeking a delay so a defence expert could review DNA evidence and one seeking to exclude cellphone evidence. They had 30 days to appeal the ruling.