Laken Riley murder trial latest: FBI agent testifies suspect’s phone data places him ‘very close’ to killing as day two wraps up
Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan native who entered the US illegally, is charged with the February killing of 22-year-old Laken Riley
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The second day of testimony wrapped up on Monday with an FBI agent who testified that Jose Ibarra’s cell phone location data places him “very close” to Laken Riley at the time of her murder.
FBI Special Agent James “Jay” Berni, who analyzed the suspect’s phone data, told the court that between 9:09 a.m. and 9:12 a.m., his phone and Riley’s digital profile were “very close” until “approximately, I would say, probably 9:32,” he said.
Riley’s smartwatch data showed her heart stopped at 9:28 a.m., according to earlier testimony.
Ibarra, a Venezuelan native who entered the US illegally, is now on trial for the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was beaten to death while out for a run on February 22.
It’s a case that became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration during this year’s presidential campaign.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross said Ibarra had been “hunting” for women on the day of the murder but when he came across Riley she “fought” back. When she “refused to be a rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly.” Defense attorney Dustin Kirby agreed that Riley’s death was a tragedy, but said there is not sufficient evidence to prove that it was Ibarra.
Testimony will continue on Tuesday.
If convicted, Ibarra could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Suspect could not explain scratches on arms
Jose Ibarra did not have an explanation for the scratches on his arms, according to Cpl. Rafael Sayan, who testified in court Monday.
Sayan questioned the suspect after the first officer was unable to do so because of the language barrier.
In the body cam footage played in court, Ibarra can be seen pointing to his arms and wrist while speaking to the officer.
“First he says, ‘I don’t have anything there … there’s nothing there,’” Sayan said over the video. “Then he starts pointing at it again, saying that, ‘Oh, it’s just a scratch.’”
Sayan told the court that the scratch looked fresh as it appeared to be moist with bodily fluid, and that “it didn’t look very old.”
Bodycam footage shows moment officer sees what “looked like fingernail scratches” on suspect
The first witness on Monday was a University of Georgia Police officer Sgt. Joshua Epps, who testified seeing injuries on Ibarra when he responded to the suspect’s home.
“While speaking to him, I noticed on his right arm, his bicep, there was a scratch,” he told the court. “On his left arm, he had a forearm scratch that was very similar – which in my mind, looked like fingernail scratches to me.”
“I also noticed on his left wrist, just below the palm, he had a puncture – maybe half an inch wide – that, through my experiences playing sports in high school, and receiving the same injury from fingernails in football, I could see, like, wet flesh, like almost like it was fresh. It wasn’t very old,” Epps said.
How Laken Riley’s brutal murder became a divisive political issue
Laken Riley’s murder became a rallying cry for Republicans, an avoidable tragedy that they say encompasses the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S-Mexico border amid a record surge of immigrants entering the country.
Jose Ibarra, an immigrant from Venezuela who entered the United States illegally at El Paso in September 2022, is charged with murder and other crimes for the February slaying.
Immigration was already a major issue in the presidential campaign, and Republicans seized on Riley’s killing, with now-president-elect Donald Trump blaming Democratic President Joe Biden’s border policies for her death.
Republicans used Ibarra’s status to exemplify the ongoing issue at the southern border and touted Riley’s brutal killing as a way to bolster their anti-migrant agenda.
Read more:
How Laken Riley’s brutal murder became a bitterly divisive political issue
Republicans seized on the fact that an immigrant who entered the US illegally is the suspect in the murder of the Georgia nursing student
Everything we know about the Laken Riley case
When 22-year-old Laken Riley never returned after going for a morning run on the University of Georgia campus in February, her roommate became worried and called campus police.
The nursing student’s slain body was found later that day in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick, near UGA’s intramural fields on campus, according to University of Georgia Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The next day, Jose Ibarra, 26, who is not a US citizen, was arrested and charged with murder in Riley’s death, a case that quickly became a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.
Now, nine months later, Ibarra is on trial for her murder.
Read more:
Everything we know about the Laken Riley case as murder trial under way
Jose Antonio Ibarra is now on trial for the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed while running on the University of Georgia campus
Testimony resumes today in Laken Riley suspect murder trial
Testimony has resumed in the trial of Jose Ibarra, who is accused of killing Georgia nursing student 22-year-old Laken Riley, in a case that became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration during this year’s presidential campaign.
Follow along with The Independent for updates.