WARNING: GRAPHIC
ATHENS, Ga. – Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of killing Augusta College nursing scholar Laken Riley on Feb. 22, returned to courtroom Tuesday for the 3rd day of his trial because the state continues to carry witnesses ahead.Â
Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan nationwide, is charged with 10 counts in reference to Riley’s homicide at the morning of Feb. 22, when Riley used to be out for her standard morning jog alongside trails at the College of Georgia campus close to Lake Herrick.Â
The state’s first witness on Tuesday, UGA Police Division Sgt. Sophie Raboud, testified {that a} suspicious particular person used to be noticed on path digicam photos at the morning of Feb. 22, lurking between an condominium construction housing UGA scholars on campus and the paths the place Riley used to be ultimately attacked and killed for approximately an hour.
The path digicam performed in courtroom on Tuesday presentations the suspicious particular person — whom prosecutors allege is Jose Ibarra — in addition to Riley and Riley’s roommates all touring in the similar space between the approximate hours of 6:50 a.m. and 11:50 a.m., Raboud stated.
WATCH TRAIL CAM:
Starting round 6:50 a.m., the suspicious particular person used to be captured slinking round in darkish clothes and sporting a white cup close to the bus forestall space, which meets a pathway that ends up in the again of Ibarra’s condominium complicated.Â
The video, which used to be performed in courtroom on Tuesday morning, additionally confirmed the individual going to a scholar’s door six instances earlier than 8 a.m. That scholar testified on Monday afternoon that she heard and noticed a suspicious particular person in darkish clothes having a look into her first-floor condominium home windows and seeking to destroy in. She known as 911 instantly upon seeing the suspicious particular person.Â
LAKEN RILEY’S ALLEGED KILLER JOSE IBARRA FLEW FROM ‘GROUND ZERO’ OF MIGRANT CRISIS TO GEORGIA
Georgia prosecutors confirmed a picture of Laken Riley jogging earlier than her homicide, all over the trial of defendant Jose Ibarra, pictured in courtroom. (Fox Information)
A number of the 10 counts Ibarra faces is a “peeping Tom” price in reference to the break-in incident, which prosecutor Sheila Ross connected to Riley’s homicide, announcing in her opening statements that Ibarra “went trying to find women folk at the College of Georgia campus.”
Path digicam photos performed in courtroom Tuesday additionally presentations Riley operating at 9:06 a.m. on Feb. 22, simply mins earlier than her 911 name at 9:11 a.m., towards trails close to the similar UGA bus forestall the place the suspicious particular person used to be lurking. She runs previous different scholars at the trails, in addition to a gaggle of scholars looking ahead to transportation on the bus forestall the place the suspicious particular person used to be noticed at the identical digicam near to an hour prior.Â
A picture displayed on a display screen presentations Jose Ibarra, who used to be noticed dressed in a hat that led the police to his arrest all over the second one day of his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Pool)
Her mom, Allyson Phillips, cried in courtroom because the photos of Riley’s ultimate moments had been performed.Â
“You make me worried.”
“You make me worried. Now not answering when you are out operating. Are you ok?” Phillips texted Riley at 9:58 a.m., in step with Raboud.
Simply after 11:30 a.m., Riley’s roommates can also be noticed at the path digicam going out to search for Riley with their canine. At 11:47, Phillips texted her daughter, “Please name me. I am apprehensive unwell about you.”
Allyson Phillips, mom of Laken Riley, 2nd left, listens all over the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Pool)
Simply earlier than 10 a.m., Riley’s mom, who continuously spoke together with her daughter whilst Riley used to be out operating — and had if truth be told spoken to Riley simply when the 22-year-old left house to move on her jog — started to turn indicators of fear that Riley used to be no longer selecting up her calls, in step with mobile phone information analyzed via Raboud.
In a while Tuesday afternoon, the court heard information about Riley’s post-mortem, in addition to information about a microanalysis of small fibers and hairs on sure items of proof.Â
Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) investigator Anne Kisler-Rao stated she inspected the lengthy, darkish hairs that had been wrapped in a button on a depressing jacket that officials situated in a dumpster in of Jose Ibarra’s condominium complicated. She stated 21 of the full 29 hairs at the jacket had been in step with Laken Riley’s hair. She additionally testified that there would need to be “some type of power” to take away the ones hairs from her head as a result of their roots had been nonetheless intact.
Riley’s more youthful sister cried in courtroom whilst main points of her dying and proof from the crime scene had been mentioned in courtroom Tuesday afternoon.Â
From left, Connolly Huth, roommate of Laken Riley, and Lauren Phillips, Riley’s more youthful sister, change into emotional all over the trial for Jose Ibarra on the Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Pool)
Hairs in step with RIley’s had been additionally discovered on rocks recovered from the crime scene, Kisler-Rao. Phillips cried quietly all over the GBI investigator’s testimony.Â
Finally, Kisler-Rao instructed the courtroom that she inspected Riley’s undies, which had “injury is in step with having been torn.” GBI scientific examiner Dr. Michelle Dimarco testified earlier than Kisler-Rao that she “didn’t apply the rest that may make [her] consider there used to be a sexual attack” on the time of Riley’s homicide.
Jose Ibarra seems at his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Pool)
GBI crime lab tech Katrina Ostapovicz used to be subsequent to testify and instructed the court that the darkish jacket with hair on it, the rocks recovered from the crime scene and 3 gloves recovered from a bush close to the similar dumpster the place the jacket used to be discovered all examined sure for “most probably” blood. She submitted the proof for DNA trying out.
Ostapovicz additionally examined a black Adidas hat that Ibarra used to be noticed dressed in in iPhone footage he took the morning of Riley’s homicide, and it additionally got here up sure for blood.
The jacket examined sure for DNA matching Jose Ibarra’s DNA and Laken Riley’s DNA, in step with GBI forensic investigator Ashley Hinkle. Moreover, the 3 plastic gloves examined sure for DNA matching Laken Riley’s DNA, the black Adidas hat with blood on it examined sure for DNA matching Riley’s, and rocks recovered from the crime scene examined sure for DNA matching Riley’s.
A hat allegedly belonging to Jose Ibarra is gifted as proof all over the trial for Ibarra on the Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Poo)
Riley’s fingernail clippings contained DNA matching Jose Ibarra’s DNA greater than his more youthful brother Agenis Ibarra’s and his older brother Diego Ibarra’s DNA, Hinkle testified.Â
“The fit is 10 million instances extra possible than a coincidental fit to an unrelated particular person within the inhabitants.”
“The DNA fit between the rainy, dry swabs, from [Riley’s] fingernail clippings from the appropriate hand … used to be to Jose Antonio Ibarra,” Hinkle testified Tuesday. “The fit is 10 million instances extra possible than a coincidental fit to an unrelated particular person within the inhabitants.”
LAKEN RILEY MURDER TRIAL: PROSECUTORS PLACE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT AT SCENE IN OPENING STATEMENTS
The protection started wondering witnesses after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Jose’s older brother, Diego, used to be their 3rd witness. Diego walked into the court at 4:30 p.m. dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shackles round his wrists. Diego is lately dealing with federal inexperienced card fraud fees for appearing a false ID with two other birthdays to police once they arrived at his condominium to query him and his brothers on Feb. 23.
Diego’s protection legal professional expressed to Jose’s legal professional, John Donnelly, that Diego will have to no longer testify in Jose’s trial, Donnelly stated. Pass judgement on Haggard prompt that the courtroom will have to no longer continue with Diego’s testimony, after which the prosecution and protection met to talk about the topic in the back of closed doorways.
Diego Ibarra is noticed dressed in a Chicago Bulls hat. (Center District of Georgia)
The protection’s 2nd witness, Stephanie Slaton, lived in an condominium subsequent to the Ibarra circle of relatives on the time of Riley’s homicide. She testified that she spoke to Diego Ibarra on Feb. 23, the day after Riley died, whilst “so much” police had been strolling round within the space of the complicated.Â
Diego Ibarra advised he didn’t know why police had been strolling round and requested Slaton what had took place. Slaton, in flip, defined that any individual had “gave up the ghost” in the back of their condominium complicated. Two cops then approached them and requested what they had been speaking about. Slaton replied them, they usually walked away, she stated.
Slaton then testified that Diego, whom she had a sexual courting with on the time, used a translator app to inform her in English, “If you happen to inform them, I will be able to inform them you probably did it after which I will be able to kill you too.”
On pass exam, Slaton admitted that she may no longer speculate what Diego intended via “when you inform them” as a result of he have been unfamiliar with Riley’s homicide and the explanation police had been strolling round their condominium construction. She additionally admitted that she have been offended at Diego for having family members with any other lady.
On Monday, the second one day of Ibarra’s trial, the courtroom heard a recorded jail telephone name between Ibarra and his spouse, Layling Franco, that used to be performed aloud and translated via an FBI analyst who spoke fluent Spanish. Â Pass judgement on Patrick Haggard on Tuesday dominated that the translated name may no longer be submitted as proof.
Layling Franco walks out of doors a migrant refuge in Queens, NY on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Franco is the spouse of Jose Antonio Ibarra, who used to be arrested in Georgia on suspicion for killing 22-year-old college scholar Laken Riley. (Brigitte Stelzer)
“She stated that she thinks it is loopy that they do not have someone else’s DNA. They just have his. And she or he says she does not know the way any individual can see any individual death and no longer calling [sic] 911,” FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez testified in courtroom on Monday whilst translating the decision for the prosecution.
The decision positioned Ibarra on the crime scene, in step with Fox Information contributor Paul Mauro, a former government officer for the New York Police Division’s Intelligence Operations and Research Bureau.
“She very obviously does not consider him. … She says, at one level, ‘Jose, I do know you,’ an overly … telling second,” Mauro stated of the calling with Franco.. “After which at one level … the actual crushing commentary is when she says to him, ‘I will’t consider any individual may see any individual death and no longer name 911.'”
Mauro stated he believes the telephone name turns out to “be a connection with him having instructed her, I used to be there, I noticed the frame, however I did not name 911, and I did not do it.”
Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Fb. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, used to be discovered lifeless close to a lake on campus on Feb. 22. An unlawful immigrant has been charged together with her homicide. (Laken Riley/Fb)
“Essentially the most attention-grabbing factor, I believed, used to be in reality probably the most prosaic, which is the truth that [Riley] has fingernail scrapings — she had pores and skin beneath her fingernails — from preventing for her existence, and Jose had accidents with having gotten the ones accidents from that more or less a battle,” Mauro stated, relating to UGA Police Division bodycam photos performed in courtroom on Monday that confirmed investigators having a look at Ibarra’s frame for indicators of harm.
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Bodycam photos from that morning display officials’ first come across with Ibarra on Feb. 23. They to begin with arrived on the condominium round 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 23 and puzzled Jose’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, earlier than they acquired a seek warrant and went within the condominium.
WATCH: POLICE ENTER JOSE IBARRA’S APARTMENT:
The photos presentations officials strolling within shining a gentle on Jose, who used to be in mattress on the time, and again and again announcing “hola” to be able to wake him up. After a few minute, Jose will get off the bed and places his palms up.Â
“That is hypothesis, however I think he used to be most probably extremely intox[icated],” Mauro stated, noting that investigators connected a white plastic cup containing a liquid smelling of alcohol to the scene of Riley’s homicide. A suspicious male used to be noticed keeping a white cup in safety digicam photos taken close to the crime scene that morning. Past due on, investigators discovered a equivalent white, plastic cup that smelled of alcohol on Feb. 22, in step with legislation enforcement testimony on Monday.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN GEORGIA COLLEGE STUDENT SLAYING ASKS TO HIDE CERTAIN EVIDENCE
A basic view of the world the place Laken Riley’s frame used to be discovered close to Lake Herrick at the College of Georgia’s campus in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Jose Antonio Ibarra has been charged with the homicide of Riley after she used to be killed previous this week. (Mark Sims for Fox Information Virtual)
The suspect is charged with 10 counts overall, together with one rely of malice homicide, 3 counts of prison homicide, one rely of kidnapping, one rely of irritated attack with intent to rape, one rely of irritated battery, one rely of hindering a 911 name, one rely of tampering with proof and one rely of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded no longer in charge to all counts.
Prosecutor Ross stated Ibarra then encountered Riley on her conventional morning run and attacked her.Â
Laken Riley’s killing has gripped the country because the border disaster continues. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra placed on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and a few black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went trying to find women folk at the College of Georgia campus,” Â Ross stated in her opening commentary Friday.
Ibarra and his brothers, additionally in the USA illegally from Venezuela, lived in an condominium construction not up to a part mile from the on-campus park the place Riley used to be operating.
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Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing scholar previous this yr, listens thru an interpreter as he sits together with his legal professionals Dustin Kirby, 2nd left, and Kaitlyn Beck, left, all over his trial  at Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Pool)
The defendant’s legal professional, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening commentary that proof would no longer turn out past a cheap doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He stated it might take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial proof.”
“If that occurs and the presumption of innocence is revered, there will have to no longer be sufficient proof to persuade you past a cheap doubt that Mr. Ibarra is in charge of the crimes charged,” Kirby stated on Monday.
Jose Ibarra seems to be down as he listens thru an interpreter all over his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Awesome Courtroom on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Magazine-Charter by way of AP, Poolv)
UGA Police Leader Jeffrey Clark up to now described the homicide as a “crime of alternative” all over a February press convention.
Ibarra illegally crossed into the USA thru El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and used to be launched into the U.S. by way of parole, ICE and DHS resources up to now instructed Fox Information.
Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Fb. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, used to be discovered lifeless close to a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Fb)
Diego Ibarra, who labored in brief in a UGA cafeteria earlier than his arrest in February, is charged with inexperienced card fraud and had ties to a recognized Venezuelan gang within the U.S., known as Tren de Aragua, in step with federal courtroom paperwork.
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ICE up to now showed to Fox Information Virtual that Jose Ibarra have been arrested via the New York Police Division a yr after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and used to be “charged with appearing in a way to injure a kid not up to 17 and a motor automobile license violation.”
Fox Information’ Adam Shaw contributed to this record.
