Jose Ibarra learned his fate on Wednesday following a four-day-long bench trial in Athens in a case that captured national attention and rocked the community.
ATHENS, Ga. — The man accused of killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley while she was out for a run on the University of Georgia campus has been found guilty on all charges.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard handed down his decision following the four-day-long bench trial on Wednesday, convicting 26-year-old Jose Ibarra of murdering Riley in the woods behind UGA’s intramural fields just after 9 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 22.
Of the 10 charges Ibarra was initially indicted on, this is how Haggard ruled on each against Ibarra:
- Malice murder – guilty
- Felony murder – guilty
- Felony murder – guilty
- Felony murder – guilty
- Kidnapping with bodily injury – guilty
- Aggravated assault with intent to rape – guilty
- Aggravated battery – guilty
- Obstruction or hindering a person making emergency telephone call – guilty
- Tampering with evidence – guilty
- Peeping Tom – guilty
Judge Haggard plans to hand down Ibarra’s sentence at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during her opening statement that Ibarra had gone out “hunting for females” that morning in February and that he killed Riley after a struggle when she “refused to be his rape victim.” Law enforcement officers testified there was no evidence that Riley was sexually assaulted.
The verdict comes after the state called more than a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommate and a woman who lived in an apartment with Ibarra to testify. During the trial, DNA and other forensic evidence was presented by the state, with a DNA specialist testifying that a blood stain with Riley’s DNA appeared on a blue jacket found in a trash bin at Ibarra’s apartment complex. Ibarra’s was also on it, according to testimony.
Ibarra’s DNA was also found under the fingernails of Riley’s right hand.
Dr. Michelle DiMarco, a GBI medical examiner, conducted the autopsy of Riley’s body and testified that Riley had injuries, including scrapes, bruises and cuts, to her head, neck, torso, abdomen, left hand and left leg. Her injuries included eight cuts to her head, including one that fractured her skull, DiMarco said.
Prosecutors have said that Ibarra hit Riley in the head with a rock, and DiMarco said the injuries “could be consistent with a rock.” A GBI specialist testified Riley’s DNA was found on two rocks at the scene.
In addition to DNA evidence, another crucial argument by the prosecution was GPS data found on the cell phone and Garmin watch of Riley and the cell phone of Ibarra.
FBI Agent James Berni testified he used her watch data and a cell phone used by Jose Ibarra, the man accused of killing Riley, to look at their locations on the morning of Feb. 22, 2024.
Berni said hits between the phone and cell towers gave investigators an indication of where the phone was heading.
He noted the crime scene was in an area that did not have WiFi coverage, so while data from Riley’s watch gives more of a precise location in the wooded area, he testified Ibarra’s phone wasn’t getting the pings they used to track him earlier in the day.
He also testified, given the timing advanced data, the phone was “very close” to Riley’s watch, which he said had “a lot of activity in this general area” from 9:15 a.m. to 9:26 a.m.
Berni testified that’s when her heart rate drops, seconds before 9:27 a.m., shutting off the GPS location history.
Berni said Ibarra’s phone didn’t ping again until 9:30 a.m., after initially leaving the residence at 6:52 a.m.
He said between 9:30 a.m. and 9:39 a.m., the phone continued to move closer and closer to a tower, eventually picking up data hits at 9:40 a.m.
He also noted the device could have been by a dumpster around 9:45 a.m., but he said the phone did not report a location during that time. Berni testified the next ping was when the phone returned to the residence at 9:50 a.m.
