The trial for 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, the suspect in the murder of Laken Riley, has begun in Athens, Georgia.
His charges include felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, hindering an emergency telephone call, and tampering with evidence.
Riley was a nursing student at Augusta University, where she was an active member of her sorority at UGA.
On Feb. 22, 2024 police began searching for Riley after a friend notified them hat she had not returned from a morning jog. Later that day, police found her body in a wooded area on the university campus. Emergency responders declared her cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
Ibarra has waived his right to a jury trial; therefore, Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard will decide his fate. Prosecutors have chosen not to seek the death penalty, instead pursuing life in prison without the possibility of parole.
