The man accused of killing Laken Riley earlier this year "went out hunting for females" on the day the nursing student in Georgia was slain, prosecutors told a judge Friday on the first day of Jose Antonio Ibarra's trial.
"When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly," prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement.
A medical examiner found that Riley died from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation and had a complex skull fracture and eight other lacerations on the left side of her head, she said.
Riley’s killing became a flashpoint in the immigration debate. Ibarra, 26, is a Venezuelan citizen who entered the United States illegally in 2022, officials have said. Republicans, including Donald Trump who met with Riley’s parents before a campaign rally in March, have used the case to call for stricter border policies.
Ross said the prosecution's forensic, digital and video evidence “will point to one person, Jose Ibarra, as the killer of Laken Riley.”
“The evidence will show that Laken fought — she fought for her life. She fought for her dignity and in that fight she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind,” Ross said.
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Ibarra is facing multiple charges, including three counts of felony murder and counts of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape and “peeping Tom.” He is accused of accosting Riley while she was out for a run on the morning of Feb. 22. She was found dead later that day in a forested area on the University of Georgia campus in Athens after her roommates called police when she did not return home. Riley's three roommates testified Friday.
Ibarra has waived his right to a jury trial. Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard will consider the evidence and decide whether Ibarra is guilty.
The prosecution is seeking life in prison without parole.
Ross told the judge Friday that prosecutors would show that Ibarra's DNA was found underneath Riley's fingernails and that his thumbprint was found on her iPhone.
She said that police also found a jacket in a dumpster near where Ibarra lived and it was determined that both Ibarra's and Riley’s blood were on it. Riley’s blood was also found on black gloves found discarded near Ibarra’s home.
Ibarra’s defense attorneys called the evidence against him circumstantial.
“The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed anyone is circumstantial,” defense attorney Dustin Kirby said, adding the evidence “that links Mr. Ibarra to that event, is lacking” upon closer inspection.
Kirby said there is not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ibarra is guilty of the crimes he was charged with.
The first witness called to testify Friday was Lilly Steiner, one of Riley’s roommates at the time. She said she, Riley and their other two roommates were “like a little family, and we called each other our family. We did everything together.”
“Laken brought a sense of joy to all of our lives that has been missing ever since,” she said.
Steiner, 22, testified that the four roommates used an app on their phones to share their locations with one another and said that she became worried that morning when Riley’s location had not moved from the same spot on the running trail she frequented.
She said that after texting Riley and not getting a response, she wrote in a group message with another roommate that Riley has “been in the woods a while.”
She testified that she and another roommate went to the running trail to try to find Riley, but only located one of her AirPods. The concerned roommates then returned home and called police, something they could not do from the trail because of an AT&T service outage that day.
The officer who found Riley’s body also testified on Friday.
Sgt. Kenneth Maxwell said that Riley's shirt was pulled up in a way that “looked more intentional, as if somebody had attempted to either remove her top or maybe had used it to drag her.”
The prosecution played video of Maxwell continually attempting to perform CPR on Riley after finding her body and calling in his discovery.
Previously, police said there was no indication the suspect knew the victim and that Ibarra did not have an extensive criminal background.
