Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra returns to court for trial as prosecution presents more witnesses

Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley in February while she was on a morning run, will return to court Monday for the second day of his trial.

Prosecutors say Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens the morning of Feb. 22.

The suspect is charged with 10 counts total, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded not guilty to all counts.

“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement Friday.

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Ross said Ibarra then encountered Riley on her typical morning run and attacked her. 

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said.

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Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running.

The defendant’s attorney, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening statement that evidence would not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He said it would take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial evidence.”

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“We waived a jury trial in this case, with the hope and trust that despite the nature of this evidence that you could come to a verdict that was not just a way of easing this family’s suffering, but it was based on an impartial and honest assessment of the evidence in this case,” he said.

“If that happens and the presumption of innocence is respected, there should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged.”

On Friday, the court heard from nine of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Riley’s roommates and several law enforcement officers with different agencies. 

Evidence included screenshots of her roommates’ phones when they used the Find My Friends app to try to locate Riley when she did not come back from her run; her AirPod they found on the ground when they went out searching for her along her regular running route; police-worn body camera footage; security camera footage; Riley’s phone, which had a male’s thumbprint on the bottom; and the athletic clothing Riley was wearing when she was attacked.

UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark previously described the murder as a “crime of opportunity” during a February press conference.

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Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.

His older brother, Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.

On Friday afternoon, the defense subpoenaed Diego Ibarra and their younger brother, Argenis Ibarra, to testify during Jose’s trial on Wednesday.

ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.