Twenty-two-year-old Laken Riley went for a run around the University of Georgia’s Athens campus, and was found dead shortly later due to “foul play.” On February 22, 2024, her body was found in a wooded area near the campus with visible injuries.
Riley was a nursing student at Augusta University, and had been set on receiving a nursing degree since 1st grade, unfortunately, family and friends will never be able to see her walk the stage.
Running had always been Riley’s passion, and she was a valuable member of her cross-country team at River Ridge High School in Woodstock, Georgia. Her cross-country coach told reporters while visiting Riley’s memorial, “This is beauty, and Laken was a beautiful person, passionate about her health care studies and an unselfish teammate. She will always be with us as we run.”
Riley went out early that morning, around 8:55 am, to begin her training for an upcoming race. People began to worry when she hadn’t returned any calls from her mother, Allyson Phillips. Worried sick, Phillips asked Riley’s roommates, Lilly Steiner and Sofia Magana, to report her missing and begin searching.
A University of Georgia police officer found her body 65 feet off the trail at 12:38 pm, her watch showing her heartbeat stopped at 9:38 am.
Officials later found out that her Garmin watch, which had been tracking her heart rate, would be a crucial piece of evidence leading to a life sentence in jail. Riley had been on her run for seven minutes, tracked through her watch, before initiating the S.O.S. function and calling 911. The dispatcher was unable to hear anything through the phone, and after repeating herself, she eventually hung up.
After Riley’s autopsy, doctors conducted a DNA test, results directed the police to an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra. Prosecutors described Ibarra’s activities that morning as “hunting for women.” He chose Riley. She refused to be his victim, and when she refused, he bashed her skull with a rock.
During Ibarra’s interrogation, officers observed several scratches on his wrists, back, neck and arms. The watch showed Riley putting up a good fight, through the heart rate tracker function. His DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails during her autopsy. Cameras recorded Ibarra discarding a bloody jacket and gloves, near his apartment.
The Doctor performing Rileys autopsy, Dr. Michelle DiMarco told reporters, “Riley had sustained significant blunt force trauma to her head, including eight injuries to the left side of her skull and an injury just above her right temple.”
Igarra has been charged with Rileys murder sentenced to life in prison without parole and charged with ten different felonies. This case began a conversation about politics relating to immigrant policies, rather than focused on the young nursing student, and calling for justice.
