About a half dozen people, including at least one of Laken Riley’s relatives, left an Athens, Georgia, courtroom to avoid seeing videos and images of the nursing student’s lifeless body.
Emotions ran high among members of the gallery Friday at the start of the murder trial for Jose Ibarra, the undocumented migrant charged in the 22-year-old Augusta University student’s death earlier this year.
Riley, who had made the dean’s list at the university’s College of Nursing shortly before her death on February 22, was on her morning jog at the University of Georgia’s campus when prosecutors said she encountered Ibarra.
“(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’s campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said during opening statements Friday.
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said.
Prosecutors described Riley’s final moments as she fought for her life, collecting beneath her fingernails crucial DNA evidence they claim identifies Ibarra as her attacker and killer.
Ibarra, 26, faces 10 charges including malice murder and aggravated assault with intent to rape in connection with Riley’s death. He waived his right to a jury trial during a court hearing earlier this week.
The Venezuelan migrant is also charged under Georgia’s “peeping Tom” law. He went to a UGA apartment building on the same day Riley was killed, looked through a window and spied on a student, the indictment showed.
Riley’s death sparked political controversy and debate over crime and illegal immigration during the 2024 election season.
Here are the key takeaways from Friday’s testimony:
Technology leaves clues in Riley’s death
The morning of her final jog, prosecutors said Riley wore a smartwatch she was gifted for Christmas. “This watch captured a lot of important data,” Ross said.
Investigators could determine based on the watch’s data analyzed by the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team that around 9:10 a.m., something happened “to make (Riley) stop dead in her tracks,” according to Ross. Around that time, Riley initiated her phone’s SOS function and called 911.
“She’s on this trail with this defendant for about four minutes, and then you see four minutes later, her Garmin (smartwatch) moves 65 feet into the woods,” Ross told Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will determine Ibarra’s fate.
Ross described Riley’s encounter with her attacker as “long” and “fierce,” according to the watch’s data. “Once her heart stops at 9:28 a.m., there’s no more movement from her (smartwatch),” the prosecutor said.
One of Riley’s roommates, Lilly Steiner, testified Friday she’d seen Riley’s iPhone location earlier that morning using the phone’s Find My feature. “I checked her location to see where she was, and I saw that she was on a run on a trail that she typically ran,” Steiner said.
Concerned after Riley’s approximate location had not changed by around 10:45 a.m., Steiner and another roommate went out to search the trail area using the feature, Steiner said.
They came across an AirPod believed to be Riley’s, photographed it and brought it home where they called UGA police around 12:05 p.m., according to Ross.
Responding officer said it took about 21 minutes to find her body
Body camera video from responding officer Sgt. Kenneth Maxwell with the University of Georgia Police Department, who discovered Riley’s body, was played in court during his testimony.
Judge Haggard paused proceedings to allow anyone who didn’t want to see Riley’s body shown to step out.
Maxwell described discovering Riley’s partially nude remains. “It looked more intentional, as if somebody had attempted to either remove her top, or maybe had used it to drag her,” said Maxwell, who added it took about 21 minutes to locate Riley. He immediately began performing lifesaving measures, the video showed.
As the video played, Maxwell could be seen swallowing hard, while crying from others could be heard in the courtroom. Some covered their faces or looked down.
Crime scene specialist described Riley’s injuries
Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime scene specialist Daniella Stuart on Friday described injuries observed on Riley’s body, including the left side of her head, linear marks on her torso and one wider linear mark below her underwear.
“Her hair was very tangled, which made it difficult for me to locate the additional injuries, and tangled with … leaves, blood, dirt, tangled in her hair,” Stuart said.
Stuart also noted a large spot without leaves at the crime scene, where she said she believed a “significant disturbance happened.” The specialist said while the leaf coverage at the scene was thick, “you could see almost like a slight depression in that area that led from the (running) trail to the area” where the ground could be clearly seen.
Riley’s cell phone was found in the leaves at the crime scene. Stuart testified to finding a print on the device “in the area where you would swipe to unlock,” as well as “reddish stains suspected to be blood.”
Prosecutors believe DNA on phone matches Ibarra’s
Stuart also recounted photographing Ibarra’s injuries at the Athens-Clarke County Police Department the following day, noting scratches and injuries on his hands, arms, neck and back.
Prosecutors said DNA evidence found under Riley’s right fingernails pointed to Ibarra.
“He also left behind in a struggle with her over her phone,” Ross said. “He left behind his left thumbprint on her iPhone.”
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said Friday any evidence that shows Ibarra killed Riley is “circumstantial.”
Ibarra’s trial will continue Monday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
CNN’s Shawn Nottingham, Eric Levenson, Priscilla Alvarez, Rafael Romo, Kaanita Iyer, Jason Morris, David J. Lopez, Elizabeth Wolfe, Kate Sullivan, Steve Conterno and Emma Tucker contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this story named the wrong member of Jose Ibarra’s defense team. It was Dustin Kirby.
