November 19, 2024 - Day 3 of the murder trial of the man accused of killing Laken Riley

Our live coverage of the Laken Riley murder trial has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Court was adjourned for the day at about 4:50 p.m. amid a discussion about the potential testimony of Jose Ibarra’s brother Diego.

Testimony will start back up at 9 a.m. Wednesday with further defense witnesses, the judge said.

Diego Ibarra, the brother of defendant Jose Ibarra, was called to the witness stand by the defense but did not testify Tuesday amid discussion about his attorney’s advice.

Diego Ibarra entered the courtroom wearing a faded orange jumpsuit, hands shackled to the waist and wearing orange slides.

Once on the stand, though, he was not asked any questions. Jose Ibarra’s defense attorney John W. Donnelly told the court that Diego Ibarra’s attorney had informed him in a phone call he “would most certainly advise Mr. Ibarra to not testify.”

Sheila Ross, the prosecutor, said she was “uncomfortable” saying much given that Diego Ibarra’s attorney was not present. She left the courtroom to try to speak to him on the phone.

The court then went into a break and was later adjourned for the day. It was not clear how or if the issue was resolved.

Remember: Diego Ibarra is in federal custody and has pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a fraudulent document, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Jose Ibarra’s defense has raised questions about whether his two brothers may have been responsible for the killing.

Day 3 of the murder trial of Jose Ibarra in the killing of nursing student Laken Riley featured 10 prosecution witnesses and 3 defense witnesses as the trial moved at a quick pace.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Tuesday’s testimony:

Riley’s last run caught on camera: Surveillance video near a running trail and bus stop on the University of Georgia campus showed Riley out on a run at about 9 a.m. minutes before her death on the morning of February 22. The video also captured a man dressed in dark clothing lingering in a nearby area about an hour earlier.

Victim’s heartbreaking final text: Riley’s last text on her phone was a message to her mother hoping to talk. “Good morning, about to go for a run if you’re free to talk,” she wrote to her mother at 8:55 a.m. Her mother repeatedly called back over the next few hours but did not reach her daughter.

Riley’s cause of death: Her cause of death was the combined effects of blunt-force head trauma and asphyxia, a medical examiner testified. Riley had a skull fracture and a series of injuries to her face that “could be consistent with a rock,” the examiner said.

DNA matches defendant: Fingernail clippings of Riley’s right hand were linked to the genetic profile of Jose Ibarra, a forensic DNA expert testified. In addition, a blood-like stain on a navy blue jacket found in a dumpster contained the DNA of Riley and Ibarra, the expert testified.

Prosecution rests: The prosecution rested its case after calling about 25 witnesses over three days.

Defendant declines to testify: Speaking through a translator, Jose Ibarra confirmed he understood his rights and did not want to testify.

The first witness called by Jose Ibarra’s defense team testified that he saw “an individual that was wearing dark clothing and seemed out of the ordinary” while he was out running the morning Laken Riley was killed.

Joseph Clementi — an Athens resident who said he had gone for a run near the crime scene at 9:39 a.m. on February 22 — told the court on Tuesday that the person he saw “was not in typical athletic gear.” Instead, Clementi said, the person was “wearing very dark clothing,” and they “seemed to be wandering, kind of.”

The witness also noted “that there was either a hood or a hat on this person.”

Clementi marked on a map inside the courtroom where he had seen the person. He said he noticed the person, who he thought was a man, between 9:46 and 9:48 a.m., based on his own run-tracking data.

Jose Ibarra is asked about testifying in his trial on Tuesday in Athens, Georgia.

Defendant Jose Antonio Ibarra confirmed in court he will not testify in his murder trial.

Working with a translator, Judge H. Patrick Haggard asked Ibarra a series of questions in court to confirm he understands his right not to testify. Ibarra answered “Si.”

“Mr. Ibarra, do you want to testify?” Judge H. Patrick Haggard asked.

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

Following the testimony from Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab scientist Ashley Hinkle, prosecutor Sheila Ross announced that the state would rest its case against Jose Ibarra.

Fingernail clipping of Laken Riley’s right hand, after undergoing a series of genetic testing methods, were linked to the genetic profile of Jose Ibarra, who is accused of killing Riley, a forensic DNA expert testified on Tuesday.

Results from testing Riley’s fingernail clippings produced only two likely genetic profiles, those of Laken Riley and Jose Ibarra, GBI crime lab scientist Ashley Hinkle testified.

When asked by the prosecutor under what circumstances Hinkle would expect to find one person’s DNA underneath another person’s fingernails, Hinkle said “it either has to have some sort of scratching or contact with the inside of the nail.”

Only two people also contributed to the DNA profile on a cutting of the blue jacket found in a dumpster near Ibarra’s apartment – Laken Riley and Jose Ibarra, Hinkle testified.

Samples from the black gloves recovered from a bush near Ibarra’s apartment, were only conclusive for Riley’s DNA, as were samples from the rocks and tree at the crime scene, Hinkle said.

Katrina Ostapovicz, a forensic serologist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab, points to areas of a black disposable glove in a state exhibit in court on November 19 in Athens, Georgia.

Black disposable gloves, a navy blue jacket, a cutting from a tree, two rocks and a black Adidas hat all tested presumptively positive for the presence of blood, a crime lab expert testified Tuesday.

All of the items were sent for further DNA testing, said Katrina Ostapovicz, a forensic serologist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

The jacket had a red-brown stain similar to the distinctive coloring of blood, she testified. The gloves found near the crime scene had damage and holes on several fingers, she added.

There was no semen or seminal fluid found on any of Laken Riley’s clothing, Ostapovicz testified.

The context: The prosecution has accused Jose Ibarra of wearing “a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves” when he killed Laken Riley with a rock.

Hair evidence found at the crime scene and on a jacket disposed of in a nearby dumpster was determined to be “microscopically consistent” with that belonging to Laken Riley, an expert witness testified.

GBI Microanalyst Anne Kisler-Rao, who leads the trace evidence section at the GBI’s state crime lab, testified about her findings, having analyzed hair found on the dark blue jacket found inside a dumpster near Jose Ibarra’s apartment, as well as on rocks at the crime scene.

The analyst testified that “some sort of force was needed to remove those hairs” from Riley’s head.

Kisler-Rao compared the 29 hairs found on the jacket, to hairs known to be from her head, and found them to be “microscopically consistent with the known head hair of Laken Riley, meaning they either originated from her or someone else with hair possessing the same distinct characteristics.”

Additionally, Kisler-Rao testified that 27 hairs were collected off of rocks found at the crime scene, which were “found to be microscopically consistent with the known head hair of Laken Riley.”

Kisler-Rao said her examination of Riley’s underwear, found that it had been torn rather than cut.

Nursing student Laken Riley’s cause of death was the combined effects of blunt-force head trauma and asphyxia, and the manner of death was homicide, according to Dr. Michelle DiMarco, an associate medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Asphyxia is a term for a lack of oxygen and can be categorized as hanging, manual strangulation or physical compression. DiMarco was not able to categorize the type of asphyxia for Riley.

Riley also had a series of injuries to her face and a skull fracture, injuries that “could be consistent with a rock,” DiMarco testified.

There were no signs of sexual assault, she testified.

During the testimony, the defendant, Jose Ibarra, looked at DiMarco then down at the floor multiple times.

The morning of the third day of the murder trial of Jose Ibarra, saw a list of expert witnesses, who testified about evidence ranging from campus security video, to Laken Riley’s final cell phone communications, to clothing items and gloves collected as evidence in the case.

The first witness, University of Georgia police Sgt. Sophie Raboud gave a description of video from the UGA campus safety camera system, which included Riley on her run and an unidentified hooded figure. Raboud also discussed Riley’s last communication on her phone, starting with a text message to her mother, hoping to talk.

The second witness, Georgie Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Lucas Beyer testified about the clothing on Riley’s body as she was found at the crime scene, as well as surveillance video from a UGA dining hall, which showed Jose Ibarra’s brother on dates prior to and of the killing.

The third witness, Athens Clarke-County Charlie Krischer, called out of order by the defense due to scheduling constraints, spoke about a pile of clothing he discovered in the course of the investigation, noting that those clothes “had been there for quite some time.”

The fourth witness, Lt. Daniel Saunders with UGA police, called back after previously testifying on Friday, also testified about those articles of clothing, confirming they were “weathered,” as the prosecution previously outlined that those items had been determined irrelevant to the case.

The fifth witness, GBI lab technician Valencia Johnson testified that two black gloves, a navy blue jacket, a cutting from a tree and two rocks had traces of possible hair and/or fiber on them.

The final witness before the lunch break, GBI microanalyst Alexander Covin, testified that the gloves found discarded near Ibarra’s apartment and those found inside Ibarra’s residence were alike and “could have originated from the same source.”

Judge H. Patrick Haggard has returned to the bench and court is in session after a lunch break.

Dr. Michelle DiMarco, an associate medical examiner the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner’s Office, is testifying now.

Dustin Kirby, attorney for Jose Ibarra, speaks with prosecutor Sheila Ross at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on November 18.

The prosecution: Sheila Ross, the special prosecutor in charge of this case, delivered the prosecution’s opening statements and has led questioning of most of the witnesses. Ross is the director of capital litigation with the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which provides services to the state’s elected and appointed prosecutors.

Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez appointed Ross to take over the case days after Laken Riley’s killing. “We welcome (Ross) back as a knowledgeable and well-respected trial attorney with the expertise ready to bring justice on behalf of Laken Riley,” Gonzalez said at the time.

The defense: Three attorneys represent the defendant Jose Antonio Ibarra in court.

Dustin Kirby, a criminal defense attorney based in Athens, delivered the defense’s opening statements.

John W. Donnelly, a circuit public defender in Athens, and Kaitlyn Beck, an assistant public defender, round out the group.

The court is taking a break for lunch and will resume at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The state called Alexander Covin, a microanalyst with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, to testify on the gloves found discarded in a bush near Jose Ibarra’s apartment after Laken Riley’s death.

Covin, who works at the state crime lab in the trace evidence section, told the court that he compared the gloves from the bushes, to gloves discovered by investigators in a drawer inside Ibarra’s apartment.

The two sets of gloves were “consistent physically,” Covin said.

“My conclusions were that the black disposable gloves that were recovered from the bush, are like the disposable gloves that were recovered from the apartment, and could have originated from the same source,” Covin said, noting optical characteristics, physical characteristics with the texture pattern, and same measurements.

Covin also noted that the gloves were “not plasticized, so not latex or rubber,” adding that if the gloves “were to be strained, or pulled, or stretched in any way, they may tear more easily.”

Valencia Johnson, a lab tech with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, inspects an exhibit item in court on Tuesday in Athens, Georgia.

Two black gloves, a navy blue jacket, a cutting from a tree and two rocks had traces of possible hair and/or fiber on them, testified Valencia Johnson, a lab tech with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Johnson’s role in the trace evidence section is to examine evidence under magnifying glass or microscope and collect possible hairs and fibers. Those hairs and fibers were then passed to a forensic lab for further testing.

Of three black gloves taken into evidence, two had possible hairs and/or fibers, she said. The gloves were damaged and had holes and possible stretching, she added.

The navy blue jacket had possible hair and/or fiber around a button, she testified.

Court is back in session after a ten-minute recess. The defense has called their first witness, an Athens Clarke-County police officer, “out of order” due to his limited availability.

The state will resume calling their remaining witnesses after the officer.

Laken Riley's body was found in the woods that cover the vast majority of the 60-acre Oconee Forest Park.

Minutes before her death, Laken Riley called and texted her mother to see if she wanted to catch up. The missed call turned out to be the last time Riley reached out to a loved one.

Riley’s mother sobbed in court as she listened to UGA police Sgt. Sophie Raboud recount the 22-year-old’s final communications from her cell phone. During her testimony Tuesday, Raboud sounded emotional describing the following timeline:

8:55 a.m.: Riley sent her final text to her mother: “Good morning,” she wrote. “About to go for a run if you’re free to talk.”

9:03 a.m.: Riley called her mother, but she did not answer.

9:11 a.m.: Riley called 911.

9:12 a.m.: The 911 operator called Riley back twice within one minute.

9:24 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter back, but Riley didn’t answer.

9:37 a.m.: Riley’s mother texted her daughter: “Call me when you can.”

9:51 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

9:53 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

9:58 a.m.: Riley’s mother texted her daughter: “You’re making me nervous not answering while you’re out running. Are you OK?”

11:04 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

11:12 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

11:15 a.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

11:19 a.m.: Riley’s sister tried to call.

11:47 a.m.: Riley’s mother texted her daughter: “Please call me, I’m worried sick about you.”

12:07 p.m.: Riley’s mother called her daughter again.

12:20 p.m.: Riley’s stepfather tried to call.

At 12:38 p.m., police found Riley’s body in a wooded area near Lake Herrick.

Judge H. Patrick Haggard ordered a ten minute recess after GBI Special Agent Lucas Beyer was dismissed from the witness stand.