OAN’s James Meyers
10:05 AM – Wednesday, May 8, 2024
A Georgia grand jury indicted illegal migrant Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged in the murder of nursing student Laken Riley, on 10 counts including malice murder and kidnapping on Tuesday.
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Ibarra, who is an illegal migrant from Venezuela living in the U.S., is accused of killing Riley, while she was out for a run on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on February 22nd.
The grand jury indicted Ibarra on counts of malice murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence and being a “peeping Tom.”
According to the indictment, Ibarra is accused of murdering Riley by inflicting blunt-force trauma to her head and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to jurors.”
Additionally, Ibarra is also accused of going to an apartment on the University of Georgia’s (UGA) campus “University Village Housing Building ‘S,’” where he “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a staff member on campus on the same day he allegedly killed Riley, according to the indictment.
The illegal migrant lived in an apartment building that sits on the edge of the on-campus park where Riley was running, allegedly murdering the nursing student in what was a “crime of opportunity,” according to UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark.
The route that Riley ran that morning is easily within reach from behind Ibarra’s apartment complex. It was also reported that it is a five minute walk from Ibarra’s door to the approximate scene where Riley was found dead.
The University responded in a February statement after her death stating that the school has invested $16 million “over the last eight years to hire more police officers, install more security cameras, enhance lighting, establish a nightly rideshare program, and create a UGASafe app.”
“But we are committed to doing even more,” UGA said, adding that it also “approved an additional phase of lighting improvements and security camera installations” and “will continue to evaluate” safety measures.
The suspect illegally crossed into the U.S. through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, according to ICE and DHS sources that spoke with Fox News.
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