Laken Riley’s killer’s cold reaction as judge reaches verdict in Georgia student’s murder

Undocumented migrant Jose Ibarra has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley on Feb 22, 2024

The battered body of Nursing student Laken Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus 

Ibarra Ibarra who waived his right to a jury trial, stared coldly as the verdict was read while his victim’s family sobbed in court, and remained stone-faced as the sentence were revealed

He was convicted of all 10 counts against him: malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom

Suspect Prosecutors had declined to seek the death penalty in the case  

Jose Ibarra has been found guilty of her murder on Wednesday and sent away for life, without the possibility of parole.

Undocumented migrant Jose Ibarra will spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for killing nursing student Laken Riley on her school’s campus, earlier in the year. 
The Venezuela native, 26, had pled not guilty to the murder 22-year-old college student who was found battered to the death on February 22, at the University of Georgia.
The suspect stared coldly as the verdict was read while his victim’s family sobbed in court.
Shortly after Ibarra, still impassive, listened as the sentence of life without parole was handed down by the judge, the prosecutors having declined to seek the death penalty in the case. 

For killing Lekan Riley, [photo], her killer Jose Ibarra was convicted of all 10 counts of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom

Jose Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan native who is undocumented in US, had pled not guilty to the murder of Laken Riley in February, at the University of Georgia. His conviction for murder on Wednesday, comes as prosecutors had declined to seek the death penalty in the case

Ibarra still showed no emotion as Riley’s heartbroken mother entreated the judge to give the killer the maximum punishment permissible.
The defendant having waived his right to a jury trial, at the conclusion the trial which began on Friday, Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found him guilty.
Ibarra was convicted of all 10 counts against him: malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom. 

The battered body of nursing student Lekan Riley, [photo], was found on Feb 22, near a lake on the Univ. of Georgia campus after a friend reported her missing when she didn’t return from her morning jog. The killer ‘left behind his thumbprint on her iPhone, which was found near her body at the crime scene’  

Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus. She had been a student there until 2023, when she transferred to Augusta. 
Her roommates had reported her missing after becoming concerned that she had been out for longer than usual.
Prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers for the trial, as well as Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.

According to courtroom reports Allyson Phillips seen with husband John, [right], entreated the court to impose the max restitution available to the man who killed her daughter Phillips seen with their daughter Riley [left]

Laken Riley’s roommate Connolly Huth, Laken’s sister Lauren Phillips and Sofia Magana, another of the victim’s, react as Judge Haggard announces the verdict during the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, on, Nov. 20, in Athens, Ga

Riley fought for her life for 18 minutes while Ibarra attempted to rape her before having her life snuffed out. DNA evidence found on her body later tied him to the crime, ‘She marked her killer for the entire world to see. It is his DNA. Only his DNA, underneath Laken’s right fingernails,’ Georgia special prosecutor Sheila Ross said.
‘He left behind his thumbprint on her iPhone, which was found near her body at the crime scene.’
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing. But he said there was not sufficient evidence to prove that his client killed Riley. 

In this CCTV video recorded near her home on the University of Georgia campus at 9.05am on the day of her death, Riles is seen holding her iPhone in her left hand, wearing all black activewear and her noise-canceling AirPods

Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning. 
On Friday prosecutors said Ibarra’s DNA was a direct match to the DNA under Riley’s fingernails, and was ’10 billion times more probable than a coincidental match.’ 
During the trial’s first day, officials also showed images of suspicious scratches on Ibarra’s body at the time of his arrest.

The illegal immigrant accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley had several suspicious scratches on his body at the time of his arrest, his criminal trial heard. Prosecutors said Ibarra’s DNA was a direct match to the DNA under Riley’s fingernails

At trial, photos showing scratches of varying lengths identified by officers on the defendant was and were submitted as evidence in the case against him, as the DNA evidence helped the prosecution making the case of murder

The judge said that as he listened to the closing arguments, he wrote down on a legal pad two things the lawyers had said. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence ‘overwhelming and powerful’ and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him he was ‘required to set aside my emotions’ in making his ruling. 
Ibarra illegally entered the US through US-Mexico border in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case.
He has been identified as a member of the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, [TDA]. 

Bereaved parents Allyson and John Phillips, [center and right], were filled with emotion as the trial for their man accused of killing their daughter kicked off on Friday

On Monday, the court saw images of Ibarra’s brother and roommate, Diego Ibarra, who has a tattoo of a five-point crown of his neck, a symbol of association with the TDA.
TDA became a national story after shocking footage showed apparent members taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. The gang started in Venezuela’s prison and has spread through the western hemisphere as the oil-rich nation goes through the worst migrant crisis in the world.
Also on Monday, Ibarra’s other roommate Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello told the court that she moved to Georgia because Diego Ibarra had told the alleged killer there were jobs opportunities in Athens.
Flores-Bello said she met Ibarra in Queens, New York, and within a month decided to move to Georgia with him. 
Diego Ibarra and a third brother, Argenis Ibarra, pled guilty in July to having fake green cards.
When asked how they obtained the plane tickets, Flores-Bello said they were provided by NYC officials.
‘In Manhattan, at The Roosevelt Hotel, we asked for a humanitarian flight to Atlanta, on the 9th or 10th of October, 2023,’ she testified.
Four months after his arrival in Georgia, Ibarra was arrested for the Laken Riley.