FIRST ON FOX – A Georgia grand jury on Tuesday indicted Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged in Augusta University student Laken Riley’s murder, on 10 counts, court documents show.
Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, is accused of killing Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was out for a run along dirt trails on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on Feb. 22.
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.”
Ibarra is accused of causing Riley’s death by inflicting blunt-force trauma to her head and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to jurors,” the indictment states.
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The suspect is also accused of going to an apartment on UGA’s “University Village Housing Building ‘S,'” where he “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a university staff member on the same day he allegedly killed Riley, the indictment alleges.
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Ibarra lived in an apartment building that sits on the edge of the on-campus park where Riley was running, allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”
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Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
The scenic loop Riley ran that morning is easily accessible from behind Ibarra’s apartment complex. It is a five-minute walk from Ibarra’s door to the approximate scene where Riley was found dead.
UGA said in a February statement following Riley’s death 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.”
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Diego Ibarra appears in Federal Court on immigration charges in Macon, GA, Thursday, March 8, 2024. Ibarra is the brother of Jose Ibarra who is accused of the murder of UGA student, Lake Riley in Athens GA last month. (Lucy Luckovich)
“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 26-year-old suspect illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT LIVED WITHIN 5-MINUTE WALK OF UGA CRIME SCENE
Brothers Jose Ibarra (right), Diego Ibarra (left) and Argenis Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela through Texas. The three brothers were living in an apartment complex near UGA’s campus.
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Jose and his brothers, Diego Ibarra, 29; and Argenis Ibarra, 24, lived together in the same apartment. All three men were questioned and taken into custody after Riley’s murder. Argenis and Diego first entered the United States on April 3, 2023, near Eagle Pass, Texas, and were deported the same day. They were arrested again on April 30 after crossing illegally into the U.S. near El Paso, Texas. They were later released and eventually traveled to Athens.
Diego Ibarra is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., according to federal court documents.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
