by Jason Hopkins
A Georgia grand jury has formally indicted the man accused of killing 22-year-old student Laken Riley on ten charges, including murder, kidnapping and being a peeping Tom.
Jose Ibarra is charged with malice murder, three counts of felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, tampering with evidence and interfering with a 911 call for help, Superior Court of Clarke County records show. The 26-year-old Venezuelan national was also handed down a “peeping Tom” charge related to his activities the day of Riley’s murder.
The indictment accuses Ibarra of going to an apartment on UGA’s campus where he “peeped through” a window and spied on an individual the same day he allegedly killed Riley.
“[He] did peep through the window and spied upon and invaded the privacy of” a specific individual on February 22, the indictment reads.
Riley, a nursing student at the time, was abducted and murdered while jogging around the UGA campus on February 22. The coroner confirmed that the 22-year-old died from blunt force trauma to the head. José Antonio Ibarra was subsequently arrested for her murder, an incident which authorities are describing as a crime of opportunity.
Shortly after the murder, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials confirmed that Ibarra had unlawfully entered the U.S.
Ibarra illegally crossed into the U.S. through the southern border near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was later released into the country on parole, apparently because federal immigration authorities lacked detention space at the time.
Riley’s murder sparked a national debate on the ongoing illegal immigration crisis and its consequences, with mention of it by President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address and a local campaign to recall the mayor of the town were the murder took place.
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Jason Hopkins is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Background Photo “Laken Riley” by Laken Riley.
