ATHENS, GA – A 22-year-old nursing student from Augusta University was tragically found lifeless on the University of Georgia campus, leading to the arrest of a suspect. The University of Georgia Police Department has detained Jose Antonio Ibarra, charging him with a series of offenses, including malice murder, felony murder, and kidnapping, among others. Ibarra, who is not a U.S. citizen nor a student at the university, was announced as the suspect by UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark.
The suspect, Ibarra, who is 5 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 170 lbs, was initially taken into custody on Friday. However, it is now believed that he had no prior connection with the victim, Laken Riley. The arrest was facilitated by compelling evidence, including footage from campus security cameras, according to Clark.
The police chief characterized the attack as a “crime of opportunity,” given the lack of a known connection between Ibarra and Riley. Chief Clark said that the suspect is from Venezuela.
In the early stages of the investigation, several individuals were initially detained, but only Ibarra was charged. Riley, who had previously been a student at UGA before enrolling in a nursing program at Augusta’s Athens campus, did not return from her morning jog and was later found dead near a campus lake.
The police department urged anyone who noticed anything “unusual or suspicious” between 7 a.m. and noon Thursday around UGA’s Intramural Fields and Lake Herrick to report it. Riley was found with “visible injuries” shortly after a worried friend contacted the police.
The results of the autopsy are yet to be released, but the authorities are investigating the case as a homicide. Clark indicated that the cause of death might be blunt-force trauma. Following the incident, both universities canceled classes and events on Friday.