(NewsNation) — After four days of trial, a judge found Jose Ibarra, the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year, guilty on all charges.
Ibarra faced ten charges, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, hindering an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.
After being read his rights in both English and Spanish, Jose Ibarra, 26, chose not to testify on his own behalf.
The trial of Jose Ibarra
Diego Ibarra, Jose’s brother, was called to the witness stand on Tuesday but was rushed off after the court learned his lawyer did not want him to speak because of the fake green card case against him. On Wednesday morning, the judge dismissed Diego Ibarra and his attorney, saying they would not be calling him again. The lawyer confirmed to NewsNation that he did advise Diego Ibarra not to testify but declined to comment on the case itself.
Prosecutors showed an FBI interrogation with Diego Ibarra. Investigators asked Diego Ibarra to watch a surveillance video of someone taking bloodied clothes and dropping them off in a dumpster. Diego Ibarra identified his brother, Jose, as the one in the video.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross argued that lacerations on Riley’s skull and abrasions on her face, neck and torso show that Jose Ibarra had “expressed malice,” which is a deliberate intention to kill her. Pointing to the scratches found on Jose Ibarra, Ross said this shows Riley did fight her attacker.
Jose Ibarra wanted to “silence (Riley) forever,” Ross argued, so she could not report him to the authorities for rape.
In her closing, defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck said because the prosecution’s evidence against Jose Ibarra is “circumstantial,” it requires a higher burden of proof. Defense attorneys have argued that it is possible that someone else killed Riley — even Ibarra’s brother.
Because Jose Ibarra shared a one-bedroom apartment with his brothers and roommates, Beck said it is “more than possible that one brother’s DNA would get on another brother’s clothes.”
Laken Riley killed while on a run
On Feb. 22, Riley was reported missing when she didn’t return home from a run. Investigators later discovered her body in a forested area on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. UGA police arrested Jose Ibarra the next day.
Before prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday, attorneys revealed brand new video from the last time 22-year-old Riley was seen alive, showing her running on a trail on the University of Georgia’s campus just minutes before she dialed 911. Another video, which the prosecution said showed Jose Ibarra on the morning Riley died, allegedly showed Ibarra lurking around the trail and trying to break into a young woman’s apartment.
Approximately one hour after this video was taken, prosecutors said, Jose Ibarra and Riley’s cell phones pinged at identical locations near the scene of the crime.
A minute-by-minute timeline of Riley’s final moments was revealed through calls and texts from her phone. At 8:55 a.m. that morning, Riley texted her mother, “Good morning, about to go for a run if you’re free to talk.”
Then, at 9:03 a.m., Riley called her mom, who did not pick up. Riley’s moms soon followed up with a number of calls and texts that her daughter did not answer.
“Please call me, I’m worried sick about you,” one of those texts by Riley’s mother said.
To close their case Tuesday, the state asked a DNA specialist what she discovered when examining Laken Riley’s fingernails. The DNA specialist said fingernail samples matched a profile of Jose Ibarra’s blood found on a jacket found in a dumpster.
Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who Customs and Border Patrol sources tell NewsNation has ties to the Tren De Aragua gang, would spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, battery and tampering with evidence charges.
