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full screen Laken, 22, out for a jog before the murder.
“Mom, I’m just going for a jog” was the last thing anyone heard from student Laken Riley, 22.
In a wooded area on campus, she was attacked by a man who tried to rape her – but instead killed her when she resisted.
Now Jose Ibarra, 26, is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.
– I have to live with the fact that I couldn’t protect her when she needed me the most, says Laken’s father Jason Riley.
Already early in the morning of February 22, hours before the murder, Jose Ibarra was sneaking around the University of Georgia campus in Athens.
He peeked at at least one young woman through a window.
Maybe he was looking for a victim even then.
In an eerie timeline, the prosecutor paints the final minutes of Laken Riley’s life.
At 08.55 she sends a text to her mother that she is going for a morning run. 09.03 she calls her mother for a short reconciliation.
The last image of Laken is captured at 09.05 by a surveillance camera along the running track.
At 9:11 a.m. she calls 911, but the call is disconnected before she can say anything.
In the middle of the death struggle, 09.24, her mother calls without getting an answer.
At 09:28 Laken Riley’s heart stops according to the data from the Garmin watch on her arm.
– There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss that we have experienced and will continue to endure, says Laken’s mother according to ABC News.
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full screen Jose Ibarra, 26. Photo: Hyosub Shin / AP
When Ibarra assaulted Laken, she strongly resisted. His reaction was violent.
Ibarra subjected her head to severe force while strangling her, a fatal combination listed as the cause of death in the medical examiner’s report.
It was also Laken’s resistance that helped the police tie Ibarra to the crime.
In addition to being seen on campus surveillance images, investigators found lacerations on his arm, and his DNA under her fingernails.
Police also found Laken’s blood on Ibarra’s clothes, which he had discarded near his residence.
– The evidence is clear. Riley was fighting for her life, and he murdered her because she wouldn’t let him rape her, said prosecutor Sheila Ross, according to ABC News.
During the trial, among other things, younger sister Lauren Phillips told about her loss.
– We are a broken family of three struggling to figure out how to live this life through the silence and emptiness that her absence has left behind, she says.
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full screenLaken Riley, 22. Photo: Gofundme
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fullscreenLaken Riley’s friends and sister as the verdict is presented in the courtroom. Photo: Hyosub Shin/AP
The poignant fate of Laken Riley has been one of America’s most debated crimes in 2024.
For Trump’s election campaign, the undocumented migrant from Venezuela became a welcome example of everything the president-elect believes is bad about immigration.
In his closing remarks during the trial, Judge H. Patrick Haggard tried to offer some words of comfort to the family.
– There is no such thing as an end when something like this happens. But at some point you start to smile at the memories, and I’m hopeful that’s what will take over to some extent at some point, even if the verdict against Mr. Ibarra won’t help much, he said, according to ABC News.
Ibarra was convicted of a number of crimes in addition to murder, including stalking a young woman.
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full screen The prosecutor presents evidence in the case. Photo: Arvin Temkar / AP