Suspect named and charged with murder of Laken Riley on University of Georgia campus

A suspect has been charged with murder in the death of an Augusta University College of Nursing student whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who is not a US citizen, has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, false imprisonment, kidnapping and other charges in the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, police announced at a press conference Friday night.

Riley’s roommate called campus police after Riley went for a jog that morning at the university’s intramural fields and never returned. Her body was found a short time later in a wooded area.

She was unconscious and had “visible injuries” when officers found her, the University of Georgia Police Department said.

At the press conference, the police chief said Riley died of blunt force trauma. He confirmed that Ibarra did not did not know Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity” and said there’s no further threat to the university community.

Laken Riley did not know the suspect who was arrested in her murder, police say

(Supplied)

Riley was not a student at University of Georgia but instead was a nursing student at Augusta University, which has a campus in Athens, University of Georgia, reported The New York Times.

Augusta University said they are in a partnership with UGA, allowing students to participate in UGA campus activities.

Classes were cancelled on Friday at the university. They are expected to resume on Monday.

The arrest comes after a highly visible police investigation Friday that centered on an apartment complex just south of the wooded parkland where Riley’s body was found.

University of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark had said earlier “We’re not going to leave any rock unturned in this investigation,” noting there has not been a homicide on campus in the last 20 years.

(Joshua L. Jones)

“A suspect in the murder of Laken Riley has been taken into custody by the University of Georgia Police Department,” the university police said in a statement earlier today. “At this time, there are no indications of a continuing threat to the UGA campus related to this matter.”

A mobile command post was set up at the apartment complex and at one point, officers searched a dumpster at a gas station across the street. Police said surveillance footage led them to arresting Ibarra.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County Police Department joined the university police department in the investigation.

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