ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia prosecutors on Monday positioned Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta College nursing scholar Laken Riley on the College of Georgia campus in February, on the scene utilizing a jailhouse cellphone name to his spouse, in line with Fox Information contributor Paul Mauro.
Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan nationwide, is charged with 10 counts in reference to Riley’s homicide on the morning of Feb. 22, when Riley was out for her typical morning jog alongside trails on the UGA campus close to Lake Herrick. He’ll seem in an Athens courtroom for the third day of his homicide trial on Tuesday.Â
On Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial, an Athens-Clarke County courtroom heard a recorded jail cellphone name between Ibarra and his spouse, Layling Franco, that was performed aloud and translated by an FBI analyst who spoke fluent Spanish.
“She stated that she thinks it is loopy that they do not have anybody else’s DNA. They solely have his. And she or he says she does not perceive how somebody can see somebody dying and never calling [sic] 911,” FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez testified in courtroom on Monday whereas translating the decision for the prosecution.
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Jose Ibarra pays consideration to a witness throughout his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
Mauro, a former government officer for the New York Police Division’s Intelligence Operations and Evaluation Bureau, stated the decision basically locations Ibarra on the scene of the crime.
“She very clearly does not imagine him. … She says, at one level, ‘Jose, I do know you,’ a really … telling second,” Mauro stated of the calling with Franco.. “After which at one level … the actual crushing assertion is when she says to him, ‘I can’t imagine someone may see someone dying and never name 911.'”
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An exterior view of Jose Antonio Ibarra’s house in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Ibarra has been charged with the homicide of Laken Riley after she was discovered useless alongside a strolling path on the College of Georgia’s campus earlier this week. (Mark Sims for Fox Information Digital)
Mauro stated he believes the cellphone name appears to “be a reference to him having instructed her, I used to be there, I noticed the physique, however I did not name 911, and I did not do it.”
“Probably the most fascinating factor, I assumed, was truly essentially the most prosaic, which is the truth that [Riley] has fingernail scrapings — she had pores and skin beneath her fingernails — from combating for her life, and Jose had accidents with having gotten these accidents from that form of a struggle,” Mauro stated, referring to UGA Police Division bodycam footage performed in courtroom on Monday that confirmed investigators Ibarra’s physique for indicators of damage.
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Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Fb. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, was discovered useless close to a lake on campus on Feb. 22. An unlawful immigrant has been charged together with her homicide. (Laken Riley/Fb)
UGA PD patrol Cp. Rafael Sayan testified Monday that he questioned Ibarra on Feb. 23 — the day after Riley’s homicide — about accidents on his palms and arms, which Ibarra principally disregarded as normal scratches or bleeding from the chilly climate in February.Â
Bodycam footage from that morning present officers’ first encounter with Ibarra on Feb. 23. They initially arrived on the house round 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 23 and questioned Jose’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, earlier than they obtained a search warrant and went contained in the house.
WATCH: POLICE ENTER JOSE IBARRA’S APARTMENT:
The footage exhibits officers strolling inside shining a lightweight on Jose, who was in mattress on the time, and repeatedly saying “hola” in an effort to wake him up. After a few minute, Jose will get away from bed and places his palms up.Â
“That is hypothesis, however I believe he was probably extremely intox[icated],” Mauro stated, noting that investigators linked a white plastic cup containing a liquid smelling of alcohol to the scene of Riley’s homicide. A suspicious male was seen holding a white cup in safety digicam footage taken close to the crime scene that morning. Late on, investigators discovered an analogous white, plastic cup that smelled of alcohol on Feb. 22, in line with regulation enforcement testimony on Monday.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN GEORGIA COLLEGE STUDENT SLAYING ASKS TO HIDE CERTAIN EVIDENCE
A normal view of the world the place Laken Riley’s physique was discovered close to Lake Herrick on the College of Georgia’s campus in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Jose Antonio Ibarra has been charged with the homicide of Riley after she was killed earlier this week. (Mark Sims for Fox Information Digital)
The suspect is charged with 10 counts whole, together with one depend of malice homicide, three counts of felony homicide, one depend of kidnapping, one depend of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one depend of aggravated battery, one depend of hindering a 911 name, one depend of tampering with proof and one depend of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded not responsible to all counts.
Prosecutor Ross stated Ibarra then encountered Riley on her typical morning run and attacked her.Â
Laken Riley’s killing has gripped the nation because the border disaster continues. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra placed on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and a few black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went looking for females on the College of Georgia campus,” Â Ross stated in her opening assertion Friday.
Ibarra and his brothers, additionally in the US illegally from Venezuela, lived in an house constructing lower than a half mile from the on-campus park the place Riley was operating.
The defendant’s legal professional, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening assertion that proof wouldn’t show past an inexpensive doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He stated it will take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial proof.”
Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing scholar earlier this yr, listens via an interpreter as he sits along with his attorneys Dustin Kirby, second left, and Kaitlyn Beck, left, throughout his trial  at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
“If that occurs and the presumption of innocence is revered, there shouldn’t be sufficient proof to persuade you past an inexpensive doubt that Mr. Ibarra is responsible of the crimes charged,” Kirby stated on Monday.
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark beforehand described the homicide as a “crime of alternative” throughout a February press convention.
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Jose Ibarra appears down as he listens via an interpreter throughout his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Poolv)
Ibarra illegally crossed into the US via El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was launched into the U.S. by way of parole, ICE and DHS sources beforehand instructed Fox Information.
Diego Ibarra, who labored briefly in a UGA cafeteria earlier than his arrest in February, is charged with inexperienced card fraud and had ties to a identified Venezuelan gang within the U.S., referred to as Tren de Aragua, in line with federal courtroom paperwork.
On Friday afternoon, the protection subpoenaed Diego Ibarra and their youthful brother, Argenis Ibarra, to testify throughout Jose’s trial on Wednesday.
Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Fb. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, was discovered useless close to a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Fb)
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ICE beforehand confirmed to Fox Information Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Division a yr after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with appearing in a way to injure a toddler lower than 17 and a motorized vehicle license violation.”
Mauro stated some legal instances turn into “consultant of one thing bigger than themselves,” and Riley’s case is one in all them.
“This pressured…these points ahead. All of the sudden, you needed to discuss these things,” Mauro stated, referencing the subject of unlawful immigration.
The previous NYPD officer additionally praised the UGA Police Division’s fast work to apprehend the suspect in reference to Riley’s homicide only a day after she was killed.
Fox Information’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
