Laken Riley Murder: Jose Ibarra's DNA evidence hearing faces delay

ATHENS, Georgia. – A hearing on motions in the murder trial of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February, could be delayed.

Court documents filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court indicate that data from DNA evidence collected during the investigation was not received.

“Neither the defendant nor the state has been provided with the underlying DNA testing data in this case, despite repeated requests from both,” a motion for continuance filed Tuesday states. “Without this data, the defendant cannot properly assess whether scientific methods were properly applied in this case.”

There is no word on whether the judge will grant a continuance.

Ibarra's trial is scheduled to begin on November 13.

What happened to Laken Riley?

Riley was brutally murdered during her morning run on February 22nd. Her body was found by police shortly after she was reported missing by a friend in a wooded area near Lake Herrick and UGA's downtown fields.

Ibarra, originally from Venezuela, entered the country illegally in 2022 and lived in Athens. He was charged with first degree murder, aggravated murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, obstructing an emergency call and concealing the death of another.

An autopsy determined Riley died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Arrest warrant describes UGA murder

According to warrants, Riley was killed on Feb. 22 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The warrants state that Ibarra “physically” prevented Riley from making or completing an emergency call and used an “object” to cause great bodily harm and “disfigured” her skull.” The warrants state also reveals that he dragged her from the fields inside the wall to a remote area and kept her death a secret.

The indictment says Ibarra hid a jacket and gloves, which led to the tampering with evidence charge. It also says that on the day of Riley's murder, Ibarra looked through the window of an apartment in a university housing building and thereby invaded the privacy of a person whose name had been redacted, which forms the basis for the Peeping Tom charge.

It remains unknown why Riley was killed. Ibarra was denied bond at his first court appearance on Feb. 24.

During the search for Riley's killer, Jose Ibarra's brother, 29-year-old Diego Ibarra, was also arrested. Diego Ibarra was found to have a fraudulent green card.

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Exciting Tom incident related to Laken Riley murder

In court documents, Assistant District Attorney Sheila Ross revealed that Ibarra had been looking through the windows of a UGA dormitory 73 minutes before the discovery of Riley's body, which was found 1,000 feet away on a trail near UGA's Intramural Fields.

Those court documents say the UGA student called 911 at 7:57 a.m. after seeing the person peering through her front door window. UGA Police responded, but the suspect fled. According to police, the man, whom prosecutors identified as Ibarra, tried to open her front door.

At 9:10 a.m., UGA Police received another 911 call, this time from Riley. Prosecutors say Ibarra canceled that call.

Just 14 minutes later, her mother tried several times to reach her daughter by phone, court records showed. Concerned by the lack of response, she called her friends to see if they had heard from her. They began searching and called 911 at 12:07 p.m. to report Riley was missing.

According to court documents, her “lifeless, beaten and partially unclothed body” was found 31 minutes later in a wooded area 65 feet off the running route.
The suspect is further described in the document:

“At the time of the two incidents described above, defendant Ibarra was wearing the same clothing, plastic gloves and facial hair. These details are important because defendant Ibarra was filmed by various video cameras in the area.” [UGA student’s] residence hall and near Milledge Avenue Extension, which leads to the running trails that Laken Riley used.”

Ibarra's attorney argues that the Peeping Tom charge should be separated from the other nine charges, but the prosecution disagrees:

“Because these incidents are related by time, place, motive and evidence, the defendant’s motion should be denied.”

Prosecutors argue that Ibarra's actions on the morning of February 22, 2024 were “part of an ongoing individual plan” that ultimately led to the murder of Riley.

“Approximately 60 minutes later he encountered Laken Riley where, as the evidence will show, he attempted to sexually assault her. When Laken Riley resisted the defendant’s attempt to sexually assault her, he murdered her,” the court document states.

Evidence against Jose Ibarra

Investigators say a man who looks like Ibarra was seen throwing bloody gloves and a bloody jacket with long dark hair into a dumpster less than half an hour after her death. This dumpster was located about half a mile from the crime scene.

The documents also show that prosecutors have a fingerprint from Riley's phone, DNA from her fingernails and video footage. Prosecutors say the fingerprint on Riley's phone belongs to Ibarra.

Ibarra's lawyers filed a motion earlier this month to try to remove two cellphones, a cheek swab and several social media accounts from the evidence, saying they were collected by law enforcement without a search warrant. They also claim that the DNA evidence collected is unreliable, something prosecutors deny.

Ibarra's murder trial is scheduled to begin on November 13 in Athens.