Laken Riley's Killer Sentenced To Life In Prison Without Parole

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A judge found Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, guilty of murdering Laken Riley, a nursing student who was found dead on the University of Georgia’s campus in February.

Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, putting an end to the murder case that brought awareness to the illegal migrant crisis.

“Laken was an amazing friend, sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter. Everyone who knew her knew about her loving heart,” Allyson Phillips, Riley’s mother, told the judge during a victim impact statement. “Laken’s life was not the only life taken on that day that Jose Ibarra attacked her. The life of her family and friends was taken too. None of us will ever be the same.”

Riley, 22, was studying nursing at Augusta University’s campus in Athens when she went for a run the morning of Feb. 22 at the University of Georgia, which she previously attended. Prosecutors said Ibarra, 26, intended to rape Riley when he attacked her on the intramural fields complex. He was arrested in a nearby apartment building the next day.

During the trial, Haggard heard the translation of an audio recording of a Spanish-language phone conversation from jail between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, on May 11.

In the call, according to a translation by FBI Agent Abeisis Ramirez, Franco questioned why investigators only had Ibarra’s DNA and told him, “What happened to the girl?’’ as Ibarra tried to get her to stop. Ibarra did not tell his wife that he killed Riley during the call.

Laken Riley’s Killer Sentenced To Life In Prison Without Parole  was originally published on wibc.com