Georgia Nursing Students Laken Riley When she left to run to see if he had time to chat, she texted and called her mom — but then she didn't respond to her mom's calls or her increasingly frantic text messages. .
Riley called her mother at 9:03 a.m. on February 22, and by the time her mother called back about 20 minutes later, the student had already been confronted. Jose Ibarra On the wild running track at the University of Georgia, according to trial testimony. Prosecutors said Ibarra killed Riley after a struggle, and data from Riley's smartwatch showed his heart stopped beating at 9:28 a.m.
According to data obtained from Riley's phone, when Riley failed to answer the phone, her mother, Alison Phillips, messaged her several times, at first casually but then with increasing concern.
At 9:37 a.m., her mother texted, “Call me whenever you can.” Phillips called twice, and when her calls went unanswered, she texted her daughter at 9:58 a.m., saying, “You were annoying me by not answering when I was out running. Are you okay?” Are?” Phillips messaged again at 11:47 a.m., saying, “Please call me. I'm worried about you.” He and other family members kept calling Riley.
Phillips cried in court as the text messages were read aloud by a Georgia police sergeant. CBS News producer Jared Eggleston reported that Sophie Rabaud, who examined the data from Riley's phone. Rabaud also testified about video from surveillance cameras near the wooded path, and that Phillips and some other family members and friends cried when the video was played, which showed Riley running down the path on the morning of her death.
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Ibarra, 26, has been charged with murder and other crimes in Riley's death in February, and his trial began Friday. he has pleaded not guilty,
He waived his right to a jury trial, meaning the case will be decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard alone. The case may go to the judge by the end of Tuesday.
The killing further fueled a national debate over immigration after federal officials said Ibarra had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to remain in the country while pursuing his immigration case. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles east of Atlanta.
Surveillance video also shows a man whom prosecutors say is Ibarra walking around an apartment complex, where a female graduate student said someone tried to break into her apartment and was shot. On the morning of the day Riley was murdered, he looked out the window. Rabaud testified that the man was seen walking up to that apartment door six times over a period of about an hour, twice opening the exterior screen door.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Lucas Breyer testified about reviewing body camera video of the officer who found Riley's body in the woods. She testified that her clothing had been “heavily tampered with”, stating that the waistband of her running tights had been pulled down somewhat and her jacket, shirt and sports bra had been pulled up.
CBS News' Eggleston reported that some of the crime scene testimony was so horrific that Riley's family members left the courtroom.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during her opening statement that Ibarra had set out that February morning to “look for women” and that he killed Riley after a struggle when she “refused to be his rape victim.” Law enforcement officials have testified that there is no evidence that Riley was sexually assaulted.
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening statement that Riley's death was a tragedy and described the evidence in the case as tragic and disturbing. But he said there was not enough evidence to prove his client killed Riley.
Ross told the judge on Monday that he expected to call witnesses on Tuesday, and defense attorneys said their witnesses should take a maximum of half a day. Prosecutors had already called about two dozen witnesses in the first two days of testimony, Friday and Monday. This included law enforcement officers, Riley's roommate, and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.
On Monday, prosecutors played a role jail phone call recording Between Ibarra and his wife, Leling Franco, since May. FBI specialist Abbess Ramirez, who translated the call from Spanish, testified that Ibarra told Franco he was looking for work at the University of Georgia, and that his wife repeatedly said she was fed up and wanted to leave. I wanted him to tell the truth.
Franco “continued to ask, 'What happened to the girl?'” and said Ibarra “must know something,” Ramirez said. He replies: “Leling, enough.” Ramirez said Franco told Ibarra it was crazy that police only found his DNA.
Riley's parents, roommates and other friends and family packed the courtroom Friday and again Monday and Tuesday.
Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed the Democrats. President Joe Biden's border policies For his death. Biden mentioned Riley by name when he talked about border security during his State of the Union address a few weeks after the killing.
In March, FBI Director Christopher Wray offered unusually detailed comments On the murder of Riley.
“I want to tell you how sad I am — and not just for the family, friends, classmates and staff who are grieving the loss of Laycon,” Ray told a group gathered at the University of Georgia. “I am saddened to see that sense of peace shattered by the murder of Laken and the subsequent arrest of a Venezuelan citizen who entered the country illegally in 2022.”
He said the FBI is doing “everything” [it] “I can help Lakan get justice.”