The body of a 22-year-old woman was found in a wooded area at the University of Georgia in Athens on Thursday, sending shockwaves through Clarke County, a community about 70 miles east of Atlanta.
When authorities revealed that the man charged with the killing was a Venezuelan immigrant, the crime became a political flashpoint.
The victim, Laken Riley, was a nursing student at nearby Augusta University. On Friday, Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged with her murder. The two did not know each other, authorities said.
Many questions remain about the killing, which is believed to be the first in nearly 30 years on campus. Here’s what we know.
The victim
Ms. Riley was once a student at the University of Georgia.
Ms. Riley was an undergraduate student at the school until the spring of 2023. After that, she enrolled in Augusta University’s nursing program, which has a campus in Athens, school officials said. He was on Augusta University’s fall 2023 dean’s list.
In Instagram posts, Ms Riley’s friends described her as a great friend, student and roommate who loved to run, dance and sing and had an infectious laugh.
Bianca Tiller, Ms. Riley’s freshman roommate, said Ms. Riley “lighted up every room she walked into and brought a smile to everyone’s face.”
Ms Riley was also an accomplished runner. He attended high school in Cherokee County and was on the River Ridge High School cross-country team. She made several Georgia State Schools Association finals, her former coach, Keith Hooper, said in a statement, adding that Ms. Riley “was a selfless person.”
The suspect
Mr. Ibarra lived in Athens and was from Venezuela.
Mr. Ibarra lived in an apartment complex about a mile from the wooded trail where Ms. Riley’s body was found, said Jeffrey Clark, the university police chief.
Mr. Ibarra immigrated to the United States from Venezuela, the authorities said. He was arrested by the Border Patrol for illegal border crossing in September 2022 and quickly released with temporary permission to remain in the country, according to federal officials.
This release, or parole, was a practice used by management when employees were overwhelmed by large numbers of passes. He ended that practice about six months later.
It appears that Mr. Ibarra also spent some time in New York. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was arrested by the New York Police Department in August and later released. A New York law enforcement official said Mr. Ibarra was driving a scooter without a license and with a child who was not wearing a helmet.
Mr. Ibarra was denied bail at a hearing Saturday and remained in jail, the authorities said.
The murder
Ms Riley disappeared after going for a run.
Shortly after noon Thursday, a friend reported to campus police that Ms. Riley was missing after she did not return from a run near the university’s fields, university police said.
At 12:38 p.m., officers found her body in a patch of woods near a lake. Ms Riley was “unconscious and not breathing” and had “visible injuries”, police said.
Chief Clark said Friday that she died of “blunt force trauma.”
According to arrest affidavits filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Mr. Ibarra was accused of using an object to attack Ms. Riley and dragging her body to a secluded area.
Charges against Mr. Ibarra include murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, obstructing a 911 call and concealing the death of another, Chief Clark said. Asked about the motive, he said, “This was just a crime of opportunity.”
Mr. Ibarra appeared to have acted alone, the authorities said.
the politics
The killing has sparked controversy over immigration policy.
Many conservative politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a native of Athens, have connected the assassination of President Biden’s immigration policies. They argue that the policies have flooded the country with more immigrants than the system can handle.
In a social media post, former President Donald J. Mr Trump called Mr Ibarra a “monster” and accused Mr Biden of an “invasion” that is “killing our citizens”.
Such statements have struck many liberals as demagogic rhetoric. Kelly Girtz, the Democratic mayor of Athens-Clarke County, said the conversation should focus on grieving the victim and blaming an individual, not a group.
“This murder was a brutal, heinous act,” he said, “and it rests squarely on the shoulders of the perpetrator.”
More than six million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country in the past decade, the largest population shift in modern Latin American history.
At the apartment complex listed as Mr. Ibarra’s address, one resident, Manuel Alcides, 26, said many Venezuelan immigrants lived in the building. Mr Alcides, who is also from Venezuela, said he did not know Mr Ibarra.
“It’s a danger to our community because society will look at this mistake and think that the rest of us could be a threat,” Mr Alcides said. “But we’re not all the same.”
The report was made by Richard Fausset, Adeel Hassan, Chelsea Rose Marcious and Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon.
