An illegal immigrant from Venezuela was convicted Wednesday in the murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia.
A judge in Georgia announced the verdict, finding Jose Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts against him, Fox News reported.
Ibarra, 26, was found guilty one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.”
Ibarra had pleaded not guilty to all counts.
According to prosecutors, Ibarra attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, as she was jogging near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on Feb. 22.
“Laken Riley herself has given you all the evidence you need alone to find this man guilty of every single count in this indictment,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her closing argument Wednesday.
“She did fight, and it is a direct result of that fight that gives you all the physical evidence you need to convict him,” Ross said. “He killed her because she would not let him rape her.”
The “peeping Tom” incident happened over an hour before she was killed and showed Ibarra’s alleged intent to prey on women that morning.
Prosecutors asserted Ibarra saw Riley and attacked her. He dragged her 64 feet into a wooded area and beat her head with a rock repeatedly resulting in her death.
Witness testimony showed Ibarra’s DNA was found in Riley’s fingernails and on a jacket with Riley’s hair that was found in a dumpster near his apartment.
“In order to find this defendant not guilty of killing Laken Riley, you would have to disbelieve DNA,” Ross said. “You would have to disbelieve fingerprint evidence.”
Ibarra’s defense attorneys argued that the evidence against him was circumstantial, and alleged his brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, have similar DNA.
“The facts and the evidence in this case should leave you with some reasonable doubt,” attorney Kaitlyn Beck said in her closing argument. She added “while the evidence in this case is voluminous, it is circumstantial.”
In September 2022, Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022.
Riley’s partially naked body was found in a wooded area and was covered in leaves.
According to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner, she died of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.
