Jose Ibarra, the alleged murderer of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, traveled from New York City to Georgia after requesting a humanitarian flight, his roommate testified Monday.
Ibarra is currently standing trial after being charged for the murder of Riley, who died in February from blunt force trauma to the head outside of the University of Georgia’s campus. Ibarra’s roommate, Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello, testified that she and the suspected murderer arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City and requested a humanitarian flight to Athens, Georgia, in September 2023.
“In Manhattan, we requested a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta,” Flores-Bello said when asked how they arrived in Georgia.
Flores-Bello resided with Ibarra and his two brothers in Athens at the time of Riley’s murder; she told the jury Monday that her roommates showed no emotion or reaction when she informed them of Riley’s death, according to CNN. The former roommate said she identified Ibarra in surveillance footage while being questioned by police on February 23.
Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, illegally entered the U.S. through the southern border near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was later released into the country on parole due to the lack of detention space at the time. He was later arrested for allegedly acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 years old in New York City, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Federal immigration law under the Biden-Harris administration allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “parole” migrants instead of detaining them for “humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,” which has been challenged by many Republican-led states.
An affidavit released in February revealed that Ibarra caused “bodily harm” to Riley by “seriously disfiguring her body” and skull with an inanimate object. He allegedly dragged Riley to a secluded area and caused blunt force trauma with the object.
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