Police officers said the suspect in the killing of an Augusta University College of Nursing student Laken Hope Riley on the University of Georgia campus in Athens did not attend the nursing school and is not an American citizen.
University of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark said it was a “crime of opportunity” by “an individual who woke up with bad intentions”, while speaking to US news media outlets.
The suspect who has been apprehended is 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, of Athens. He could face charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, kidnapping and concealing the death of another person in relation to Riley’s killing.
The nursing student was found dead near a lake at the University of Georgia’s campus on Thursday. She was jogging in the area. The Athens-Clarke County Coroner said she died from blunt force trauma.
Police officer Jeff Clark said the evidence suggests the killing was “a solo act”. He said several people were taken into custody but Ibarra was the only person arrested.
“This was a very isolated incident. We haven’t had a homicide at the University of Georgia in almost 30 years,” Clark said.
Police caught Ibarra using video footage from security cameras in the university campus, inputs from the community and physical evidence to tie the suspect to Riley’s killing.
The death of Riley gained national attention and people across the US were following the investigation closely to find out if the suspect was apprehended as an intense search for the student’s killer was announced.
Ibarra, the suspect, does not have an “extensive” criminal history, Clark said. He is a resident of Athens, but not a US citizen or a student at the university. He said there is no evidence that the two of them knew each other.
“We want to stress that this continues to be an active ongoing investigation,” university spokesperson Greg Trevor said.
A friend of Riley on Thursday noon called the police and informed them that Riley went jogging at the university’s intramural fields and never returned. On Thursday midday, police found her body in an area behind a nearby lake.
The police found her “unconscious and not breathing” and said she “received visible injuries” and immediately started rendering medical aid but emergency responders pronounced her dead.
“The College of Nursing will miss Laken’s spirit on campus, and our hearts go out to her family and friends. We know that she would have been a wonderful nurse, and her passing is a loss for the profession and the communities she would have graciously served,” the university said in a press release.
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