On February 22, 2024, 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley was reported missing after going for a jog near the University of Georgia. She was later found dead near the campus trail.
A Normal Morning
February 22, 2024, started like many other mornings for Laken Riley. She was 22 years old, a nursing student at the University of Georgia and someone who truly loved running.
That morning, she told her roommates she was heading out for a jog. This was not unusual at all. Running was part of her routine, something she did several times a week.
Laken often ran near the UGA Intramural Fields, located on the southern side of campus. The area includes open fields, wooded paths, a small lake and a few connecting roads. It is usually calm, open and full of students.
Because it sits on campus property, many people believed it was a safe place to exercise. Laken knew the trails well and had run there countless times before.
She left her home that morning wearing black clothing and carrying her phone. Her car stayed behind which showed she had gone out on foot, just like she normally did. Nothing about that morning suggested danger. To her roommates, it was another routine jog.
As time passed, though, something felt wrong. Laken was usually back within a predictable time window. When she stayed gone longer than usual, her roommates started to worry. At first, they checked her location using the “Find My” app. What they saw made their concern grow fast.
Her location had not moved for more than an hour.
They tried calling and texting her but she never answered. The silence felt wrong and anxiety quickly turned into fear. By late morning, they decided they could not wait any longer. They left the house to look for her themselves, following the trail area where her phone last showed activity.
At 11:46 a.m., they found one of Laken’s AirPods lying on the ground near the path. That moment made it clear something terrible may have happened. This was not something she would drop and leave behind.
At 12:05 p.m., they called police and reported her missing. In the call, they explained that Laken had gone for a run around 9 a.m., that her phone had stopped moving, and that she had not responded to messages or calls. They also confirmed her car was still at home. Officers were dispatched immediately.
The Search Ends In The Woods
Police arrived at the Intramural Fields and began searching the wooded area near the trail. According to reports, officers had only been searching for about 11 minutes when one of them made a devastating discovery.
At 12:38 p.m., Officer Kenneth Maxwell was walking through a wooded section near the trail when he saw a woman lying on the ground. She was unresponsive. He called out to her but got no reply. When he checked for a pulse, he could not find one.
Laken Riley was lying in the woods, unconscious, with visible injuries. It was immediately clear this was not an accident. Emergency responders were called and a criminal investigations team arrived shortly after.
Police quickly determined that Laken had died at the scene. Her death was officially treated as a homicide.
Word spread quickly. Friends and family were notified within the hour. Body camera footage later showed officers delivering the news to her loved ones. The reaction was heartbreaking. Her family was completely shattered.
Investigators also realized very early that this case would draw public attention. A young woman had been attacked and killed while jogging on a college campus in broad daylight. It was the kind of crime that shakes a community deeply.
Evidence at the scene showed clear signs of violence. Investigators noted injuries to her body, including marks on her torso and head. Data from her smartwatch later showed her heart stopped beating at 9:28 a.m., helping police narrow down the timeline, according to ABC7.
Maxwell said Laken’s shirt was pulled up when he found her, and she was at least 50 feet away from the trail she had been jogging on.
“It did not look as if something had unintentionally happened,” Maxwell said. “It looked more intentional, as if somebody had attempted to either remove her top, or maybe had used it to drag her.”
From that moment, the case moved fast. Officers began gathering evidence from every possible source: witnesses, cameras, phone data and nearby apartments.
A Hooded Man Shows Up On Cameras
Even before police finished processing the scene, witness reports started coming in. One jogger told investigators she had seen a man earlier that morning near the lake. He was wearing a navy or dark jacket, black gloves and a hood. What stood out most was how still and quiet he seemed.
She said he stood near the water, not exercising or talking, just watching. He appeared focused on his phone and did not react to people passing by. The sight stayed in her mind, especially after learning what had happened.
With this description, detectives began reviewing surveillance footage from around the area.
Footage from 6:52 a.m. showed a man wearing dark pants, a dark jacket and carrying a gray sling bag leaving an apartment complex near the Intramural Fields. This location was only minutes from where Laken was later found.
Over the next hour, cameras showed him wandering the area as if watching or waiting. Then, just minutes later, something more disturbing appeared on video.
The man was seen attempting to force his way into the front door of a student apartment. The apartment belonged to a young woman who was inside showering at the time. The blinds to her ground-floor bedroom were open. The man tried repeatedly to open the door.
He returned several times over the next 56 minutes, attempting again and again to get inside. At 7:57 a.m., the woman finally realized someone was outside. She called police and reported someone trying to break in. When the man noticed this, he ran away.
At 9:05 a.m., surveillance captured Laken running along East Campus Road Extension, heading toward the lake. She was dressed in black and holding her phone. She turned east toward the wooded area.
Six minutes later, at 9:11 a.m., something chilling happened.
The 911 Call
At 9:11 a.m., Laken placed an emergency call to 911. The call was short and frightening. Very little was said. A male voice could be heard saying “okay” during the call. Then the line disconnected.
Police tried calling her back twice but she didn’t answer either time.
Phone records later showed that Laken had spoken to her mother just minutes before this emergency call. That made the silence afterward even more painful.
At the scene, detectives documented multiple injuries. There were linear marks on her torso, a mark beneath her underwear, and serious trauma to the left side of her head. A blood-stained rock was found nearby.
Police now knew this was not random disappearance. It was a homicide and the attacker had been close by.
As investigators worked, they began searching trash areas around nearby apartment complexes. They believed the suspect may have tried to get rid of evidence quickly.
That decision would soon change everything.
The Dumpster Discovery
Later that evening, an officer searched dumpsters near the apartment complex seen earlier in surveillance footage. Inside one dumpster, he found a black jacket. It had visible blood stains.
When he looked closer, he noticed strands of dark hair wrapped around one of the jacket’s buttons which immediately stood out as suspicious. Finding clothing with blood and hair like that made it clear it wasn’t thrown away by accident.
Nearby cameras became critical. A Ring doorbell camera overlooking the dumpster showed the same man seen earlier on surveillance footage. At 9:43 a.m., he was captured placing the jacket into the dumpster. This was just 15 minutes after Laken’s heart had stopped.
The video also showed that the man was wearing a black Adidas hat.
Not long after, another camera captured him walking back toward the dumpster area carrying a plastic bag. At 10:21 a.m., he appeared again and three minutes later he was seen leaving without the bag. Police followed the path and found bloody gloves hidden in nearby bushes.
Forensic testing later confirmed what investigators feared. The blood and DNA on the jacket and gloves belonged to Laken Riley. Hair found wrapped around the jacket button also matched her, Fox5 reports.
At this point, detectives had strong physical evidence and clear video footage. They now needed to identify the man.
They released images to the public asking for help. Tips came in quickly.
One name began appearing again and again.
Who Police Believed The Suspect Was
Tips led investigators to a man living in the same apartment complex near where the evidence was found. His name was Jose Antonio Ibarra.
Police went to the apartment the next day, wearing body cameras. When they arrived, Jose was asleep. Communication was difficult at first because no one inside spoke fluent English. An officer who spoke Spanish was brought in.
While speaking with him, officers noticed something alarming. Jose had visible scratches on his arms, wrists, hands and neck. Some of the wounds appeared fresh and officers noted signs of pus, suggesting they were recent.
When asked about the injuries, Jose claimed they were from the cold or were just scratches. Officers were not convinced.
They also noticed that another person in the apartment was wearing a hat that looked identical to the one seen in the surveillance footage. On top of that, Jose’s green card showed conflicting birthdates, raising questions about its validity.
Based on the growing list of concerns, officers arrested Jose Antonio Ibarra on suspicion of murder.
Further investigation revealed more about his background. He was a 26-year-old Venezuelan national who had entered the United States in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas.
He was later released and eventually traveled to New York, staying briefly at the Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter before making his way to Georgia.
He lived about a mile from where Laken’s body was found.
Records showed that he had been arrested before. In September 2023, he was charged in New York with acting in a way that could harm a child and a motor vehicle violation.
Later in Georgia, he and his brother were arrested for stealing items from a Walmart, and by December 2023 he also had a bench warrant because he didn’t show up to court for a shoplifting case. Because of all this, police felt sure they had the right person.
The Trial And The Evidence Laid Out
Jose Antonio Ibarra was charged with multiple crimes, including malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape, hindering a 911 call, concealing a death and peeping.
According to BBC, he pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a jury trial, choosing instead to have a bench trial. The trial began on November 15, 2024.
Prosecutors laid out a detailed timeline of events. They argued that Jose approached Laken while she was jogging, blocked her path and attacked her as she tried to call for help. They said she fought back fiercely, scratching him and leaving behind DNA under her fingernails.
They presented surveillance footage placing him in the area before, during and after the attack. They showed the 911 call audio, the dumpster footage, the jacket, the gloves and the DNA evidence.
They also presented evidence that Jose’s thumbprint was found on Laken’s phone and that his voice matched the one heard during her emergency call. His injuries were consistent with defensive wounds.
The defense argued that the case relied on circumstantial evidence and emotion. They tried to challenge the reliability of the surveillance and attempted to exclude some evidence. They also requested a change of venue which was denied.
The trial was emotionally heavy. Laken’s mother had to step out of the courtroom multiple times due to the distress of hearing details about her daughter’s death.
“This monster took away our chances to see Laken graduate from nursing school,” Allyson Phillips, Riley’s mother said through tears. “He took away our ability to meet our future son-in-law. He destroyed our chances of meeting our grandchildren, and he took my best friend.”
“He took away every beautiful memory we won’t ever be able to make with her again,” she said.
After four days of testimony, the judge delivered the verdict.
Jose Antonio Ibarra was found guilty on all counts, including malice murder and multiple felony murder charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Remembering Laken
Laken Riley’s death shocked people far beyond Athens, Georgia and her case quickly became part of a national conversation, especially after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act on March 7, 2024.
The bill allows states to sue the federal government over immigration enforcement failures and mandates detention for certain offenses.
A memorial was created near the lake where Laken was last seen. Someone added an “N” to a sign so it would properly spell her name. Flowers, notes and messages appeared from people who never met her but felt deeply moved by her story.
Her funeral was held on March 1, 2024, at Woodstock City Church, and her family kept it private so it wouldn’t turn into something political.
People who knew Laken said she was really kind, warm, and caring. She loved nursing, helping people, running, singing, and just hanging out with her friends. Everyone remembered her for her bright smile and gentle personality.
“She was smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, she was a child of God,” Allyson Phillips said in court. “She had a personal relationship with Jesus, and she loved being His hands and feet in this world,” per CNN.
She also had a strong faith and took part in church mission trips. Her family said she had a way of making people feel seen and comfortable.
“The true sense of joy I felt when she would randomly surprise me will never happen again,” Lauren Phillips said in court. She called Riley her “biggest supporter” and recalled always having a sense of comfort and safety in her presence.
The day before her death, Riley had an early morning clinical rotation and still woke up earlier to make one of her roommates “feel loved and appreciated.”
They later shared plans to honor her life through a foundation created in her name.
Her pastor described her as a gift to everyone who knew her. A loving daughter, sister and friend whose kindness stood out in every room she entered.
