Grisly New Details In Murder Of 22-Year-Old Georgia Nursing Student Revealed

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

New information about the murder of a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia has been revealed. And it’s hard to stomach.

According to WSB-TV, Laken Riley went on a run near the University of Georgia intramural fields on Thursday morning. When she never returned from her jog, CBS News reported, a friend became concerned and called the University of Georgia police. Officers arrived to search the area at 12:20 p.m. and found her body in a wooded area on the campus shortly afterward. The police chief for the University of Georgia Police Department, Jeffrey Clarke, said she was unconscious, not breathing and with visible injuries. He further noted she died from blunt force trauma.

The following day, law enforcement arrested 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra. He was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another. Clarke noted Ibarra and the victim “had no relationship” before the crime:

“He did not know her at all. I think this was a crime of opportunity where he saw an individual and bad things happened.”

Just horrible. Beyond that, little was known about how Laken exactly died. But days later, more has come out about what happened to the nursing student. And prepare yourselves because the new details are horrible…

Per arrest affidavits obtained by WSB-TV, Ibarra allegedly kidnapped Laken between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday. He then “maliciously” caused “bodily harm to another by seriously disfiguring her body or a member thereof by disfiguring her skull,” per FOX News. “Disfiguring her skull”??

The type of object used in the brutal killing was not included. But the Athens-Clarke County coroner’s office did confirm she died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Furthermore, Ibarra was accused of “physically” preventing Riley from making or completing a 911 call and “dragging the victim to a secluded area” to conceal her death.

These new details come after it was revealed Ibarra had been arrested on a separate matter long before the murder. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on Monday that he had unlawfully entered the United States from Venezuela in September 2022. He was arrested by border patrol and released pending a review of the case. A year later, Ibarra was arrested in New York and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and with a motor vehicle license violation, per ICE. Yeesh. WSB-TV reported he and his brother, Diego Ibarra, were taken into custody for stealing nearly $200 worth of goods from a Walmart in Georgia. He already had documents out for his arrest when Laken was murdered.

It’s awful what happened to Laken, and our hearts go out to her loved ones at this time. We hope they can get some justice. You can go to the family’s GoFundMe HERE.

[Image via GoFundMe, Clarke County Sheriff’s Office]