Nursing student in Georgia Laken Riley texted and called her mother as she went for a run to see if she had time to chat – but then did not respond to her mother’s calls or increasingly frantic texts.
Riley called her mother at 9:03 a.m. on February 22, and by the time her mother called back about 20 minutes later, the student had encountered Jose Ibarra on a wooded running trail at the University of Georgia, according to trial testimony. Prosecutors said Ibarra killed Riley after a fight, and data from Riley’s smart watch shows his heart stopped beating at 9:28 a.m.
After Riley didn’t answer the phone, his mother, Allyson Phillips, texted him several times, first casually, then with growing concern, according to data taken from Riley’s phone.
At 9:37 a.m., his mother texted: “Call me when you can. » Phillips called twice, and when her calls went unanswered, she texted her daughter at 9:58 a.m.: “You’re making me nervous for not answering while you’re running. Are you okay? ” Phillips texted again at 11:47 a.m., writing: “Please call me. I’m worried about you.” She and other family members continued to call Riley.
Phillips cried in court as the text messages were read aloud by Georgia Police Sgt. Sophie Raboud, who examined data from Riley’s phone, reported CBS News producer Jarred Eggleston. Raboud also testified about video from surveillance cameras near the wooded trail, and Phillips and some other family members and friends cried as video was played showing Riley running on the trail the morning of his death.
Hyosub Shin / AP
Ibarra, 26, is charged with murder and other crimes in connection with Riley’s death in February, and his trial began Friday. He has pleaded not guilty.
He waived his right to a jury trial, meaning the case will be decided alone by Judge H. Patrick Haggard of Athens-Clarke County Superior Court. The case could be brought before the judge by the end of Tuesday.
That killing fueled the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra entered the United States illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles east of Atlanta.
Surveillance video also showed a man who prosecutors say is Ibarra, walking around an apartment complex where a graduate student said someone tried to enter her apartment and looked through the window early on the day Riley was killed. The man is seen walking toward the door of that apartment six times over a period of about an hour, opening the exterior screen door twice, Raboud testified.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Lucas Breyer testified about reviewing body camera video from the officer who found Riley’s body in the woods. He testified that his clothes had been “heavily manipulated”, describing the waistband of his running tights as having been pulled down slightly and his jacket, shirt and sports bra having been pulled up very high.
Eggleston of CBS News reported that some testimony at the crime scene was so gruesome that members of Riley’s family left the courtroom.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during her opening statement that Ibarra went “on a female hunt” that February morning and killed Riley after a fight when she “refused to be his victim.” of rape.” Law enforcement officials said there was no evidence that Riley was sexually assaulted.
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening statement that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing. But he said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove his client killed Riley.
Ross told the judge Monday that she plans to finish calling witnesses Tuesday, and defense attorneys said their witnesses are expected to take a half day at most. Prosecutors had already called nearly two dozen witnesses during the first two days of testimony, Friday and Monday. This included law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.
On Monday, prosecutors played a recording of a phone call in prison of May between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco. FBI specialist Abeisis Ramirez, who translated the call from Spanish, said Ibarra told Franco he was at the University of Georgia looking for work and that his wife repeatedly said that She had had enough and wanted him to tell the truth.
Franco “keeps asking, ‘What happened to the girl?'” and said Ibarra “must know something,” Ramirez said. He replies, “Layling, that’s enough.” Ramirez said Franco told Ibarra it was crazy that police only found his DNA.
Riley’s parents, roommates and other friends and family members filled the courtroom Friday, then Monday and Tuesday.
Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, have blamed Democrats. President Joe Biden’s border policy for his death. While speaking about border security during his State of the Union address a few weeks after the killing, Biden mentioned Riley by name.
In March, FBI Director Christopher Wray proposed unusually long comments about Riley’s murder.
“I want to tell you how heartbroken I am, not just for the family, friends, classmates and staff who are mourning the loss of Laken,” Wray told a group gathered at the University from Georgia. “I am saddened to see this sense of peace shattered by the murder of Laken and the subsequent arrest of a Venezuelan national who entered the country illegally in 2022.”
He said the FBI did “everything [it] can help get justice for Laken. »
