A 26-year-old man has been arrested as a suspect in the murder of a nursing student who was found dead in the woods on the University of Georgia’s Athens campus on Thursday. Authorities said.
Police Chief Jeffrey Clark of the University of Georgia Police Department said 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley suffered blunt force trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene, and the suspect, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, was taken into custody Friday.
Ibarra is being held on charges of malice murder, aggravated battery, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping and obstructing a 911 call. Clarke told a news briefing Friday evening.
Clarke also said Riley and Ibarra were not related and did not know each other, and the killing was considered a “crime of opportunity.”
Based on security camera footage and evidence, police were able to identify Ibarra as the suspect.
Ibarra is not a U.S. citizen and was not a student at UGA but lived in an apartment in Athens, according to police.
According to University President Brooks Keel, Riley had attended UGA before going to Augusta University College of Nursing to get her nursing degree.
A friend of hers reportedly called University of Georgia police after noon after she did not return from her morning run. Officers searched the area around 12:20 p.m. and found him in the field, unconscious, not breathing and with visible injuries.
The university asked students to avoid the East Campus area on Friday.
