Man accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley called a ‘Peeping Tom’ in grand jury indictment

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - A grand jury indictment shares new details on the murder of Laken Riley, the nursing student who was killed on the University of Georgia’s campus.

Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old from Venezuela, was indicted by a Clarke County grand jury on Tuesday.

He was indicted on several charges — including malice murder, three counts of felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with the intent to rape, aggravated battery, tampering with evidence, and hindering or obstructing a person from making an emergency telephone call.

The document claims Ibarra struck Riley’s head multiple times with a rock and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to the Grand Jurors.” After the killing, the indictment alleges Ibarra hid a jacket and gloves in a coverup attempt.

Riley, a student at Augusta University, was found dead on Feb. 22 in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick on the school’s campus. Her roommate called the university’s police department after she didn’t return home from a morning run at the school’s intramural fields.

In the document, Ibarra was also accused of being a “Peeping Tom.” According to the indictment, on the same day of Riley’s death, Ibarra went to a housing building on the university’s campus and “spied upon and invaded the privacy of” another person, who was not identified.

Ibarra was detained a day later at an apartment complex just south of several trails that lead to where Riley’s body was found.

UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark said officials believe Ibarra didn’t know Riley, calling it an alleged “crime of opportunity.”

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