Athens man charged with murder of student on UGA campus

Murder victim Laken Riley

By Joe Johnson

An Athens man was arrested Friday in connection with the death of a woman whose body was discovered the day before in a wooded area of the University of Georgia campus.

Jose Ibarra

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was taken into custody Friday afternoon at an apartment complex not far from where the body of 22-year-old Laken Riley was found, dead from blunt force trauma to the head.

Riley had gone running Thursday morning, and UGA police said they received a call just after noon from a person who was concerned that Riley had not returned.

About 20 minutes later, police said, officers found the student's body in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick near the intramural field. Riley had lived in a nearby neighborhood.

At a Friday evening press conference, UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark said there was no evidence that Ibarra knew Riley, and he described the attack on the student a crime of opportunity.

Evidence that led investigators to Ibarra as a suspect included footage from campus surveillance cameras, according to Clark.

Riley, originally from Woodstock, had been an undergrad at UGA until the spring of 2023, at which time she enrolled with Augusta University's nursing program, which has classes in Athens.