Man Accused in Laken Riley’s Murder Indicted by Grand Jury

A Clarke County grand jury has indicted the man accused of killing Laken Riley, a nursing student from Woodstock, in February.

Riley , a 22-year-old student at the University of Augusta, was found dead Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia campus in Athens after she did not return home from a run earlier that day.

Police arrested Jose Ibarra, 26, the next day, charging him with her murder.

Authorities said he did not know Riley; UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark said the murder was a “crime of opportunity.” Ibarra, who is from Venezuela and was in the U.S. illegally, was living in an apartment near the on-campus park where Riley was running.

According to the indictment filed May 7, Ibarra is charged with one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstruction or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and peeping Tom.

The indictment charges Ibarra with repeatedly striking Riley’s head with a rock, and with asphyxiating her in a “manner unknown” to jurors.

He is additionally charged with looking into a window at an apartment in University Village Housing and spying on an unidentified person. According to Fox 5 Atlanta , that person was a university staff member.