The man entered the United States illegally in 2022 on suspicion of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, but was released because he had no place in a detention center, according to the report.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who was arrested Friday in connection with the murder of a 22-year-old Augusta University student, traveled from Venezuela to El Paso, Texas, in September 2022. NewsNation reported The announcement was made Saturday, citing a Department of Homeland Security official.
He was released due to lack of detention space, the official added.
According to NewsNation, months before Ybarra allegedly killed Riley, he was arrested in New York on child endangerment charges.
New York police officials confirmed that a man with the same last name and age as the Georgia suspect was arrested in the Big Apple last year on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a 5-year-old child.
Detectives began a murder investigation and charged Ybarra with murder, as his connection to Riley was unknown.
Riley’s body was found Thursday with “visible injuries” on a trail along Herrick Lake on the nearby University of Georgia campus. Riley’s friend, who was worried when he didn’t return from his morning run, was later found dead.
Ybarra “didn’t know her at all. I believe this was a crime of opportunity where he witnessed an individual and something bad happened,” UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark said Friday night. Ta.
“The kindest person”
Her roommate said Riley was as serious and disciplined about her daily running as she was about her nursing career.
The 22-year-old loved running, and her friend and former roommate Bianca Tiller, 21, also loved helping others. he told Fox News.
Tiller and Riley were roommates as freshmen at the University of Georgia.
Riley recalled that Tiller was strict about regular morning runs and always tracked his runs with an Apple watch.
“Even when we were freshmen, she was running every day,” Tiller said. “She never went a day without running. And if she took even one day off from running, which is very rare, she would be very hard on herself about it. .”
Riley believed the trail along Herrick Lake was safe, Tiller said, adding that many students and local residents walk and jog there.
“The first thing that really shocked me was that it was during the day or in the morning. It wasn’t like they were running at night,” Tiller said. “For something like this to happen in such a densely populated area, on a warm day in the middle of the day when you would expect so many people to be outside, was really shocking and completely incomprehensible.”
Riley was very kind to her, Tiller said, adding that she didn’t know the victim had any enemies.
“She’s always there for everyone,” Tiller said. “And she really brought everyone together and brought friendships together. I met a lot of people through her and she was a really sweet person. Similarly, no one had a bad thing about her. I didn’t have anything bad to say about it or anything.”
After three years at the University of Georgia, Riley enrolled in the nursing program at Augusta University’s Athens campus, which is close to UGA.
“She always wanted [to be a nurse] It’s been a really long time,” Tiller said. “She was studying biology when she was at UGA.”
Riley worked at a nursing home before attending college and often talked about his time there, Tiller said.
“She really loved helping people, no matter how little the pay or how hard the work was,” Tiller said.
