WARNING: GRAPHICS
First appeared on FOX – Georgia prosecutors are fighting a request to exclude certain evidence from Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra's case, arguing they have specific evidence linking him to the brutal crime, including his bloody jacket, gloves and fingerprints.
Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, is suspected of attacking and killing 22-year-old Riley as they were driving along a dirt road. University of Georgia campus in Athens The morning of February 22nd.
Ibarra last month asked the Athens-Clarke County Court for a hearing to block the production of a list of evidence, including his cell phone, oral swabs and social media accounts, arguing the items were collected illegally by law enforcement and that detectives entered his home without a search warrant.
Prosecutors said law enforcement raided Ibarra's Athens apartment near the University of Georgia campus, which he shared with his two brothers, who also entered the country illegally from Venezuela, because they feared the four people who had been there within 12 hours of Riley's killing were trying to “destroy evidence,” according to court documents filed this week.
Laken Riley murder: Illegal immigrant suspect in Georgia college student's murder demands destruction of evidence
Jose Ibarra appears in court for the Laken Riley murder hearing. (My)
“The State anticipates that the evidence will show that shortly after Laken Riley's murder, local police officers were searching for individuals depicted in two videos. One video was taken near the University Village 'S' housing building implicated in the Peeping Tom case. The other video was taken in a trash can at an apartment building adjacent to the UGA campus and less than a half mile from the scene of Laken Riley's murder,” prosecutors wrote.
A Georgia grand jury indicted Ibarra in May on charges of malice murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, two counts of aggravated assault, obstructing or interfering with a 911 call, tampering with evidence and being a “voyeur.”
Suspect indicted in Laken Riley murder case
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook after she was found dead near a lake on campus at the University of Georgia on February 22. An illegal immigrant has been charged with her murder. (Laken Riley/Facebook)
According to the indictment, the suspects caused Riley's death by inflicting blunt force trauma on her head and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to the jury.” UGA on-campus residenceAccording to the indictment, on the same day he allegedly killed Riley, the defendants “peeked through a window” and “surveilled” university employees.
Prosecutors said the video, which shows a person near a trash can at Ibarra's apartment near the University of Georgia, is clear and “shows a Latino male disposing of a bloody jacket with long dark hair and bloody gloves less than 30 minutes after Laken Riley's murder and within a half-mile of her body.”
Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra pleads innocent as mother breaks down in tears in court
Jose Ibarra was arrested on February 23rd for his alleged involvement in the murder of Laken Riley on February 22nd in Athens, Georgia. (Clark County Sheriff's Office)
“The trash can video further shows the Latino male was wearing a black baseball cap with a white Adidas logo and white writing underneath it, and had a sticker on the brim of the hat,” prosecutors said.
Less than 12 hours after the man in the video was seen disposing of the bloodstained jacket and gloves, a sergeant with the Athens-Clarke County Sheriff's Office was making rounds at Ibarra's apartment when he “observed a Latino male wearing the exact same hat as the one seen in the trash can video, walking through the apartment in broad daylight, in public and in full view of everyone,” the report said.
Laken Riley's father says suspect 'may not have been here' if border was secure
The exterior of Jose Antonio Ibarra's apartment in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Ibarra is charged with murder after Laken Riley was found dead along a walking trail on the University of Georgia campus. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
The officer began speaking with the man in the hat, who identified himself as Diego Ibarra, José Ibarra's brother, and presented the officer with a fake green card. The sergeant held Diego in custody until another officer who spoke fluent Spanish arrived and spoke with Diego.
At that point, authorities “made an emergency determination that they had sufficient grounds to believe that evidence of a murder charge might be found within the apartment and, fearing the destruction of further evidence, needed to seal off the apartment pending the execution of a search warrant. This determination was reasonable and did not violate the Fourth Amendment,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
VIDEO: Georgia investigators search trash cans near Laken Riley murder scene
“In this case, it defies common sense and is patently unreasonable to require police officers to remain outside the defendant's apartment while the officers obtained a search warrant and unidentified individuals inside continued to destroy evidence of the murder,” the prosecutors continued.
They also oppose Jose Ibarra's request to exclude the testimony of a witness who conducted a DNA test during Riley's autopsy, arguing that the results “did not exclude the defendant, but also did not exclude other known individuals connected to the case.”
Laken Riley murder exposes serious flaws in campus security, calls for emergency blue lights
The exterior of Jose Antonio Ibarra's apartment in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Ibarra is charged with murder after Laken Riley was found dead along a walking trail on the University of Georgia campus. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
Prosecutors said the DNA evidence in Jose Ibarra's case “was obtained from significant and relevant exhibits, including Laken Riley's fingernails, a discarded bloody glove, a black Adidas baseball cap and a blue 'hoodie' style jacket, all of which reported matching statistics that will aid the jury in determining the defendant's guilt or innocence of the crimes charged in the indictment.”
Additionally, detectives appear to have identified Jose Ibarra's “fingerprints on Laken Riley's cell phone.”
Georgia Laken Riley funeral pays tribute to nursing student allegedly killed by illegal immigrant
Laken Riley smiles as she poses for a photo while running. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
The 26-year-old suspect El Paso, Texas ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News that he was eligible for parole and release to the U.S. in September 2022. His brother, Diego Ibarra, has been charged with green card fraud and has ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., according to federal court documents.
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In a February statement after Riley's death, the University of Georgia said it had invested $16 million over the past eight years “increasing police presence, installing security cameras, improving lighting, implementing nighttime carpool programs and developing the UGASafe app.”
Since February, the university has invested more than $7.3 million in additional safety measures, including a 20% increase in the University of Georgia Police budget, emergency blue lights and a university-specific ride-share program.
The Trial of Ibarra It is scheduled to be held in November.
