Laken Riley's mother, Alison Phillips, sobbed in court as a photo of her daughter's last desperate stand was shown, carved into the arm of her suspected killer.
Riley's distressed mother burst into tears as a photo of Ybarra's bruised arm, taken the day after the Georgia nursing student died, was displayed.
In Friday's opening statement, prosecutors said Riley, 22, “fought for his life” with Jose Ibarra for an astonishing 18 minutes before he died, and that his DNA was found under his fingernails. claimed to have been detected.
In court, Ybarra's injuries were made public for the second time during testimony from a University of Georgia police officer who visited Ybarra's home the day after the killing and leading up to his arrest. Several photos showing Ybarra's scratched arms, wrists and hands were made public for the first time on Friday, and prosecutors said they were evidence that Ybarra killed Riley.
When Sgt. Joshua Epps was at Ybarra's home the day after the murder and said Ybarra had been smoking cigarettes before his arrest.
Epps said Phillips shook her head as she listened to the testimony, and Ybarra and her three roommates chatted and laughed with each other.
“They thought it was funny how many police cars we had,” Epps testified.
Phillips cried throughout the courtroom on Friday, and graphic photos and videos of her daughter's body, brutally beaten and suffocated, were also shown.
