ATHENS, Ga. — A possible trial date was set Friday for the suspect arrested in the death of nursing student Laken Riley during a status hearing in Athens-Clarke County courts.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is accused of killing Riley, 22, on UGA's campus on the morning of Feb. 22.
The judge said the trial could start on Nov. 13 with jury selection.
Defense attorneys said they expect to file another evidentiary motion after getting the second half of the evidence two weeks ago, adding they were given a third round of new information just Friday morning.
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More on the case
Riley had gone for a run and when she didn't return, a concerned friend called the campus police. UGA Police discovered her body with "visible injuries" in the forested area by Lake Herrick. Police did not release many details of how she was killed, but warrants stated that he allegedly caused harm to her skull and "did conceal the death of another person, and/or hinder discovery by dragging the victim to a secluded area."
It was the first murder on UGA's campus in 30 years.
The next day, police arrested Ibarra, who is a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally. In May, Ibarra was indicted on 10 charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping and interfering with a 911 call. Ibarra pleaded not guilty. The indictment also made new allegations about the death of the nursing student.
An allegation made in the indictment is that Ibarra went to an apartment on Feb. 22, the day of Riley's death, at UGA's University Village Housing "for the purpose of becoming a peeping tom in that he did peep through the window and spied upon and invaded the privacy of" a separate victim.
In the weeks and months following Riley's death, the case has become a flashpoint for the debate around immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ibarra was previously arrested and released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2022, before being sent to New York. He was arrested again in New York in 2023 for child endangerment, when he allegedly had a child on his moped without a helmet.
Riley was a nursing student in the Augusta University College of Nursing program at Athens, and a former UGA student who was still involved with the campus. She was a member of UGA's Alpha Chi Omega sorority chapter.
She was a Woodstock native and graduated from River Ridge High School, where she ran cross-country.