ATHENS, Ga. — A nursing student's murder on the University of Georgia's campus last week has garnered national attention and has become a topic of political discourse.
But what can go unseen in the midst of it all is the impact one tragedy can have on a community. In this particular case, it has influenced not only UGA but also the City of Athens as a whole, as students and residents alike have questioned their safety.
University of Georgia Police arrested and charged Jose Ibarra in connection to the murder of Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley last Friday. They also arrested his brother, Diego Ibarra, as he has been accused of having a fake green card.
While the police believe the murder was committed by one person, people who live in the suspect’s apartment complex, which is just a few hundred yards away from the crime scene, still seem to have a sense of fear.
On Tuesday, I stopped by Cielo at Azulyk Athens apartment complex, where the brothers lived in a building right at the entrance to the complex off S. Milledge Avenue. This complex sits right behind Oconee Forest Park on the UGA campus.
Many of Ibarra’s neighbors didn’t want to speak about them. One neighbor whose door faces theirs said she’d never seen them or talked to them.
However, after a little time walking around the complex, a couple of neighbors approached. The overall sense was still fear to talk to anyone about the Ibarra’s or their activities. And while Jose is charged with murder, more people seem to care about Diego and him finding out he was being talked about in the complex.
One woman shared a video of the moment police stopped Diego on Friday morning. Although she was willing to speak, she did not feel comfortable having her identity released.
However, she stated he had just passed her on the way to the bus stop and said, ‘Hi.’ Then, the next thing she saw was police questioning him. She said she noticed him pointing to his apartment and then starting to walk in that direction, with the police following him.
She said a short time later, he was in handcuffs, and more police started arriving at the complex. It was later on she learned his brother Jose was also arrested at the complex.
The woman said not only did she see the brothers in the complex, but she said she would see Laken Riley walking through the complex and that she would pass by her building on her way to the trails that lead to Lake Herrick on UGA's campus.
She said she had no idea who Riley was or her name until she saw her picture on Friday after police identified her as the young woman killed behind the apartment complex.
That said, the crime scene was just a short distance from the complex. 11Alive measured it out, and from the Ibarra’s front door, it was about 360 feet to the cut-through that led to a path behind the complex. From this path, it was about another 400 feet to a set of railroad tracks you have to cross to get into the Oconee Forest Park that leads to the trails that eventually lead you to Lake Herrick. The woman said the area where Laken's body was found was back near a retention bond before you even get to Lake Herrick.
The big question that appears to be on everyone’s mind in the complex is how no one saw anything or even heard her scream for help at that time of the morning. Neighbors said while it was early, there were still quite a few people on the trails early in the morning. One questioned if the attack was so sudden that Laken had no time to scream for help.
The women also pointed out the dumpsters near the back of the complex and said this was the area police were searching late Thursday night into the morning hours. They said one of the units near the dumpsters had a camera system set up that showed Jose dropping off something in the dumpster after coming back into the apartment complex from the forest area. The dumpsters back up to the trails that lead into Oconee Forest Park.
On Friday, multiple law enforcement agencies were seen searching trash cans and dumpsters outside the complex in the nearby vicinity.
Another thing I noticed while walking the complex and the many trails behind it is that there is UGA student housing a few hundred feet from the apartment complex with a couple of cameras set up along a path. It’s unclear if those cameras point back towards the complex, which, if they did, would pick up anyone walking from the forest area near the railroad tracks back up to the apartment complex where the Ibarra brothers lived and where Laken was seen many mornings cutting through to get the UGA campus trails.
Several of the neighbors whom 11Alive spoke to on Tuesday evening were in the process of packing up and moving from the complex following the murder and then the arrest of the Ibarra brothers a day later.
They said while many aren’t talking throughout the complex, there are many people who saw plenty and know more than what they’re saying publicly. They hope those individuals have come forward and shared the information with law enforcement.