Laken Riley case: Hat led police to accused killer Jose Ibarra

ATHENS — A black Adidas hat led police to Jose Ibarra, the 26-year-old accused of killing a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus in February.

On Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial, UGA police Sgt. Joshua Epps testified he was told that a security camera had caught a man discarding a jacket the morning of the attack on 22-year-old Laken Riley. Police suspected the jacket — which had hair on the buttons, ripped-up sleeves and was stained with blood — was evidence from the killing. The recording showed that man was wearing a flat-billed hat.

The morning after Riley’s killing, officers spotted Diego Ibarra, Jose Ibarra’s brother, wearing what looked to be the same hat at the nearby Cielo Azulyk apartment complex. Police stopped Diego to question him, said Epps, who was on the scene that day.

Speaking to Diego Ibarra, Epps testified, he noticed dirt on the brim of the cap. That made him suspicious, “because I was on scene when we located Laken the day prior. She did have a lot of dirt, mulch — things like that — on her body,” Epps said. “I felt like dirt could have been transferred to the hat.”

Diego complied with officers’ request to look at his arms and torso to check for injuries he might have received in an attack on Riley. Epps said they found none. When officers checked the apartment, they encountered Jose Ibarra. Epps testified he saw scratches on Jose Ibarra’s arms and wrists, red marks on his knuckles and what appeared to be bruising on the palm of his left hand.

“I asked him how he received those scratches, and he didn’t give me a clear answer at all,” testified UGA police officer Rafael Sayan, who acted as an interpreter that day for the Ibarras, who speak Spanish.

Jose Ibarra is charged with felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, hindering a 911 call and tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, as well as to an allegation that he peeped into a female UGA student’s window and tried to break in the same morning.

Ibarra, a Venezuelan who authorities say entered the country illegally in 2022, waived his right to a jury trial, opting instead to have Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard listen to the evidence and render a verdict.

The trial started Friday. The prosecution was still presenting its case Monday.

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