ATHENS, Ga. — Hours before the killing of nursing student Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra posted photos of himself on social media.

In those images, he’s wearing a black-and-white shirt, a black Adidas hat and a blue jacket.

That’s significant, an FBI agent testified, because a security camera captured video of a similarly dressed man discarding into a dumpster a blue jacket that, when tested, contained Riley’s DNA.

Agent Jaime Hipkiss took the witness stand Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial.

Ibarra, a Venezuelan who authorities say entered the country illegally in 2022, 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.

The prosecution spent much of Monday trying to prove to Superior Court judge Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will render a verdict in the case, that Ibarra and the man in the video footage are one and the same.

Hipkiss said Ibarra’s DNA was found on the jacket, along with Riley’s.

Using cell phone records, WhatsApp communications and social media posts, Hipkiss put together a timeline of Ibarra’s movements the night before and the morning of Riley’s killing.

He said Ibarra made a purchase at a liquor store close to his apartment and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning. The defendant posted photos on Snapchat around 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.

Riley went out for a jog at 9 a.m. Evidence indicates she was dead by 9:28 a.m.

At 9:44 a.m., the security video captures a man at the dumpster located about 500 yards from where Riley’s body was found. The recording showed that man was wearing a flat-billed black Adidas hat. Rosebeli Flores-Bello, who lived with the defendant and two of his brothers at the time of Riley’s killing, testified on Monday that the man in the dumpster video is Jose Ibarra.

UGA police Sgt. Joshua Epps testified that, the morning after Riley’s killing, officers spotted Diego Ibarra, Jose Ibarra’s brother, wearing what looked to be the same hat at the Cielo Azulyk apartment complex and stopped to question him.

Epps was called to the complex that day. Speaking to Diego Ibarra, Epps said, 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 that might have been received in an attack on Riley.

Epps said they found none.

When officers checked the apartment, they encountered Jose Ibarra. Epps testified he did see scratches on Jose Ibarra’s arms and wrists, red marks on his knuckles and what appeared to be bruising on his left hand’s palm.

”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.

Testimony in the trial is continuing.

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