Chilling moments were recounted during the third day of the jarring murder trial of Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of killing Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley on Feb. 22.
Prosecutors played video and audio footage showing Riley’s last moments alive before her murder.
Warning: the details of the account may be disturbing.
University of Georgia (UGA) Police Department Sgt. Sophie Raboud, testified yesterday that a suspicious person was seen on trail camera footage on the morning of Feb. 22, lurking between an apartment building housing UGA students on campus and the trails where Riley was eventually attacked and killed.
The trail camera played in court on Tuesday shows the suspicious person — whom prosecutors allege is Jose Ibarra — as well as Riley and Riley’s roommates all traveling in the same area between the approximate hours of 6:50 a.m. and 11:50 a.m., Raboud said.
Beginning around 6:50 a.m., the suspicious person was captured slinking around in dark clothing and carrying a white cup near the bus stop area, which meets a pathway that leads to the back of Ibarra’s apartment complex.
The video, which was played in court on Tuesday morning, also showed the person going to a student’s door six times before 8 a.m. That student testified on Monday afternoon that she heard and saw a suspicious person in dark clothing looking into her first-floor apartment windows and trying to break in. She called 911 immediately upon seeing the suspicious person.
Trail camera footage played in court Tuesday also shows Riley running at 9:06 a.m. on Feb. 22, just minutes before her 911 call at 9:11 a.m., toward trails near the same UGA bus stop where the suspicious person was lurking. She runs past other students on the trails, as well as a group of students waiting for transportation at the bus stop where the suspicious person was seen on the same camera just about an hour prior.
Her mother, Allyson Phillips, cried in court as the footage of Riley’s final moments were played.
Just before 10 a.m., Riley’s mother, who frequently spoke with her daughter while Riley was out running — and had in fact spoken to Riley just when the 22-year-old left home to go on her jog — began to show signs of worry that Riley was not picking up her calls, according to cellphone data analyzed by Raboud.
“You’re making me nervous. Not answering while you’re out running. Are you okay?” Phillips texted Riley at 9:58 a.m., according to Raboud.
Just after 11:30 a.m., Riley’s roommates can be seen on the trail camera going out to look for Riley with their dog. At 11:47, Phillips texted her daughter, “Please call me. I’m worried sick about you.”
Ibarra is charged with 10 counts total, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.”
Ibarra pleaded not guilty to all counts.