ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia Police Department have taken a suspect in custody in connection with the suspected homicide of a 22-year-old nursing student from Augusta University who police found dead on the University of Georgia campus Thursday.
Police have charged Jose Antonio Ibarra with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another, UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark said during a news briefing Friday evening. The suspect is not a U.S. citizen, according to authorities.
“The evidence is robust,” he told reporters, crediting campus security cameras in part for the arrest.
Clark said he believed the attack was a “crime of opportunity” and that the suspected killer had no known connection to the victim. Ibarra is not a UGA student, he added.
Ibarra’s immigration status was not immediately known to investigators, the chief said, adding that he believed the suspect is from Venezuela.
“Right now I don’t know his full status,” he said. “He is not a citizen of the United States.”
Police initially swept up three to four people during the early stages of the investigation but were only arresting and charging Ibarra, Clark added.
Riley had previously attended UGA before entering a nursing program at Augusta’s Athens campus, where she made the Dean’s List.
Police were asking anyone who saw anything “relevant or suspicious” between 7 a.m. and noon Thursday around UGA’s Intramural Fields and Lake Herrick to call 706-542-2200.
That’s where they found Riley – with “visible injuries” – within 30 after they received a call from a concerned friend who said she went for a run and didn’t come back.
According to an incident report obtained by Fox News Digital, multiple officers began searching for Riley near the Intramural Fields around 12:07 p.m. At 12:38, a UGA police officer spotted her on the ground.
“I called out to Riley, and I did not get a response,” the officer wrote.
Read the incident report:
She had visible injuries, and police could not locate a pulse. They began CPR anyway. A sergeant arrived with a defibrillator minutes later and unsuccessfully attempted to revive the victim.
“Based on the injuries and Riley’s physical condition, I suspected that foul play was involved,” the police report reads. Investigators were reviewing the officer’s bodycam for additional evidence.
Autopsy results remained pending Friday, but authorities said they were investigating her death as a homicide. Clark said it appeared as though she had been killed by blunt-force trauma.
Classes and events at both universities were canceled Friday.
