Illegal immigrant suspected in Laken Riley's death formally charged

José Ibarra, the illegal immigrant suspected in the death of student Laken Riley, was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury. According to Fox News, which had access to the indictment, Ibarra faces charges of murder with malicious intent, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated assault, obstructing or preventing a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence and peeping.

Jose Ibarra by Williams Perdomo

"Ibarra lived in an apartment building that sits on the edge of the on-campus park where Riley was running [and] allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse," Fox News recalled.

José Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged with the murder of a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia. The man is an illegal Venezuelan immigrant who crossed the southern border through El Paso, Texas in September 2022, and was released on parole, several ICE and DHS sources told Fox.

Riley was a nursing student. The young woman was found unconscious in a local forest. Her friends had reported that she had not returned home from a run. According to the police, she had serious and "visible" injuries. Upon finding her body, officers attempted to revive her using CPR and a defibrillator, but the victim had already died.