Prosecutors say cellphone data and bloody jacket link Jose Ibarra to Laken Riley on day of murder

A former roommate of the man charged with murder in the death of Laken Riley — the Georgia nursing student whose killing set off a political firestorm over immigration — testified Monday that he is the man seen in a video throwing away a jacket that prosecutors say had Riley’s blood on it.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, is accused of killing Riley, 22, on the morning of Feb. 22 while she was out for a jog near the University of Georgia campus in Athens. He is charged with three counts of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape and “peeping Tom.” Ibarra, whose trial began Friday, has waived his right to a jury trial, meaning a judge will determine his fate. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted.

Riley’s death became a talking point for stricter immigration policies for Republicans, including Donald Trump, after it was determined that Ibarra was a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022.

Prosecutors have said a variety of forensic, digital and video evidence presented during the trial will point to Ibarra as Riley’s killer.

The evidence includes a jacket police found in a dumpster near where Ibarra lived, which prosecutors say had both Ibarra’s and Riley’s blood on it.

Rosbeli Flores Bello, who shared an apartment with Ibarra at the time Riley was killed, testified Monday that she told law enforcement officers when she was questioned the next day that she recognized the man shown in a video throwing a jacket into a dumpster.

Flores Bello, who met Ibarra last year in New York City before they both moved to Athens, agreed with prosecutors that it seemed “strange” that the person she identified as Ibarra was throwing away a jacket she had often seen him wearing.

She was also questioned about Ibarra’s whereabouts on the morning Riley was killed. She said that she awoke between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and that both Ibarra and his brother Diego Ibarra were in their shared bed, seemingly asleep. Another of Ibarra’s brothers, Argenis Ibarra, was also in the apartment, she testified.

Law enforcement witnesses and evidence from the first two days of the trial have established that Riley’s watch stopped registering heart data at 9:28 a.m. Video captured a man throwing a jacket into the dumpster at 9:44 a.m.

The defense, which has called the evidence circumstantial and suggested that someone else could have killed Riley, was able to get Flores Bello to confirm that she “didn’t notice anything that morning, as far as anyone leaving the apartment.”

In addition to Flores Bello, the prosecution called a series of law enforcement officers to the witness stand Monday, including those who first interviewed Ibarra and others who studied the evidence, including cellphone data and jail calls.

James Berni, a special agent with the FBI, testified Monday afternoon that cellphone data showed that a phone linked to Ibarra was “very close” to where Riley’s device location data was reported at the time she was running and then killed.

FBI Special Agent Jamie Hipkiss also testified about cellphone data he examined, which included photos on a phone connected to Ibarra from the early morning of Feb. 22. In the photos, Ibarra is wearing a hat, a black and white striped T-shirt and a jacket that Hipkiss said were “consistent with” the clothing worn by the man in the dumpster video.

The defense asked Hipkiss whether he was aware of others using that specific cellphone besides Ibarra, and he responded that Ibarra’s brother Diego had “two accounts associated with that phone that had been accessed at an unknown time.”

“However, in relation to the period leading up to the murder, Jose Ibarra was using that phone,” he said.

Hipkiss also testified that data showed that the phone was back in Ibarra’s apartment and plugged in to charge at 9:58 a.m.

University of Georgia Police Cpl. Rafael Sayan, who is fluent in Spanish, testified earlier Monday that on the day after Riley’s murder, when the brothers were pulled out of their apartment and questioned, “the atmosphere was very relaxed and calm” and they were “speaking to one another, laughing.”

Sayan also said that when he asked Jose Ibarra about the multiple cuts on his arms and wrist, he “didn’t give me a clear answer at all.”

Prosecutors also played a recording of a jail call between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, who was still in New York. During the call, which was translated by an FBI specialist, Franco raises her voice at Ibarra and repeatedly asks him to tell the truth and asks, “What happened with the girl?”

“She said that she thinks it’s crazy that they don’t have anyone else’s DNA, they only have his, and she says she doesn’t understand how someone can see someone dying and not call 911,” FBI specialist Abeisis Ramirez testified.

On Friday during opening statements, Ibarra’s defense attorneys said there was not enough evidence to prove Ibarra was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed anyone is circumstantial,” defense attorney Dustin Kirby said, adding that the evidence “that links Mr. Ibarra to that event is lacking” upon closer inspection.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during opening statements that Ibarra “went out hunting for females” on the morning Riley was killed and that forensic evidence, including DNA and a fingerprint, would prove that he was guilty.

“The evidence will show that Laken fought — she fought for her life. She fought for her dignity, and in that fight she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind,” Ross said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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