Arrest made in alleged murder of female soldier on Army base

(ATHENS, Ga.) — The suspect accused of murdering Laken Riley on the University of Georgia’s campus was found guilty on all charges Wednesday, including malice murder and felony murder.

Prosecutors called the evidence against the suspect “overwhelming,” while the defense raised the theory that the defendant could be an accomplice but not the killer during closing arguments in his trial.

Jose Ibarra, 26, was accused of killing the 22-year-old nursing student while she was out for a run after prosecutors said she “refused to be his rape victim.” Jose Ibarra, an undocumented migrant, was charged with malice murder and felony murder in connection with her death, which became a rallying cry for immigration reform from many conservatives, including President-elect Donald Trump.

Jose Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial and the case was presented over four days in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom to Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who rendered the verdict on Wednesday.

Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom as he read the guilty verdicts on each charge.

Before announcing his verdict, Haggard told the courtroom that he wrote down two statements from the attorneys during closing arguments.

One was a statement by the prosecutor, who said the “evidence was overwhelming and powerful.”

The other was one by the defense attorney, who said that the judge is “required to set aside my emotions.”

“That’s the same thing we tell jurors,” he said. “That’s the way I have to approach this, and I did. Both of those statements are correct.”

Court is on recess until 12:30 p.m. ET, at which point Haggard said he is ready to move ahead with sentencing.

Jose Ibarra faces a minimum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors called 28 witnesses while laying out what they said was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Jose Ibarra killed Riley, who died by blunt force head trauma and asphyxia.

Special prosecutor Sheila Ross told the court Jose Ibarra encountered Riley while she was on her morning jog on Feb. 22 while he was out “hunting” for women on the Athens campus.

Ross said Riley “fought for her life” in a struggle that caused Jose Ibarra to leave forensic evidence behind. Digital and video evidence also pointed to him as the only killer, she said.

“The evidence in this case has been overwhelming, and the evidence in this case has spoken loud and clear — that he is Laken Riley’s killer, and that he killed her because she would not let him rape her,” Ross said during her closing argument on Wednesday.

A forensics expert testified that Jose Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s right fingernails, and that his two brothers, who lived with him in an apartment near the campus, were excluded as matches.

When Jose Ibarra was questioned by police a day after the murder, he had visible scratches on his arms, officers said. He also had scratches on his neck and back, which Ross said could have only been left by Riley.

“In order to not find him guilty, you would have to disbelieve your own eyes,” Ross said.

“She marked him. She marked him for everyone to see. She marked him for you to see,” Ross told the judge.

Prosecutors argued Jose Ibarra hindered Riley from making a 911 call, and said his thumbprint was left on her phone. Data from his Samsung phone and the Garmin watch Riley was wearing on her run showed the devices overlapped and were in close proximity in the forest where she was found dead, an FBI analyst testified.

Jose Ibarra was captured on Ring footage discarding a bloody jacket and disposable gloves near his apartment about 15 minutes after Riley died, prosecutors said. The individual’s face can’t be seen in the video, but Jose Ibarra’s roommate testified that it was him. The defendant’s brother, Diego Ibarra, also identified him as the person in the video while being questioned by police a day after the murder.

Riley’s DNA was found on the jacket and gloves, the forensics expert said. Jose Ibarra’s DNA was also found on the jacket, while his two brothers were excluded as matches, the expert said.

“That is what we call consciousness of guilt in our business — he threw away those items because he knew he had killed her, and he threw them away because he didn’t want anyone to find him,” Ross said.

Her DNA was also found on an Adidas cap he was seen wearing in the video, the expert said. That cap was not discarded, Ross surmised, because Jose Ibarra could not see that there was actually blood on it.

Jose Ibarra was also seen in different clothes from the dumpster Ring footage discarding unidentifiable items in a bag that was never recovered by police hours after the killing. Ross surmised that the bag contained the clothes he was wearing earlier, which were also similar to ones he was wearing in a selfie posted on Snapchat earlier that morning.

“His digital evidence of posting selfies of himself wearing what is basically his rapist gear an hour before he leaves his house that condemns him, he has condemned himself,” Ross said.

The defense called three witnesses, including a neighbor who said Diego Ibarra had threatened her the night of Riley’s murder.

The defense said they had planned to call two additional witnesses — including Diego Ibarra, who is in federal custody awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possessing a fraudulent green card, however, his attorney did not wish for him to testify.

“While the evidence in this case is voluminous, it is circumstantial,” defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck told the judge.

Beck told the judge they advised Jose Ibarra to have a bench trial “trusting that your honor could and believing that your honor would set aside the emotions in this case and simply consider the evidence.”

She argued there is doubt about what was tested and said the judge should be “skeptical” of the DNA evidence.

She presented an “alternative theory” that Diego Ibarra was actually Riley’s murderer, and that Jose Ibarra was an accomplice in covering up the evidence.

“Maybe it was him throwing away the jacket, as Diego said, maybe he was covering up for his brother,” Beck said.

“Under that theory, of course, Jose would be guilty of tampering, but that theory does not prove that he was present or involved in the murder of Laken Riley,” she said.

She said since three gloves were discarded, which “suggests that there are multiple pairs of hands wearing those gloves.”

On rebuttal, Ross called the defense’s theory “desperate” and a “mischaracterization of the evidence.”

“There is no reasonable explanation for all of this evidence other than he is guilty of every single count in this indictment,” Ross said.

Diego Ibarra told officers during questioning that he was asleep at the time the killing occurred. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified earlier Wednesday that there was no evidence to contradict that statement.

Jose Ibarra, a migrant from Venezuela who officials said illegally entered the U.S. in 2022, waived his right to testify during the trial. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, including malice murder and felony murder.

Additional charges in the 10-count indictment included aggravated battery, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, obstructing or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call and tampering with evidence. The latter charge alleged that he “knowingly concealed” evidence — the jacket and gloves — involving the offense of malice murder.

Jose Ibarra was also charged with a peeping tom offense. Prosecutors said that in the hours before Riley’s murder, he spied through the window of a UGA graduate student, and said the incident “shows his state of mind” that day.

The student testified that she called police after hearing someone trying to open her door.

Ross said the person at the student’s apartment was wearing clothes similar to the ones Jose Ibarra had on in the Snapchat selfie posted earlier that morning, including the Adidas cap.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A former Memphis police officer who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the beating death of Tyre Nichols faced cross-examination from defense attorneys Wednesday.

Emmitt Martin III testified at the trial of the three former officers — Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley — who were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Stephen Leffler, Haley’s attorney, mentioned that the boots of the ex-officers involved in the encounter were taken into evidence after the incident, according to WATN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom. Martin said that blood was found on his and Haley’s shoes.

Martin Zummach, Young’s lawyer, claimed that the no-snitch rule the former officer’s unit followed didn’t apply to Smith or Bean because they had only worked 11 shifts with Martin. The ex-officer disagreed and said the rule was understood by Smith and Bean as well.

Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., the two officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.

Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records. Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.

Martin said on Monday that on Jan. 7, 2023, the night Nichols was pulled over, he saw the Memphis resident speeding and changing lanes without a signal, WATN reported. The former officer said he ran Nichols’ license plate and it came back clean. Martin claimed that he switched to car-to-car radio channels and reached out to Haley, who said he would take the lead on apprehending Nichols.

Leffler asked Martin why he said, “Let go of my gun,” during the encounter with Nichols. Martin said that he felt pressure on his duty belt, according to WATN. But Martin also pointed out that he had previously told prosecutors that Nichols was not trying to take the weapon out of his holster and had not seen him do it.

The defense said Tuesday that Martin changed his story of what happened the night of their encounter with Nichols after accepting a plea deal from the prosecution, adding that if the ex-officer’s testimony leads to the conviction of even one defendant, Martin could receive a lesser sentence, according to WATN.

Defense attorneys questioned if Martin was lying on the stand to fulfill the terms of his plea deal, according to WATN. But the ex-officer responded by claiming that he was lying in earlier statements to justify his use of force on Nichols.

In police reports filed the night of Nichols’ arrest, narratives read that the Memphis resident swung at officers and tried to grab Martin’s gun. Martin said on Tuesday that he never saw that occur, according to WATN.

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, Martin was asked by John Keith Perry, Bean’s attorney, whether he had ever told Bean that he had “homicidal thoughts.” Martin said he never told that to Bean and had told that to Justin Smith before coming back to work in January 2023 after being hit by a car in November 2022, according to WATN. Martin said Wednesday he never told his former supervisor, about those thoughts.

Martin said Tuesday that he experienced four life-threatening injuries after being struck by the vehicle and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, suffering from loss of sleep, paranoia, irritability and chronic headaches, according to WATN.

Martin told prosecutors Monday that he was scared, angry and eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being hit by a car, according to WATN.

Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him. Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 — three days later. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly.

The prosecution told ABC News last week that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.

The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.

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(ROSWELL, NM) — Roswell, New Mexico, experienced an overnight “Flash Flood Emergency” on Saturday, the National Weather Service reported — the highest tier of flash flood warning.

Between 4 and 9 inches of rain fell in parts of the state, prompting the NWS to declare a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” alert — a warning issued when a Flash Flood Emergency occurs in an area of significant population.

The NWS issued a flood warning for east central, northeast, and southeast New Mexico through to the early hours of Monday. A flash flood watch remains in effect for eastern New Mexico through Sunday night.

Additional rain is expected through Sunday, falling on ground already saturated by Saturday’s downpours and thus raising the risk of further flash flooding.

Roswell was inundated with an all-time record daily rainfall of 5.78 inches — higher than the previous record of 5.65 inches set on Nov. 1, 1901.

Emergency services reported that numerous rescues were ongoing throughout the Roswell area, with water entering homes and cutting off numerous roads.

The Chaves County Sheriff’s Office shared an emergency alert on its Facebook page warning of “an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.”

The Sheriff’s Office later shared videos of people being brought to safety through floodwaters and of roads being cut off by rising water.

The Spring River in the Cahoon area rose rapidly, stranding several vehicles under bridges along the river.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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