Possible suspect in custody for murder of student on UGA campus

Law enforcement activity at an Athens apartment complex were a possible murder suspect was taken into custody

By Joe Johnson

A possible suspect in the murder of a student whose body was found Thursday on the University of Georgia campus was taken into custody Friday afternoon at an apartment complex next to where the body was discovered.

UGA spokesperson Greg Trevor said that a "person of interest" in the investigation had been taken into custody for questioning.

"We will provide updates as circumstances warrant it," he said.

The development came after law enforcement personnel swarmed the Cielo Azulyk complex on South Milledge Avenue and adjacent to the UGA intramural fields.

Laken Riley

It was to that recreational area that 22-year-old Laken Riley had gone running Thursday morning, and UGA police said they received a call just after noon from a person who was concerned that Riley had not returned.

About 20 minutes later, police said, officers found the student's body in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick near the intramural fields.

Law enforcement sources said she had been fatally bludgeoned.

An autopsy was to be performed Friday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab.

The 22-year-old student from Woodstock had been an undergraduate student at UGA until the spring of 2023 and then enrolled with Augusta University's nursing program, which has classes on UGA's Health Sciences Campus in Athens.