Student murdered on UGA campus might have been sexually assaulted

Feb 25, 20241 min read

By Joe Johnson

Authorities are awaiting autopsy findings that could confirm initial indications that a student was sexually assaulted during a deadly attack this week in a University of Georgia recreational area.

Law enforcement sources tell Classic City News there was visible evidence that 22- year-old Laken Hope Riley had been sexually assaulted prior to being killed Thursday morning on a running trail at UGA's Lake Harrick.

That evidence includes her clothes having been partially removed.

"Testing will determine that after the sexual assault kit is analyzed by the lab," Athens-Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson said Sunday morning.

An exam at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab on Friday confirmed that Riley had died from blunt force trauma to her head, according to Wilson,

Charged with Riley's murder is Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant who lived near where police say the attack occurred,

There was no evidence that the suspect and victim knew each other, according to police, who called the fatal assault a "crime of opportunity.