A heartbreaking police bodycam video captured the moment the family of murdered nursing student Laken Riley arrived at the scene and were told that she was killed. The footage shows Riley's parents, Allyson and John, along with her sister Lauren, collapsing into tears and grief as they receive the devastating news of Laken's murder.
The video was shown during the sentencing of Jose Ibarra on Wednesday. The footage begins with the family's black pickup truck parked on the roadside as they approach a group of police officers, overcome with visible grief. "It's my daughter," Allyson Phillips, Laken's mother says as she breaks down in tears before collapsing on the roadside.
Heartbreaking Moment for the Family
Her stepfather, John Phillips, and sister, Lauren, who had been in the truck with Allyson, also broke down into sobs, pacing anxiously around the area, visibly struggling to grasp the devastating news.
Lauren crouches beside her mother, who is barely able to control her emotions.
As Allyson begins to hyperventilate, she clings to the arm of a nearby officer, gasping out a desperate, "Is she alive?"
When the officer responds that he cannot provide that information, Allyson collapses backward into his grasp, her face in her hands. She then rolls onto her side, completely limp, as the heartbreaking realization sets in that her world has been shattered.
"That's what they endured, and that's how it was on that day when they came here to look for their daughter," prosecutor Sheila Ross remarked after playing the heartrending 60-second clip, which caused the family to sob uncontrollably in the courtroom as they watched.
The footage left the courtroom in stunned silence as it was shown during the trial of Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of the student.
No Remorse
Ibarra, a member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, had pleaded not guilty to the February killing of the 22-year-old at the University of Georgia. He stared impassively as the verdict was delivered, while the victim's family wept in the courtroom.
Ibarra showed no emotion as he was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars, with prosecutors opting not to pursue the death penalty in the case.
Ibarra did not show any emotion as Riley's devastated mother begged the judge to impose the harshest possible sentence on her daughter's killer.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard delivered the verdict after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, with proceedings beginning on Friday.
Ibarra was convicted on all 10 charges, including malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily harm, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstruction of an emergency call, evidence tampering, and voyeurism.
The case became a point of contention in the immigration debate during this year's presidential election.
Riley's body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus. She had been a student there until 2023, when she transferred to Augusta.
Her roommates had grown worried after she had been gone longer than usual and reported her missing. During the trial, prosecutors called over a dozen law enforcement officers, along with Riley's roommates and a woman who had lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.
Riley struggled for 18 minutes as Ibarra attempted to assault her, before he ultimately took her life. DNA evidence found on her body later linked him to the crime.
