Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra lived it up in NYC after reportedly entering US illegally, social media posts appear to show
Social media accounts appear to show the suspect in the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley exploring New York City and posing with friends and family more than a year before the alleged killing.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was arrested on Friday in connection with the death of Riley, whose body was found near a lake on the University of Georgia’s campus the day before.
In September 2022, however, the Venezuelan native looked carefree, smiling in Times Square and Rockefeller Center in New York City, posts on a Facebook account linked to his name showed.
He allegedly entered the US via El Paso, Texas, that month, and was released from a detention center due to overcrowding, reports said Saturday.
Police sources in New York confirmed to NewsNation that a suspect matching Ibarra’s name and age was arrested in the Big Apple for endangering a 5-year-old child last year.
More recently, Ibarra appeared to share photos of himself with a handful of others — including a few romantic posts with an unidentified woman.
His last TikTok post was a soundless selfie video posted just two days before his arrest — and one day before Riley vanished during her morning jog.
Ibarra is now staring down a slew of charges — including malice murder — related to Riley’s killing, police announced Friday night.
He was snapped being arrested outside the Argo Apartments complex in Athens that afternoon, according to Atlanta News First.
By Saturday afternoon, commenters had already descended on both profiles with comments calling him “killer parasite.”
“Death penalty for you,” another commenter ranted.
Ibarra’s older brother, 29-year-old Diego Ibarra, is also in state custody on charges of holding a fake green card, the US Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia said.
He was previously arrested in Athens, Ga., area three times between September and December 2023.
Social media accounts that appear to be linked to Diego Ibarra show similar photos and videos — including Facebook footage of what appeared to be a stack of guns that was posted in November.
Follow along with The Post's coverage of Laken Riley's murder
- Laken Riley’s suspected killer, Jose Ibarra, illegally entered US in 2022 — and was cut loose due to lack of detention space: report
- Tributes to slain Ga. nursing student Laken Riley pour in as donations for scholarship in her name top $63K: ‘Would’ve saved so many lives’
- Migrant charged in death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley slipped through law enforcement’s hands twice
- Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra lived it up in NYC after reportedly entering US illegally, social media posts appear to show
- AP slammed for framing Laken Riley’s murder on dangers ‘female athletes’ face — not on migrant crimes
- Migrant suspect in Laken Riley murder accused of ‘seriously disfiguring’ nursing student as affidavit reveals grim details in case
Another series of TikTok videos show him wearing a UGA T-shirt and badge and washing dishes in a large kitchen.
“Diego Ibarra presented a fake green card to the hiring unit to begin a temporary position as a dishwasher in Bolton Dining Hall at the University of Georgia on Feb. 6, 2024,” UGA spokesperson Greg Trevor told The Post Saturday evening.
“He subsequently failed to submit further documentation required to keep the job and was never paid by the University. He has been fired.”
Riley was a student at UGA through spring 2023, when she transferred to the nursing program at the nearby Augusta University.
At a press conference Friday night, UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark said that Jose Ibarra did not know Riley, and described the incident as a “crime of opportunity.”
