Dad of murdered nursing student Laken Riley tears up, says ‘I wish I’d been there’ in heartbreaking first comments since her death
The father of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student killed last month while she was jogging, broke down, saying he wishes “it would have been me” — and blasted politicians on both sides of the aisle for politicizing her death.
“I wish I would have been there to protect her,” Jason Riley told NBC’s “TODAY” show in an interview that aired Monday. “I wish it would have been me.”
The 22-year-old was out for a morning run last month when she was brutally murdered near the University of Georgia in Athens.
The suspect in her murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, illegally entered the US two years ago from Venezuela — turning her death during an election year into a political flash point, her father now says.
“I’d rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country,” her father said. “It’s incited a lot of people.”
His daughter’s killing, which has become a rallying cry among conservatives on the issue of border security, has also brought negative responses from both sides of the aisle.
“There’s people on both sides that have lashed out at our families,” Jason Riley said, referring to him and Riley’s mother, who are divorced.
“I think it’s being used politically to get those votes,” he said. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. She was an angel.”
The national spotlight on her death — that has only intensified since President Biden stumbled over her name during his State of the Union address — has also made it difficult for him to grieve.
“It was really surreal. I just didn’t want to believe it — it’s still hard to believe,” Jason Riley said while choking back tears.
Her father, who said he supports former President Donald Trump, said that while he wished her death wasn’t “so political,” he conceded it has allowed for important conversations surrounding the border and violence against women.
“Laken has been a rallying cry for secure borders and for the illegal immigration policies of this current administration, but there’s many women we don’t get to hear about,” he said.
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins had invited Riley’s family to the State of the Union address, which they turned down attending
Riley, an experienced runner who attended the Augusta University School of Nursing, was reported missing on Feb. 22 after going for a run at a nearby field.
Her body was later found in a secluded wooded area on campus with “visible injuries” with authorities determining she died from blunt force trauma.
Ibarra previously slipped through the hands of law enforcement twice, and avoided deportation after a bust in New York City.
He was arrested in Queens on Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child, but was released before immigration officials could file a request to ask local cops to hold him in custody, authorities previously said.
Ibarra also was wanted on an arrest warrant in Georgia for blowing off a shoplifting court appearance in December.
A day after Riley failed to return home from her run, Ibarra was arrested and charged with concealing the death of another, false imprisonment, felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery in connection to her death.
Authorities used surveillance footage to put him at the crime scene, according to his arrest report.
Ibarra is also listed as an “active member” of the deadly Tren de Aragua gang, ICE sources previously told The Post.
