The Murder of Laken Riley

hey it's Michael just a quick note. today's episode contains some graphic. depictions of. violence may it please the court. councel on February. 22nd Jose. abara put on a black hat a hoodie style. jacket and some black kitchen style. disposable gloves.

and he went hunting for females on the. University of Georgia's. campus and in his hunt he encountered. 22-year-old lakan Riley on her morning. Jog and when lakan Riley refused to be. his rape victim he bashed her skull in. with a rock. repeatedly that is what this case is all.

about from The New York Times I'm. Michael babbaro this is the. [Music]. daily on Wednesday afternoon inside a. courtroom in Athens Georgia a guilty. verdict was reached in what prosecutors. have described as a cut and dried case. of coldblooded murder.

but outside that courtroom the case has. become something far. bigger. today National reporter Rick Roos on how. the death of Lan Riley has become a. flasho in the National debate over. border security illegal immigration and. mass deportation.

it's Thursday November. [Music]. 21st Rick tell us about the woman at the. center of this entire story lakan. Riley so lak and Riley is a 22-year-old. nursing student living in Athens which. is a bustling college town here in. Georgia it's about an hour hour and a. half away from Atlanta and she's just. leading a very kind of normal.

college life she lives in a house close. to the University of Georgia campus with. a group of Roommates they talk about. each other like their family they have. meals together they have movie Nights. they share each other's locations from. their phones so they can keep an eye on. each other and leol is an avid Runner. she regularly suits up and takes a long. jog and that's exactly what she did on. the morning of February 22nd at about. 9:00 a.m. she heads out for a run and.

then she heads Into the Woods running on. what is usually a very Placid peaceful. widely considered safe place H the first. sign of Trouble Comes about 10 minutes. later she activates the emergency. function on her iPhone and it calls. 911. county1 hello this is Count. 911 I dispatcher picks up the phone and.

keeps asking if anyone's there but the. line is is. silent can anyone hear. me for almost a minute there's no. response and. then you hear a faint voice saying yeno. or I have in. Spanish and then the call. ends after about an hour from 9:00 a.m.

to 10:00 a.m. and then to 11:00 a.m. lakan's roommates start to get worried. about her like where is she what. happened MH and so that's when they used. the location sharing function on the. phone to try to track her. down it did not give a precise location. but it gave them a rough sense of where. she was and in the course of looking for. her one of her roommates actually finds. one of her airpods on the ground and. that's like a very chilling sign that. you know know something's going on with.

lean that's when they call in the police. and so a campus police officer from the. University of Georgia sets out looking. for her and they find her shortly after. noon that day her body has been dragged. about 60 ft from the trail she's been. covered with leaves her top has been. lifted over her head she's bloodied. clearly beaten and it's clear from the. that moment that there's been a vicious.

attack that ended in L and Riley's. death so not long after leak's body is. discovered investigators start finding. all kinds of evidence they find a bloody. jacket that's been thrown away in a. dumpster they find security camera. footage showing someone throwing that. jacket away they find her phone with a. thumb print on it they find DNA evidence. under her fingernails that they believe. shows who her attacker was H and they.

quickly find and arrest her suspected. killer and as far as the authorities are. concerned like it's pretty open and shut. case like it's very straightforward who. they believe did this and then they have. the evidence uh to back that up as awful. as this case is as gruesome as the. details are it's also not the sort of. case that would necessarily rise to a. national news story until we find out. who the police have arrested what do you. mean so we quickly learned that the.

suspect had come into the United States. illegally and suddenly this is no longer. simply a local murder case it becomes. something much bigger and it becomes a. political symbol which we're going to. get to but Rick first tell us about this. suspect and how he ended up in these. Woods near the University of Georgia so. Jose Antonio Ibara is a 26-year-old. migrant from Venezuela who had this.

circuitous path that led him to Athens. Georgia he entered the United States. illegally On the Border near El Paso. Texas uh in September of. 2022 and he's arrested by immigration. authorities and then he is released. while his case is being reviewed it's. happening in a time when the border and. the Biden Administration in particular. has just been overwhelmed by a surgeon. water Crossings and particularly with.

migrants coming from Venezuela migrants. like Mr iara so what happens to him once. he's released into the United States He. heads to New York. City first he goes to Queens he stays at. a Crown Plaza Hotel there that had been. converted into a migrant shelter and. while he was in New York in August of. 20122 he was arrested for driving a a. scooter without a license with a child. who was not wearing a helmet.

he was not prosecuted or jailed in that. case a few weeks later he goes to the. Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan which had. become the city's official Welcome. Center for migrants and he goes through. a process that's known as reticketing. where the city pays for migrants to move. elsewhere and so he gets a ticket to. leave for Atlanta on September 28th and. that's how he ends up in Athens in. Georgia where his brother already is and. his uh found work so he briefly becomes.

part of this wave of migrants that those. of us who live in New York City remember. really well there are so many coming so. quickly that the city sets up a bunch of. hotels and shelters to deal with them. and ultimately allows some perhaps even. encourages some it sounds like including. Ibara to leave New York City and go. someplace else to relieve the pressure. on City resources right and so at that. point he moves to Athens and and lives.

in an apartment complex that's just a. short walking distance from the. University of Georgia campus that's home. to working-class immigrants who have. ended up here in this Georgia city from. all over the place including Asia and. Latin America and so then in October. just a few more weeks after he arrives. in Georgia he and his brother are both. arrested in connection with a. shoplifting case at a local Walmart but. he's not mained the authorities uh run.

his name through State and National. databases at the time but don't find any. warrants for him and so he's. released so I just want to be sure I. understand at this point he's been. arrested three times first time when he. enters the country unlawfully but then. he is released uh a second time in New. York City for the scooter incident now a. third time for shoplifting and at no. point it sounds like is there any effort. to detain him for some meaningful period.

or perhaps Deport him right and so. because of all of this his immigration. status his previous arrests his repeated. releases when he's arrested for. murdering lak and Riley the case just. blows. up you know I said earlier it became a. political symbol and remember the timing. it's February and a presidential. election year this is Georgia a swing. state and illegal immigration is a huge. priority for voters right so Republicans.

all the way up to Donald Trump decide. that this is the case to focus on this. for them is the case that encapsulates. all the dangers of illegal migration and. they're going to talk about it and talk. about it and talk about it as much as. humanly. [Music]. possible we'll be right back.

so Rick what exactly do Republicans do. with this case back in February once. Jose Ibara is arrested and his. immigration status becomes widely. understood they waste no time speaking. out about it our hearts are breaking. this morning for the family of lake and. Riley just 2 days after lak and Riley is. killed Brian Kemp George's Republican. Governor sends a letter to President. Biden demanding answers about Jose iar's.

immigration status lakan's death is a. direct result of failed policies on the. federal level in an unwillingness by. this White House to secure the southern. border and he even delivers a speech. about it where he just rips into Biden. and because of the White House's. failures every state is now a border. state and lake and Riley's murder is. just the latest proof of that and then.

2 weeks later Georgia Republicans bring. the issue to President Biden even more. directly at his State of the Union. Address Mr Speaker the president of the. United. States as President Biden enters the. House of Representatives he is. confronted by margorie Taylor green a. Republican representative from Georgia. she's wearing a t-shirt that says say. her name she's wearing a pen with lak. and Riley's face on it and then during. the speech my team began serious.

negotiation with the bipartisan as. President Biden starts to talk about. legislative efforts to address. immigration issues representative green. speaks up not really. I she begins heckling President Biden. during his address goting him to say her. name and to directly address this case. and so he does at least he attempts to. you Lincoln Lincoln Riley. an innocent young woman who was killed.

by an illegal that's in the process of. trying to say her name he mispronounces. it which has given more fod to. conservatives but at the same time he. says that this is a innocent young woman. who has been killed by an illegal a term. that is deeply offensive to many people. on the left and immigration advocates. for immigrants who see this term as just. dehumanizing and pajor.

and so in a way he ends up just pleasing. no one right he just wads right into. this mess and just makes it even worse. in some ways he just offends everyone. across the board so by this point the. death of lake and Riley has gone. National into the most watched. presidential speech of the Year where. does it go from there it goes right to. the center of President Trump's campaign. this year from 2016 on Trump has focused. a lot of his attention on illegal.

immigration and he's tried to portray. undocumented immigrants as violent and. used a lot of incendiary language even. playing on racial stereotypes and. anxieties to try to describe the Menace. that he says they have been to the. country and now suddenly as his campaign. is heating up again and he returns to. this theme of legal immigration he has a. villain that he can point to as. representative of everything that he's. been arguing for years lakan was a.

brilliant young student and so Trump and. his allies just bring this case up. exhaustively she was assaulted beaten. and horrifically murdered by an illegal. alien they bring it up at rallies they. bring it up in advertisements and in. conservative media Lake and Riley should. have been able to go on a run in broad. daylight without being murdered by an. illegal immigrant all in an effort to.

paint this case as something widespread. or common how many more Killers has. Biden set. free in their view it is representative. of this bigger failure on the part of. the Biden Administration to crack down. on illegal immigration and to crack down. on the southern border and they frame. this case as just the tip of an. iceberg right and it felt like the Biden. campaign was was struggling when Biden.

was the nominee to respond to this. because this incident had occurred on. his watch and there had been a. meaningful rise in illegal immigration. when he was president but I I want to. just pause Rick and ask based on your. reporting how. representative what Jose iara is accused. of doing here really is of undocumented. immigrants according to Trump and. Republic. an this is common this is a real threat.

what's the actual reality of it I mean. this is very clearly an aberration what. Jose iara is accused of doing is in no. way reflective of the intentions or the. actions of the vast majority of the. people who are. undocumented and who enter the United. States the studies have repeatedly shown. the the opp it that this is a population.

that is doing everything they can to. avoid detection to keep their head down. and you know their intention is not to. come here and so unrest and to. perpetrate violence it's really to get. away from something else and seek. Economic. Opportunity and so while this case is. very much real it's not necessarily an. indictment of undocumented people more. broadly but president Trump another. conser conservatives have highlighted.

this case because it so. neatly makes the point that they want to. make even if the evidence more broadly. doesn't bear this out right of course. for many Americans one murder by. somebody who is in the United States. unlawfully is going to be one murder to. many but even if the end of Jose iar's. journey in the United States is rare a. violent Act of murder. it feels like the rest of his journey.

feels much more common for somebody who. comes here illegally he enters the. country he's given taxpayer funded. resources in multiple. locations and he is not deported even. when he does have encounters with law. enforcement and that part of the story. on its own for a lot of people is very. problematic yes one murder is is too. many for sure but I think as you said.

iar's entire Journey touches on many. people's frustrations where the system. is falling short and how migrants in. these situations are treated and I think. there's just this underlying sense of. fairness that I think drives a lot of. the opposition you know before the. election when I talked to to voters I. heard about that about the resources. about the taxpayer dollars that have. gone to supporting these migrants that. they're getting access to support and a. pathway to a secure place in this. country country that doesn't exist for.

other people they look at Jose bar and. say why did this person get a hotel room. in New York City paid for by the. government why was he flown to Georgia. on the taxpayers dime and whether you. think this is a good use of money or not. those are the questions that are being. asked why is someone who is here. unlawfully getting something that US. citizens aren't you know how does that. make sense and then on top of all these. questions of fairness now you have this.

murder right and after this presidential. campaign from Donald Trump in which he. makes immigration and at times this case. which he has invoked such a big part of. his. message Trump wins the election he wins. Georgia where this crime happened among. other swing States and millions of. Voters tens of millions of Voters. effectively endorse his call for Mass.

deportation on a scale we have never. seen before in the United States he's. calling for millions of people to be. deported and in his telling somebody. like Jose abara is exactly who should be. deported when that mass deportation. starts and then as fate would have it. right after this election in fact I. think just two weeks after this election. this murder trial of Jose abara. begins in Athens Georgia right and the.

trial moves fast the defense was. concerned about being able to find a. jury in Athens this city that was just. rattled by this killing who could just. passionately hear the evidence and. render a verdict so they ask for a bench. trial instead meaning it's the judge who. decided whether or not he was guilty and. so after 4 days of testimony the judge. reaches his verdict and he delivers it. just just 15 minutes after the lawyers.

had finished their closing arguments. right he did not hesitate no he found. him guilty and then later in the. afternoon he sentenced Jabara to life in. prison without the possibility of parole. and Rick now that Jose iar has been. convicted and. sentenced how do we think that this case. will live on in a post-election world in. which the president elect and soon to be. inaugurated president Trump is talking.

so much about illegal. immigration and mass deportation I think. he just a day or so ago mentioned a plan. to invoke a national emergency and use. the military to carry out Mass. deportation what happens to this case. given how it has now been resolved in. that. context so this guilty verdict is. already being embraced as uh validation. by the people who have raised the.

profile of this case from the very. beginning you know the people who have. wanted to focus on this case as a. justification for cracking down on. illegal immigration not long after the. verdict on Wednesday Trump came out and. celebrated it and linked it to his plan. for. deportation he said it's time to secure. our border and remove these criminals. and thugs from our country so nothing. like this can happen again. and so clearly this case is going to be.

a part of how this new Administration. makes the case for Mass. [Music]. deportation the outcome of this election. and the outcome of this trial all but. ensure that this case is going to live. on in some way for a very long time. [Music]. well thank you very much thank.

you we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you need to know. today. on Wednesday the Republicans who control.

the house Ethics Committee blocked the. release of a report into allegations of. sexual misconduct and drug use by former. representative Matt Gates. president-elect Trump's pick to be. attorney general senators from both. parties have asked to see the report as. they try to vet Gates but the Republican. house Speaker Mike Johnson a close Ally. has pressured the Ethics Committee not.

to make the reports findings public and. the Department of Justice is asking that. Google be forced to sell its popular web. browser Chrome the request was made to a. federal judge who ruled back in August. that Google has maintained an illegal. Monopoly in online. search if the judge accepts the plan it. could radically reshape Google's.

[Music]. business today's episode was produced by. Alex Stern Sydney Harper Luke Vander. plug and mu zi it was edited by Liz. oalen and Maria burn with help from. Rachel quer contains original music by. Diane W Marian Lozano Dan Powell and Pat. mccusker and was engineered by by Chris. Wood our theme music is by Jim brunberg.

and Ben Lansford of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael Babar see you tomorrow. [Music].