Laken Riley’s mother was seen sobbing and left the courtroom before bodycam footage of police discovering her daughter’s body was shown in a Georgia courtroom.
The murder trial began Friday for illegal immigrant Venezuelan Jose Ibarra — allegedly stone-faced throughout it all — in Athens, Georgia.
Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University College of Nursing, had gone a run on the University of Georgia’s campus when Ibarra allegedly attacked her on February 22.
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” prosecutor Sheila Ross told Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard, according to CBS News.
I don’t want to hear how dangerous Trumps appointments are from those people who have been silent about the results of Bidens..Laken Riley’s mom Allyson Phillips is seen sobbing in court while 911 calls are played. pic.twitter.com/glL5bKp8Wn
— Dead Che (@dead_che) November 15, 2024
Before Ross played footage from Athens-Clarke County police sergeant Kenneth Maxwell, who found Riley’s body, Allyson Phillips, Riley’s mother, left the courtroom.
Haggard had invited people to do so, warning the images would be graphic. Maxwell nodded in agreement.
WARNING: The following video contains language that some viewers may find offensive.
Body cam footage is played as evidence in court from the officer that found Laken Riley’s body after being brutally murdered by an illegal alien
The judge allows anyone in the courtroom that may be disturbed to leave the courtroom before it is played pic.twitter.com/teWGL6k0zT
— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) November 15, 2024
Police had been alerted to Riley’s location from her cell phone after she made a 911 call at 9:11 a.m. on February 22. The dispatcher answered, but no one responded. The dispatcher then called back, but no one picked up.
Maxwell’s bodycam begins with the the sound of him stepping on leaves off the running trail looking for Riley’s body.
He then comes upon it.
“Ah s***,” the officer says, “I found it.”
“I found her! Ma’am, ma’am. Ma’am. I need EMS immediately. It’s at the location where the cell pinged. Ma’am, ma’am, ma’am. She’s down, she’s not breathing!” Maxwell said.
The officer performed CPR trying to revive Riley.
He observed that there had been blunt force trauma to the head.
The officer also noted her shirt had been removed above her breasts and her running tights had been pulled down and her underwear was bunched up toward the top.
Riley’s murder became a 2024 presidential campaign issue, with President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans blaming President Joe Biden’s lax border policies for her death.
WATCH: At the border, Trump says he has spoken to the parents of Laken Riley, who was bludgeoned to death by an illegal alien
“Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley’s name, but we will say it.” pic.twitter.com/pHlsvwL2Wy
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 29, 2024
Ibarra illegally crossed the southern border into the U.S. in September 2022 at El Paso, Texas.
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