Grand jury indicts suspect in fatal beating of Laken Riley on the UGA campus

A grand jury on Tuesday indicted the suspect in the fatal beating of Laken Hope Riley, the Athens nursing student slain on the University of Georgia campus.

The Clarke County grand jury returned an indictment against Jose Antonio Ibarra charging him with numerous crimes including malice and felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an attempt to call 911, tampering with evidence and peeping tom.

Ibarra, 26, will be arraigned at a date to be set by the court, according to a report released Wednesday from the Western Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

Ibarra is charged in the Feb. 22 fatal assault on Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the Athens campus of Augusta University. Authorities say Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, attacked Riley as she jogged at the UGA intramural fields complex off College Station Road. She was a UGA student before transferring into the nursing program at Augusta University.

A special prosecutor, Sheila Ross, has been assigned the case.

The incident spurred nationwide controversy because Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally and was living in Athens. He remains in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Suspect in Laken Riley slaying on UGA campus is indicted by grand jury