Brother of Laken Riley murder suspect ordered to remain in federal custody

The brother of the man charged with murdering a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus will remain in federal custody, a U.S. Magistrate’s Court judge ruled Thursday in Macon.

Diego Ibarra, 29, has been in jail since Feb. 23 on a charge of possessing a fraudulent green card, a crime that can carry 10 years in prison upon conviction.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Weigle ordered that Ibarra remain in custody pending his trial after he ruled that Ibarra would be a flight risk if released on bail, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Ibarra was arrested by Athens-Clarke police during the investigation into the slaying of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student who was jogging on Feb. 22 at the intramural field complex off College Station Road.

Police have charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, with murdering Riley, who was bludgeoned to death, according to UGA police.

In Thursday’s hearing in Macon, federal agents presented evidence in regards to Diego Ibarra’s arrest record in Athens, his status as an undocumented immigrant, and evidence linking him to a violent Venezuela criminal gang called Tren de Aragua.

“Judge, I cannot think of a case where a defendant is a greater flight risk than Diego Ibarra,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morrison said Thursday in court, according to a report by WMAZ-TV in Macon.

Federal Court: Feds expected to show at hearing gang connections to brother of UGA murder suspect

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a memorandum Wednesday showing that Ibarra had social media photos linking him to gang customs and tattoos that matched the gang’s symbols.

The federal case is being handled by Homeland Security Investigations.

The document also shows that in April 2023, Ibarra admitted he crossed illegally into he U.S. with four other Venezuelans. After his capture, he was released in May but ordered to wear a GPS ankle device. However, he removed the device, which was recovered in Littleton, Colorado. At some point, the document says he made his way to Athens.

He was living on South Milledge Avenue with his brother at the time of his arrest. Jose Ibarra is also an undocumented immigrant.

Jose Ibarra remains in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond. On Wednesday, Sheila Ross, a special district attorney appointed to prosecute the murder case for the Western Judicial Circuit, filed a document in Athens showing that she is now the case prosecutor and all notices and court filings regarding the case should go to her.

Ross is an attorney for the Prosecuting Attorney Council of Georgia and was assigned to the case after District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez requested assistance from PAC.

More: Athens DA Gonzalez assigns special prosecutor Sheila Ross to handle Laken Riley murder case

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Judge orders brother of Laken Riley murder suspect to remain in jail