Nursing student Laken Riley desperately tried to call 911 last week when a Venezuelan migrant pounced on her during a morning run, it was revealed Wednesday.
Police documents show that Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, prevented the 22-year-old from dialing the emergency helpline before he dragged her body to a secluded area after the vicious attack.
Ibarra then panicked and likely bashed in her skull when Riley bravely tried to fight back, according to an analysis by a former criminal profiler. Riley was found hours later on the University of Georgia campus with a disfigured skull. She died of blunt-force trauma.
The gruesome details of her injuries in new warrants suggest that the Augusta University College of Nursing student likely fought back when she was grabbed during a run — and her killer likely panicked while trying to subdue her.
“In this case, the offender was met with resistance which he wasn’t expecting, and it got overpowering and he couldn’t control it and he resorted to violence,” John Lang Jr., a former Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigator, told WSB-TV.
“But he didn’t know what he was in for and I suspect she probably fought back,” said Lang, a criminal profiler not involved in the case.
“He’s not a very big fellow and he may have been overwhelmed by her size and her strengths and tenacity to fight back.”
“Concealing her body, that’s just an opportunity to distance himself from the crime,” Lang told WSB-TV, adding that investigators can’t rule out sexual assault as a possible motive in the heinous crime.
“In looking at this whole thing, this is like a disorganized offender. That’s what we call them” he added. “He just does it on the spur of the moment for whatever motivating factors.”
Follow along with The Post's coverage of Laken Riley's murder
- Laken Riley’s suspected killer, Jose Ibarra, illegally entered US in 2022 — and was cut loose due to lack of detention space: report
- Tributes to slain Ga. nursing student Laken Riley pour in as donations for scholarship in her name top $63K: ‘Would’ve saved so many lives’
- Migrant charged in death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley slipped through law enforcement’s hands twice
- Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra lived it up in NYC after reportedly entering US illegally, social media posts appear to show
- AP slammed for framing Laken Riley’s murder on dangers ‘female athletes’ face — not on migrant crimes
- Migrant suspect in Laken Riley murder accused of ‘seriously disfiguring’ nursing student as affidavit reveals grim details in case
Ibarra — who is reportedly 5 feet 7 inches tall — is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another.
Riley was kidnapped and killed while she went out for a run on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday.
Charging documents accuse Ibarra of causing “great bodily harm with an object,” without specifying exactly what it was.
He also was charged with aggravated battery for “seriously disfiguring her body … by disfiguring her skull,” according to the affidavits shared by Fox News.
The suspect, who entered the US illegally in El Paso, Texas, last year twice slipped through the hands of law enforcement — and could have been deported after a bust in the Big Apple.
Riley, who transferred from the University of Georgia to the nearby Augusta University School of Nursing last year, is planned to be mourned at funeral services on Friday.
