The heartbroken mother of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley spoke out about her daughter’s murder the day after the coed was buried, calling it a “senseless and avoidable tragedy.
“My family has faced the most devastating, unimaginable loss that anyone could ever be forced to endure,” grieving mom Allyson Phillips wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
“It would be really easy to lose our faith in mankind because of this senseless and avoidable tragedy,” she said. “Please know that every act of kindness has warmed our hearts and brought us joy during our worst nightmare.”
Riley, a 22-year-old popular sorority member and Dean’s List student, was out for a run in a wooded section of the campus at the University of Georgia on Feb. 22 when she was attacked and brutally killed, police said.
The slain young woman, who belonged to Alpha Chi Omega, was found dead shortly after 12:30 p.m.
The next day, police charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who had entered the US illegally but was later released by immigration authorities “pending future proceedings,” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Ibarra, 26, is now being held without bail while his brother, Diego Ibarra, was taken into custody by immigration authorities for allegedly falsifying residency documents.
Riley was mourned at funeral services in Woodstock, Ga., on Friday, CNN reported.
“We love you all and hope that you feel from the bottom of our hearts how much every single thing that has been done for us has meant,” her mom wrote in her Facebook posting afterward.
“I love you all. Please continue to pray for our family as we put one foot in front of the other moving forward.”
Phillips added that contributions to the new Laken Hope Riley Foundation “will go towards homicide awareness, safety for women and an organization that provides healthcare to families in need.”
Her slain daughter, a onetime nanny, had been a student at the University of Georgia until transferring last year to nearby Augusta University College of Nursing.
Riley’s death sparked widespread outrage after Ibarra, who twice dodged justice over other crimes and remained free in the months before the fatal encounter, was released by immigration authorities after crossing the border in September 2022. He lived in New York at one point before moving in with his brother in Athens, Ga.
The accused killer was busted by the NYPD in Queens in August on a child-endangerment charge but was released before ICE could file a request to detain and deport him, immigration officials said.
In October, Ibarra and his brother were then nabbed shoplifting more than $200 from an Athens Walmart outlet but issued summonses and set free, according to police reports.
Jose Ibarra is currently being held on murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing a death in Riley’s senseless slaying.
Riley’s family, in an earlier statement, called her “an amazing daughter, sister, friend and overall person in general.”
The university where she was killed has since announced $7.3 million in security upgrades on campus, including more lighting, call boxes and a boost in the campus security staffing.
A GoFundMe page in Riley’s memory, which a rep for the online donations site said was officially “verified” by them, had raised more than $220,000 by Sunday afternoon.