The sentencing of Laken Riley‘s killer, Jose Ibarra, took place on Wednesday after a judge convicted him of murdering the nursing student in February. During the trial, the court heard what is believed to be Riley’s final journal entry in her stepfather’s emotional victim impact statement.
According to CNN, Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found the accused guilty on 10 counts, including murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, and tampering with evidence. Judge Haggard then sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Laken Riley’s stepfather reads her journal entry in Jose Ibarra courtroom video
During the trial and sentencing, Laken Riley’s killer, Jose Ibarra, heard her final journal entry. Before Ibarra was sentenced, John Phillips, Riley’s stepfather, delivered a powerful impact statement, reading out the last entry from her journal dated December 17, 2023. The entry comprised details about what Riley wanted her future to look like. Addressing it to her “future husband,” she even admitted how “silly” she felt writing about it.
The victim’s stepfather read from the entry, “I want you to know that I’m thinking about you,” almost tearing up. He continued, “I’m working every day to become the best wife I can be.” Riley wrote about trying to achieve this by “working through” relationships that she felt would best prepare her for the relationship she wanted to share with her future husband and their kids one day. The nursing student also mentioned her focus on “God and what he defines a faithful Christian life.”
Phillips’ testimony in Laken Riley’s murder case trial was one among many delivered in court before Jose Ibarra’s guilty verdict and sentencing. He continued to read the journal entry in which Riley thanked God for her future husband, “I can’t wait to love you in the best way I know how for the rest of our lives.” Lastly, she wrote, “May our relationship last forever,” and signed in with the note, “Your future wife, Laken.”
Ibarra is a 26-year-old undocumented Venezuelan migrant, whose conviction came after key evidence incriminated him in Laken Riley’s case. On February 22, Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University’s campus in Athens, Georgia, left for a morning run and never returned. Authorities discovered her body in a forested area near the University of Georgia later that day. The 22-year-old had died of blunt force trauma.
