The suspect in the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Hope Riley entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela, officials said Sunday.
The suspect, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Sept. 8, 2022, after he unlawfully entered the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.
Ibarra was released by U.S. border officials pending a review of his immigration case, ICE said.
According to the ICE statement, Ibarra was arrested a little over a year later, on Aug. 31,, 2023, by New York Police Department officers and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. The statement did not elaborate on the details of his alleged crimes.
However, the NYPD said it has no record of an arrest of Ibarra.
The suspect was arrested again on Friday in connection with the murder of Riley after her body was discovered in a wooded area on the Athens campus of the University of Georgia, police said at a news briefing Friday.