According to a witness in a criminal court trial on Monday, Jose Antonio Ibarra, the alleged killer of nursing student Laken Riley, was provided with a taxpayer-funded hotel stay in New York City and a flight to Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2023.
During the trial, Rosbeli Flores Bello, a Venezuelan migrant and former roommate of Ibarra, shared her experience of staying at the famous Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The hotel had been transformed into a temporary intake center for migrants.
Flores Bello mentioned that she and her companions had made a request for a humanitarian flight to Atlanta.
She had traveled to Athens, Georgia, in search of the work that Ibarra’s brother Diego had promised her.
Just in: The roommate of the illegal alien who m*rdered Laken Riley claims they received a taxpayer-funded flight to Georgia courtesy of the Biden administration.
“In Manhattan, we requested a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta… in September 2023.” pic.twitter.com/HPHcRRkcrG
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 18, 2024
According to reports, Ibarra received a taxpayer-funded flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Atlanta in September 2023.
Less than six months later, on February 22, Ibarra allegedly tracked down and killed Riley in Athens.
During the trial last week, prosecutors claimed Riley “fought for her life” for 18 minutes, during which time he reportedly smashed her head with a rock and asphyxiated her after she attempted to push him off in a sexual assault. Prosecutors used digital forensics on her phone and smartwatch to illustrate the exact timing of her battle with Ibarra and her death, with her heart rate hitting a high of 170 beats per minute and then rapidly plummeting to zero.
Camera footage showed Ibarra tossing away a jacket Flores Bello had frequently seen him wearing. Prosecutors claimed Riley’s blood was on the jacket, and she agreed that it appeared “strange” that he would throw it away in February.
An FBI agent testified on Monday that cellular data showed Ibarra was quite close to Riley’s phone at the time of the murder.
While questioning the Ibarra brothers, Cpl. Rafael Sayan of the University of Georgia Police Department discovered that the accused killer had numerous cuts on his arms and wrist.
Prosecutors also played a video of Ibarra’s jail phone contact with his wife, Layling Franco, who repeatedly asked him, “What happened to the girl?”
According to Ibarra’s defense attorneys, the evidence was “circumstantial,” and the proof linking him to the crime “is lacking.” He faces charges of murder, aggravated assault, battery, kidnapping, and concealing the death of another. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for interfering with a 911 call.
Flores Bello is having her own legal issues with Ibarra’s younger brother, Argenis Ibarra. Both Flores Bello and Argenis Ibarra face charges for possessing false US Permanent Resident cards and counterfeit US Social Security cards.
