Nice of CBS to FINALLY Admit the Truth About How Laken's Former Classmates Feel After Her Murder

justmindy | 3:45 PM on November 20, 2024

Oh, I guess now the election is over, CBS can admit college students are terrified.

For many students, Athens, Georgia, no longer feels like the safe haven they once thought it was, after the killing of Laken Riley. https://t.co/UTplggH5iU
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 20, 2024

Just two blocks from the University of Georgia campus, in a downtown courtroom in Athens, Georgia, a judge on Wednesday found Jose Ibarra guilty of murder in the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a former UGA student who transferred to the nursing program at Augusta University's Athens campus.
In late February, Riley was attacked during her morning jog on a trail near the University of Georgia's intramural fields. As the investigation and trial unfolded, members of the Athens community grappled with a shaken sense of security.
"Just because we're on campus doesn't mean, necessarily, that the bad parts of the world can't get in," said Allison Mawn, a fourth-year student. "She did everything right. She told friends where she was going, she went on a popular trail during the day. She had her tracking location on. She even managed to call for help, and still it wasn't enough."

The case was thrust into the national spotlight when authorities arrested Ibarra, an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant who entered the country two years ago, and charged him with murdering Riley. In the midst of the election cycle, her death quickly became a flashpoint in the immigration debate, with former President Donald Trump and his supporters raising it at rallies and President Biden responding to heckling about it in his State of the Union address.
"In an instant, all the eyes across the country are on us," said Mawn. "Now you can't say the name Laken Riley without thinking about undocumented immigrants and illegal immigration."