The illegal immigrant charged with the murder of Laken Riley in Georgia was able to score a “humanitarian flight” from New York City down to Atlanta where he ended up allegedly killing the nursing student. The revelations came from testimony from suspect Jose Ibarra’s former “partner” during the murder trial taking place in Georgia on Monday.
Ibarra’s former partner, Layling Franco, testified on Monday that she as well as Ibarra traveled to New York’s Roosevelt Hotel in order to get a “humanitarian flight” to Atlanta after they had come to the United States, per Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.
Melugin reported that Franco “[said] they got the flight, then Ibarra’s brother picked them up from ATL airport and drove them to Athens, GA, where prosecutors say he murdered Riley this year.” Franco said earlier this year that the two had gotten married to join their “asylum cases.”
After his arrest, Franco said, “He was the person I thought I could see through. We’ve known each other our entire lives.” However, while in New York, the couple split up after Ibarra was arrested for child endangerment of Franco’s 5-year-old son. She claimed that Ibarra “wasn’t aggressive” and that their arguments never got “physical.”
DNA and other forensic evidence point to Ibarra as Riley’s killer, the prosecution has stated. Her body was found with her head bashed in by a rock repeatedly, her pants had been pulled down, and her breasts were exposed. Prosecutors in the trial told the jury that Ibarra went “hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus,” adding, “And in his hunt, he encountered 22-year-old Laken Riley on her morning jog. And when Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly.
Cases such as Riley’s have been highlighted under the Biden-Harris administration as soft border policies have allowed not just those looking for a better life, but hardened criminals to cross the border illegally into the US, abusing the country’s asylum system.