Jose Ibarra, the suspected murderer of Laken Riley, appeared in court prior to the trial.

On Tuesday, Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan national accused of murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February, will appear in court before his trial begins next week.

On the morning of Feb. 22, a 26-year-old man named Ibarra was accused of attacking and murdering a 22-year-old nursing student named Riley while she was jogging along highly frequented pedestrian trails on UGA's campus.

Ibarra and his siblings, who are undocumented immigrants from Venezuela, resided in an apartment complex near the UGA campus where Riley was jogging. According to UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark, Ibarra is accused of committing a "crime of opportunity" and murdering the aspiring nurse.

In May, a Georgia grand jury charged Ibarra with malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence, and being a "peeping Tom."

The peeping Tom charge against the suspect resulted from an incident on Feb. 22, where he allegedly visited a UGA campus residence in Athens and observed a university staff member through a window, according to the indictment.

Recently, Ibarra attempted to have the "peeping Tom" charge dropped from his case, but prosecutors contended that the two incidents were "irrevocably linked," and an Athens-Clarke County judge ultimately ruled against severing the charge.

The judge has allowed DNA and cellphone evidence that Ibarra's defense had attempted to exclude.

The trial of the 26-year-old suspect, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Nov. 13, will have jury selection on that day.

In September 2022, Ibarra entered the United States illegally through El Paso, Texas, and was subsequently released via parole, according to sources from ICE and DHS.

Diego Ibarra, an older brother of the accused, is accused of green card fraud and had connections to the Tren de Aragua gang in the U.S., as per federal court documents.

The 2024 presidential election frequently discussed Riley's death in relation to the record illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past four years.

Over the past two years, five women, including Rachel Morin of Maryland, Jocelyn Nungaray of Texas, Lizbeth Medina of Texas, Ruby Garcia of Michigan, and Maria Gonzalez of Texas, were allegedly killed by illegal immigrants.