(DCNF)—John Phillips, the stepfather of the late Laken Riley, emotionally read one of her final journal entries addressed to her “future husband” following the Wednesday conviction of her killer.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, guilty on all ten counts of killing Riley outside of the University of Georgia’s campus on Feb. 22 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As the family pleaded for Ibarra to serve a life sentence without parole, Phillips read words Riley wrote in her entry on Jan. 17, 2023, where she promised to be a loving, God-fearing future wife and mother to her future family.
“I think one of her last journal entries dated 12/17/23 says it best, so here we go: ‘To my future husband, as silly as I feel writing this, my old small group leader once recommended it, so here I am,” Phillips read. “‘To my future husband, I want you to know that I’m thinking about you and working everyday to become the best wife I can be by working through my current relationships to best prepare me for ours and our kids one day. I’m focusing on God and what he defines as a faithful, Christian life and so that I can best embody those characteristics. I pray that you know that it is with my full faith and trust in God that I know that this relationship has been handcrafted by Him. I pray that we continue to glorify the Lord, prioritizing him in every aspect of our lives, and raise our family, our future family to be God-fearing Christians as well.’”
“‘I pray God is the singer of our relationship as it is a gift from Him, I thank Him for you before I even know you. I can’t wait to love you in the best way I know how for the rest of our lives,’” her stepfather read. “‘I pray you know and feel the importance of our love and hopes for our relationship. No matter what challenges we face, I pray that our trust in God and for one another overrules the obstacle. May our relationship last forever, Your future wife, Laken.’ That your Honor was our beautiful Laken. That your Honor is just a glimpse of what was tragically and brutally taken from her and us that day.”
The convicted murderer, who unlawfully entered in September 2022, abducted Riley while she was on a jog and murdered her by causing blunt force trauma to the head with an inanimate object. The judge found Ibarra guilty of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a 9-1-1 call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Ibarra had entered the U.S. illegally through an entryway near El Paso, Texas, and was released into the country on parole due to the lack of detention space at the time. He was later arrested for allegedly acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 years old in New York City, according to ICE.
His former roommate, Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello, testified during a Monday hearing that she and Ibarra traveled from New York City to Athens, Georgia, after requesting a “humanitarian flight” in September 2023, four months before Riley’s murder.