ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The last known images of Laken Riley before her death were shown Tuesday morning in the trial of the man accused of killing her, while a series of desperate messages from her mother were also read during Jose Ibarra’s nationally watched murder trial.

Ibarra, 26, is the undocumented immigrant from Venezuela charged in the Feb. 22, 2024, death of the 22-year-old student, whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus.

Prosecutors also rested their case late Tuesday afternoon, and defense attorneys began calling their first witnesses.

UGA police Sgt. Sophie Raboud was Tuesday’s first witness. Assigned to the department’s criminal investigations division, Raboud said a number of phone calls and texts from Riley’s mother and sister were received by Riley’s phone but never answered.

Riley’s mother, Raboud said, first called her at 9:24 a.m. on the day of her murder and there was no answer.

At 9:58 a.m., Riley’s mother texted, “You’re making me nervous not answering while you’re out running. Are you okay?” At 11:47 a.m., her mother texted, “Please call me.”

The calls and texts were discovered when Riley’s phone was unlocked by authorities.

Raboud also showed surveillance video of Riley running along a UGA campus trail and then departing the main trail in the direction of the school’s intramural fields. A man police identified as Ibarra was also seen walking in that direction two separate times, and he disappeared into the woods the second time in an area where no path exists.

Surveillance video also shows Riley’s roommates searching for her later on the morning of her death, as they testified on Friday.

Surveillance video shown in court also shows a man in dark clothing walking toward a UGA bus stop holding a white Styrofoam cup, who police have identified as Ibarra.

The man is shown walking toward a grad student’s apartment, the same student who would later report a Peeping Tom call. The man is shown wearing black gloves, wandering around for about an hour and not speaking to anyone. That same video showed the man going to the student’s door six times and trying to open the door twice.

The Laken Riley murder trial

Read our previous coverage:

Day two

Day one

An entire array of DNA evidence was also presented Tuesday, as well as testimony from Dr. Michelle Dimarco, associate medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who officially ruled Riley’s death a homicide caused by blunt force head trauma and asphyxiation.

The defense called a neighbor of Jose and his brother Diego Ibarra to the stand, Stephanie Slaten. She testified that she spoke with Diego when police were visibly investigating Riley’s murder.

“He said, ‘If you tell them, I will tell them you did it, and then I will kill you too,’” said Slaten.

Slaten admitted in cross-examination by the state that she had been drinking that day and had a previous sexual relationship with Diego.

Diego was called to the stand by the defense but his attorney could not make it to court in time, so he did not testify Tuesday. Diego is currently imprisoned for forging a green card.

Both of Jose Ibarra’s brothers, Diego and Argenis, are on the defense witness list and could take the stand Wednesday.

A legal analyst that spoke with Atlanta News First Reporter Madeline Montgomery believes the trial will conclude soon.

“I believe there’s no chance this case goes past this week. In fact, I can see it conclude as early as tomorrow,” said attorney Joshua Schiffer.

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