A heartbreaking video shows the family of Laken Riley getting overwhelmed with grief as they learned of the Georgia nursing student’s murder. The police bodycam video was played in court before the sentencing of Riley’s killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, on Wednesday, November 20.
The video shows the family’sblack pickup truck haphazardly pulling over to the side of the road. They then approach a group of police officers.
“It’s my daughter,” Riley’s mother Allyson Phillips says, breaking down in tears and collapsing on the side of the road. Riley’s stepfather John Phillips and sister Lauren, who were in the truck with Allyson too, can also be seen sobbing.
Lauren is then seen crouching down near her mother, who eventually starts to hyperventilate. Allyson grasps the bicep of a nearby officer, asking, “Is she alive?” The officer tells Allyson he is not able to tell her, following which she falls back, grabs her face with both hands and rolls on her side, completely limp.
“That’s what they endured, and that’s how it was on that day when they came here to look for their daughter,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said after showing the video in the courtroom, according to New York Post.
Jose Antonio Ibarra sentenced to life without parole
Ibarra was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of Riley. Judge Patrick Haggard announced the guilty verdict on all charges on the fourth day of the murder trial in Athens, Georgia. In a series of victim impact statements from Riley’s close ones, the killer was called a “sick, twisted, and evil coward.”
“The pain I feel is unexplainable every day I am reminded my daughter is gone … I will never hold her hand or feel her hug,” the victim’s father, Jason Riley, told the court during the hearing. “Our world has been torn apart. I am haunted by the fear she felt in those final moments. I hope justice is served for her.”
“Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child,” Allyson said. “There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss. On that horrific day, my precious daughter was attacked, beaten and shown no mercy.”
She added, “She fought for her life in dignity, and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted, and evil coward showed no regard for Laken and human life. We’re asking the same be done to him.”
