Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally, is charged with murder in the February killing, which helped fan the immigration debate during this year's presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case is being heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

In the nine months since Laken Riley was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia, her death turned into a lightning rod over crime and illegal immigration and cast an ominous shadow over the college town of Athens.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Testimony resumed Monday in the trial of the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley with police officers describing searching the man’s apartment and questioning him and others who lived there.

The chilling 911 call that captured Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s horrifying final moments was played in court Friday – leaving her grieving mother in a flood of tears during the first day of opening statements.

It was an emotional first day in court for the murder trial of Jose Ibarra, the illegal immigrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. President-elect Trump used her killing as part of the national immigration debate and his campaign.

The suspect accused of killing 22-year-old Laken Riley was "hunting" for women on the University of Georgia's campus the day the nursing student was found brutally murdered on the school grounds, a prosecutor said Friday during opening statements in the bench trial.