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LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS: NEW TRIAL BID · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young nursing student
0:08
Speaker 1: Lake and Riley, murdered on a morning jog. Believe it
0:14
Speaker 1: or not, Even though we have gotten a verdict against
0:18
Speaker 1: the trand gangster jose Ebarra, it's not over yet. I'm
0:25
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being
0:28
Speaker 1: with us. That's right. It's only been in the last
0:32
Speaker 1: weeks that jose Ebarra was convicted and sentenced to life
0:37
Speaker 1: in prison for the vicious murder of a beautiful young
0:41
Speaker 1: nursing student, Lake and Riley, near the UGA University of
0:45
Speaker 1: Georgia campus. But believe it or not, this guy knows
0:49
Speaker 1: no shame. The Tregua gang member hose Ebarra, sentenced to
0:54
Speaker 1: life without parole, has now demanded a new trial. Are
1:00
Speaker 1: you kidding me? Does he really think the same judge
1:04
Speaker 1: that acted as judge and jury in a bench trial
1:08
Speaker 1: finding him guilty and sentencing him to life without the
1:11
Speaker 1: possibility of parole is suddenly going to grant a new trial.
1:16
Speaker 1: Not with this evidence. Let's start with what we know.
1:19
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Chief Jeff Clark, a University Georgia PD.
1:24
Speaker 2: On February twenty second, twenty twenty four, at approximately twelve
1:29
Speaker 2: seven pm, the University of Georgia Police Department received a
1:34
Speaker 2: call from an individual concern for a friend who had
1:38
Speaker 2: gone jogging at the inn Mirror of Fields. Our officers
1:43
Speaker 2: responded to that area and immediately began a search of
1:48
Speaker 2: the area to attempt to locate the individual. Officers located
1:54
Speaker 2: the individuals in the area behind Lake Herrick at approximately
2:00
Speaker 2: twelve thirty eight. The individual was unconscious and not breathing
2:09
Speaker 2: and had visible injuries. Officers immediately begin rendering medical Eight
2:17
Speaker 2: emergency medical responders determined that the individual was deceased upon
2:22
Speaker 2: their arrival.
2:24
Speaker 1: This poor little girl, there's nothing they could do to
2:27
Speaker 1: save her. When I first heard she was unresponsive, I
2:31
Speaker 1: thought maybe she was just passed out cold, maybe she
2:35
Speaker 1: was in a coma. But no, she was left there dead.
2:39
Speaker 1: I'm going to find out all the facts about how
2:41
Speaker 1: she was left. You know. I want to point out
2:44
Speaker 1: that normally I get a bad taste in my mouth,
2:48
Speaker 1: my teeth go on edge when I hear campus police
2:51
Speaker 1: are handling a case. I think back to Kristen Smart,
2:56
Speaker 1: remember that how badly they ruined murder investigation. But in
3:02
Speaker 1: this case, I've got to say, it seems to me
3:04
Speaker 1: that the UGAPD did everything right, God willing, but it
3:10
Speaker 1: sounds like they did. You were just hearing Chief Jeff
3:13
Speaker 1: Clark as he addresses the discovery of this young girl's
3:16
Speaker 1: body with me an all star panel to make sense
3:18
Speaker 1: of what we know right now. Before I go to
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Speaker 1: Jason Dennis Main anchor WTVM on the case from the beginning,
3:26
Speaker 1: I want to go to a longtime friend and colleague
3:34
Speaker 1: who I immediately thought of when I heard about Lake
3:37
Speaker 1: and Riley the nursing student. It's Phil Vitrono. We all
3:44
Speaker 1: lived through on the outside looking in. When Karina Vitrono,
3:50
Speaker 1: his beautiful young daughter, was out jogging, he always jogged
3:56
Speaker 1: with her like my dad did. That one day he
3:59
Speaker 1: had a bad ailment that he just couldn't go, And
4:03
Speaker 1: when she didn't call him and he didn't hear from her,
4:07
Speaker 1: he knew something was wrong. He knew it was just
4:11
Speaker 1: a sixth sense. Phil Vitronto, Thank you for being with us.
4:15
Speaker 1: You know. Phil Vitronto, by the way, was hauled out
4:19
Speaker 1: of his daughter's funeral as they were about to have
4:21
Speaker 1: the funeral to get his DNA taken. Did he complain. No,
4:25
Speaker 1: did he endure abuse online in the media speculation, Yes,
4:30
Speaker 1: he was stood at all until Karna's killer was convicted. Phil,
4:37
Speaker 1: when you see another story, when you heard about Lake
4:42
Speaker 1: and Riley, do you feel like nothing is being done?
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Speaker 3: Nancy, When I first heard the story, to quote Yogi Berra, it.
4:55
Speaker 4: Was like deja vu all over again.
4:58
Speaker 5: I mean, we had.
5:01
Speaker 3: Vanessa Arcott and then we had Molly Tibbitts, and now
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Speaker 3: we have Lincoln and the situation, the circumstances are so similar.
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Speaker 3: I mean, the perpetrator was not a non US citizen,
5:19
Speaker 3: had no care about human life, just dumped the bodies.
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Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean when I first heard this, I
5:30
Speaker 3: felt I went right.
5:33
Speaker 4: Back to seven years ago, which was not a good.
5:36
Speaker 1: Place, not a good place at all. Guys, Phil Vitronto
5:40
Speaker 1: is weighing in. Phil, please jump in whenever a thought
5:44
Speaker 1: occurs to you, because you have lived through this same
5:48
Speaker 1: exact scenario. Let me go straight out to Jason Dennis
5:54
Speaker 1: now for the very lace and what we know happened.
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Speaker 1: I'm very curious. First of all, Jason Dennis, take a
6:02
Speaker 1: listen to Rachel Bania crime Online.
6:06
Speaker 6: Riley sits out on a morning run she grabs her phone,
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Speaker 6: telling her roommate that she'll be back after a half
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Speaker 6: run at the UGA campus intermural field. When Riley doesn't
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Speaker 6: return for hours, her roommate calls campus police nine one
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Speaker 6: one at twelve oh seven pm.
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Speaker 1: Jason Dennis again, thank you for being with us. I
6:23
Speaker 1: want to talk about not so much leading up to
6:26
Speaker 1: the discovery of her body. I want to talk about
6:29
Speaker 1: the evidence. I want to talk about how she was found,
6:32
Speaker 1: who found her, at the condition of her body hit it.
6:35
Speaker 7: She was found right next to a lake next to
6:38
Speaker 7: the intermural fields. And my son is a sophomore at
6:41
Speaker 7: the University of Georgia. He actually parks there at the
6:43
Speaker 7: innermural fields. And so around this lake is a pretty
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Speaker 7: it's a pretty normal place for students, for people in
6:51
Speaker 7: the community of Athens, Georgia, to run around. And this
6:54
Speaker 7: was on a Thursday morning, you know, right in the
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Speaker 7: middle of the week, nice weather there at lake like
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Speaker 7: herrick and as the you know, UGA police sheep was
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Speaker 7: talking about and he says he called this a crime
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Speaker 7: of opportunity. So she went there running, we assume, by herself,
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Speaker 7: and you know, he apparently mister Obara twenty six year
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Speaker 7: old Jose Antonio Ibarra. The suspect here in a legal
7:18
Speaker 7: immigrant from Venezuela. He lives in an apartment complex. It's
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Speaker 7: literally right next to this lake. That area where she
7:26
Speaker 7: was killed, where she was found is right behind his
7:28
Speaker 7: apartment complex, so essentially a five minute walk for him
7:32
Speaker 7: to that area. So as Uga police called it a
7:35
Speaker 7: crime of opportunity. He's still behind bars, no bond, long
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Speaker 7: list of charges like malice, murder, felony, murder, kidnapping. And
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Speaker 7: she was found there, like you said, like we heard before,
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Speaker 7: unresponsive and dead on the scene. So she was left
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Speaker 7: dead there blunt force trauma.
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Speaker 5: You know.
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Speaker 7: He's accused of killing her in a brutal way and
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Speaker 7: leaving her there dead to be found around lunchtime. Very somber,
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Speaker 7: very sad vibe on campus.
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Speaker 1: This is the.
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Speaker 7: First murder actually on ug's campus in thirty years, according
8:09
Speaker 7: to the staff there at the school.
8:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jason Dennis, that campus, PD, They're on you like
8:16
Speaker 1: a cheap suit. We have a family friend whose son
8:21
Speaker 1: attended j graduated with honors, a musician the works, then
8:26
Speaker 1: got a job connected to Homeland security. He was a
8:29
Speaker 1: musician walking down music road there in Athens and somebody
8:34
Speaker 1: threw an ID over a fence at a bar. He
8:37
Speaker 1: picked up the ID. He walked to the front of
8:39
Speaker 1: the of the entrance and went, this just came over
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Speaker 1: the fence and the cops got him for using a
8:45
Speaker 1: fake IDA. He went, I'm not using the fake ID.
8:48
Speaker 1: It just came long story short, they're watching you like crazy,
8:54
Speaker 1: and I firmly believe this is very well the first
8:58
Speaker 1: homicide in at least thirty years. Crime Stories with Nancy
9:07
Speaker 1: Grace Welcome Back. Lawyers for Jose Ebarra, an illegal immigrant
9:16
Speaker 1: from Venezuela, insist he should get a new trial. Incredible
9:26
Speaker 1: Judge h Patrick Hager presided over the judge and I
9:30
Speaker 1: guarantee you it will be a cold ay in hubl
9:33
Speaker 1: that Hagar grants the motion for a new trial. That
9:36
Speaker 1: is not going to happen. But Ibarra's defense attorneys insist
9:40
Speaker 1: the decision was quote contrary to law and quote to
9:44
Speaker 1: the evidence. They also claimed the judge quote committed other
9:49
Speaker 1: errors of law that necessitate a new trial. Really. Cheryl McCollum,
9:55
Speaker 1: director of the Cold Case Research Institute and star of
9:59
Speaker 1: Zone seven Hit podcast, Cheryl, I've been to Uga, I've
10:05
Speaker 1: seen the running path. A lot of young ladies run
10:10
Speaker 1: that path all the time. And I can't believe Cheryl
10:13
Speaker 1: that everybody's screaming about. Why was she jogging by herself?
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Speaker 1: What was she wearing? Was she wearing shorts? Was she
10:20
Speaker 1: wearing a jogging broth? Why was she alone? Why did
10:23
Speaker 1: she pick that time of the day. It's obscene. Why
10:26
Speaker 1: aren't we talking about this guy who came into the
10:29
Speaker 1: country illegally? Number one? He was detained at I believe
10:34
Speaker 1: it's Eel Passo coming across the border. They let him go.
10:39
Speaker 1: Then he was arrested in New York. They let him go,
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Speaker 1: and here he comes to Uga to collide with Laken.
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Speaker 1: Before I get on that, tell me what you observed
10:53
Speaker 1: about the scene. I want to see if I agree
10:55
Speaker 1: with you.
10:55
Speaker 8: Okay, when you get right there at Lady Harry, there's
11:00
Speaker 8: a multi level parking day so this is a well
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Speaker 8: used area. You've got innermural fields where the band practices.
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Speaker 8: You've got multiple tennis courts. When we were there Friday
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Speaker 8: end Saturday, there were tons of students playing tennis and
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Speaker 8: pickle bowl. There were elderly people walking the path, there
11:21
Speaker 8: were people with their dogs, there were people kayaking. This
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Speaker 8: is not a place that is not well traveled by folks.
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Speaker 1: Okay, stop right there, stop right there, stop right there, guys.
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Speaker 1: She has been on the ground for the last two days,
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Speaker 1: combing the area to report back everything she could find.
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Speaker 1: Does anybody on the panel know whether Lakin was clothed
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Speaker 1: or unclothed or partially clothed? Jump in.
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Speaker 9: She was discovered, you know, with extreme facial injuries from
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Speaker 9: what I was able to determine in my conversations. And
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Speaker 9: of course, the problem here, Nancy, is something that we
12:02
Speaker 9: all need to be aware of. As an instructor for
12:05
Speaker 9: the Bureau, you know, I taught death investigations, and one
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Speaker 9: of the important points here is that individuals, when they
12:14
Speaker 9: are in areas that are protected like this area is
12:17
Speaker 9: supposed to be that area is supposed to be watched,
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Speaker 9: it's supposed to be well traveled, but apparently it wasn't
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Speaker 9: at the time. And we know these serial offenders, or
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Speaker 9: these offenders like the individual who's charge here, frequently target
12:33
Speaker 9: areas of people. And my largest question is how in
12:36
Speaker 9: the world did they come from New York? How are
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Speaker 9: they living when they're not working in this apartment that's
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Speaker 9: only five minutes away from this school, and you know
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Speaker 9: they were in that area. They've seen he has seen
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Speaker 9: that individual, if not that individual, other young ladies jogging
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Speaker 9: by themselves, and they're certainly encouraged to do that. It's
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Speaker 9: a health issue. It's a middle issue with running, and
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Speaker 9: so it's unfortunate that we can't protect women wherever they are.
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Speaker 1: But we know this.
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Speaker 9: Women have a right to be frightened of certain men,
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Speaker 9: and that's exactly what's happened here.
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Speaker 1: You're hearing Dale Carson joining us high profile lawyer out
13:16
Speaker 1: of Jacksonville. He also and more importantly, former FPI agent
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Speaker 1: and former beat coop in Miami Dade. Never lack of
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Speaker 1: business there, Dale, You're absolutely right, Cheryl McComb, I want
13:29
Speaker 1: to get back to the location. I like that you
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Speaker 1: pointed out how well used this area is, in other words, populated. Cheryl.
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Speaker 1: I'm a runner and there have been many times, and
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Speaker 1: you know I've talked about it well. I will be
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Speaker 1: running no earbuds in Fielvitronto taught us that because Karina
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Speaker 1: had in earbuds, didn't hear what was sneaking up behind her.
13:52
Speaker 1: But no earbuds. But when you're running you're in a
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Speaker 1: groove and you're not necessarily looking around you. But everyone
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Speaker 1: in a while I get a feeling like, hey, I've
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Speaker 1: gone too far. I need to turn around and get back.
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Speaker 1: I don't even know where I am right now. And
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Speaker 1: that's what happens. But this girl, Laken had a route.
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Speaker 1: She had a particular route, and we're hearing that the
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Speaker 1: defendant may he rot in Hell, only lived a few
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Speaker 1: minutes away. He knew this trail. He watched it like
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Speaker 1: a predator, like a hyena at the water, watching the
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Speaker 1: gazelles approach, and he waited for just the right one
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Speaker 1: at the right time, and he pounced. And I guarantee
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Speaker 1: MT you technical legal term that he did or try
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Speaker 1: to sex assault this young girl. He didn't just jump
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Speaker 1: on her for what and to steal her tennis shoes. No,
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Speaker 1: this guy, I guarantee you, I attacked her and he
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Speaker 1: needs to go straight to the Georgia death penalty as
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Speaker 1: a pit stop to Hell. She did everything right, Cheryl.
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Speaker 1: They had band practice there, pick a ball, tennis. It's
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Speaker 1: a very well used jogging path, Cheryl. What else did
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Speaker 1: you see?
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Speaker 8: The most important thing to me is the route is
15:16
Speaker 8: very clear where you start at the parking deck, you
15:18
Speaker 8: run this whole route, you come right back to it.
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Speaker 8: She was a cross country runner in high school. She
15:24
Speaker 8: was not unfamiliar with this terrain. So down by where
15:28
Speaker 8: Lake Harrick is is where it's very populated, a whole
15:31
Speaker 8: bunch of folks. Once you get to the top of
15:34
Speaker 8: the route coming back down, that's the part through the woods.
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Speaker 8: That's where he was waking on her. So again instead
15:42
Speaker 8: of asking why was she there, why was he there?
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Speaker 8: Why was he allowed to stalk and attack and murder
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Speaker 8: and then walk back home and Nancy from the back
15:53
Speaker 8: of his apartment complex. So if you go to Milledgeville Avenue,
15:58
Speaker 8: it backs right up to this path that leads you
16:01
Speaker 8: to railroad tracks. Right over that is the path that
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Speaker 8: he took to grab her, assault her, and murder her.
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Speaker 1: And as the clare fenced off, is it no.
16:14
Speaker 8: Surrey, there's no fence, it's wide open, and there's multiple
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Speaker 8: apartment complexes that can lead down to this lovely area.
16:23
Speaker 8: And I am telling you, I saw people in their
16:25
Speaker 8: eighties walking, I saw people from the community there, I
16:29
Speaker 8: saw students there. It is a beautiful place. But again
16:33
Speaker 8: from his back door, as the crow files it. What
16:37
Speaker 8: in't five minutes?
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Speaker 9: Is there any visual connection?
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Speaker 1: Yes, he can see from his apartment into the area.
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Speaker 1: He's just a few moments where he lives, I believe
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Speaker 1: with his brother, who is now behind bars on other charges,
16:50
Speaker 1: has had at least three of us that we know.
16:52
Speaker 1: I mean, these two enter our country illegally. They live
16:57
Speaker 1: off the taxpayers. They have an arrest, the brother, multiple arrests.
17:03
Speaker 1: This guy one arrest. They're still here, and he murders
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Speaker 1: our lakin our girl a Deans list. You look at her,
17:13
Speaker 1: Look at her. There she is all dressed up to
17:17
Speaker 1: be a nurse, wearing the little white jacket. She can't
17:20
Speaker 1: wait to take care of other people. That's over. She
17:25
Speaker 1: was brutally beaten. Joe Scott Morgan, what can you tell
17:27
Speaker 1: me about her mode of death? Guys, Joseph Scott Morgan
17:30
Speaker 1: is with us, professor of forens at Saint Jacksonville State University,
17:34
Speaker 1: and I've got to tell you I've done several recreations
17:37
Speaker 1: there myself. It's an incredible program. He's the author of
17:41
Speaker 1: Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and a star of
17:44
Speaker 1: a hit podcast, Bodybags with Joe Scott Morgan. Joe Scott,
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Speaker 1: tell me about this little girl's mode of deaths twenty
17:52
Speaker 1: two years old, Dean's list, her family devastated. And then
17:56
Speaker 1: I've got this sack of crap behind bars who came
18:00
Speaker 1: in our country illegally and murdered this girl. How did
18:05
Speaker 1: he kill her? According to police?
18:07
Speaker 10: Yeah, according to the police. What they're saying is that
18:10
Speaker 10: she sustained multiple blunt force trauma, and that can mean
18:13
Speaker 10: any number of things. We think about someone picking up
18:16
Speaker 10: a blunt object like a bat or you know, any
18:19
Speaker 10: a rock or that sort of thing attacking someone. However,
18:23
Speaker 10: you the deeper you dive into this, you begin to
18:26
Speaker 10: think about Remember he talked about a case of opportunity,
18:30
Speaker 10: and there's several ways to kind of skin that cat,
18:33
Speaker 10: if you will. So a case of opportunity. If he
18:36
Speaker 10: is there, he doesn't have a weapon, Potentially he is
18:40
Speaker 10: being her to death with his with his hands, or
18:43
Speaker 10: he could have stepped on her. So that's going to
18:45
Speaker 10: be very important from a physical.
18:47
Speaker 1: Evidence, spin white, white white. He didn't just step on her.
18:52
Speaker 1: If his feet were the murder weapons, he had to
18:57
Speaker 1: kick her brutally. You know, when we heard the chief
19:02
Speaker 1: of police at Uga say it was crime of opportunity
19:05
Speaker 1: that tells me he came down just waiting, like I said,
19:08
Speaker 1: a hyena, a predator without a weapon. Opportunity. That tells
19:14
Speaker 1: me he is like Bundy, used a club, a piece
19:18
Speaker 1: of wood, a rock, his fists, his feet. And I
19:22
Speaker 1: believe Joe Scott, she fought like hell and therefore he
19:27
Speaker 1: murdered her.
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Speaker 10: Yeah, and one other thing, Nancy is very important. We
19:30
Speaker 10: have to examine this word opportunity. I wonder from a
19:33
Speaker 10: physical evidence standpoint, this is kind of fascinating something to explore.
19:38
Speaker 10: Did he have a hide set up that is an
19:41
Speaker 10: observable point where he could see people coming and going?
19:45
Speaker 10: He had picked out the location, and is there physical
19:48
Speaker 10: tie back set location? Let's think about finger footprints rather,
19:51
Speaker 10: let's think about it also cigarette butts. Anything that is
19:55
Speaker 10: left behind that ties back specifically to him, that shows
19:59
Speaker 10: him in some kind of perch there waiting where he's
20:02
Speaker 10: kind of receded back into the woods. And look, you, Jock,
20:05
Speaker 10: you know that you can't see everybody to your left
20:07
Speaker 10: and your right, but he can see them. He has
20:09
Speaker 10: an advantage who expects to be attacked as they're jogging.
20:12
Speaker 1: I totally believe is this Jason jumpan, go ahead.
20:16
Speaker 4: It's Phil truth.
20:17
Speaker 1: Oh, it's Phil, go ahead.
20:19
Speaker 3: I totally believe he staked out the area as in
20:23
Speaker 3: with Karina, and with Karina he was found at the
20:29
Speaker 3: bottom of a U so he can see people coming
20:33
Speaker 3: from the left, that he can see people coming from
20:35
Speaker 3: the right.
20:36
Speaker 4: And I believe with Lincoln's murder, he had been following
20:43
Speaker 4: her or watching her, and he planned this out in.
20:48
Speaker 1: The last days the violent trend. Dear Ragua gangster ose
20:52
Speaker 1: E Bora demands a new trial after he is convicted
20:57
Speaker 1: in the murder of a beautiful young nursing st udent,
21:00
Speaker 1: Laken Riley. Well hell will freeze over before Hagger grants
21:05
Speaker 1: him a new trial. And this is why a very
21:08
Speaker 1: simple review of the evidence to you, Jason Dennis from
21:12
Speaker 1: w tv M, who's been on the story from the beginning.
21:17
Speaker 1: When I think of my little girl Lucy and the
21:21
Speaker 1: possibility she's just not even just a couple of years
21:25
Speaker 1: younger than Laken, who wants their daughter in this list?
21:32
Speaker 1: What more can you tell us? What connected this sacker
21:37
Speaker 1: crap to the murder?
21:41
Speaker 7: First of all, Nancy, I can tell you that as
21:43
Speaker 7: me and my son, like as I mentioned, he's nineteen
21:46
Speaker 7: years old. He's a student at UGA, one of them
21:47
Speaker 7: about thirty five thousand students. So this is a large school.
21:51
Speaker 7: You know it well, and you know this, you know,
21:55
Speaker 7: in this area right there. I saw an interview with
21:58
Speaker 7: the former roommate of Lake and Ryan. She was infuriated
22:02
Speaker 7: that how could something like this happen? She says, you know,
22:05
Speaker 7: there's no excuses for like, okay, she was running or
22:08
Speaker 7: was she by herself? What was she wearing? She said
22:11
Speaker 7: that this area is run often by all kinds of people,
22:15
Speaker 7: all kinds of parts of the day. My son is
22:17
Speaker 7: a runner as well, and I mean he literally parts
22:19
Speaker 7: at the intramural fields right next to that area. It's
22:22
Speaker 7: very heavily traveled, especially on a weekday morning. So you know,
22:26
Speaker 7: he was, you know, allegedly lying in wait and you know,
22:30
Speaker 7: along with being arrested by Ice through El Paso back
22:35
Speaker 7: in twenty twenty two, and then he was arrested five
22:38
Speaker 7: months ago for what they called acting in a manner
22:41
Speaker 7: to injure a child under the age of seventeen. That
22:43
Speaker 7: was in New York City five months ago, and he
22:46
Speaker 7: was released because they couldn't have a detainer on him.
22:50
Speaker 7: So released because essentially they did not have room for
22:53
Speaker 7: him or couldn't keep him behind bars. And you mentioned earlier,
22:56
Speaker 7: you know, his brother, Diego Abara, he was also arrest
23:00
Speaker 7: did in Georgia. Folk he had actually accused of using
23:04
Speaker 7: a fade green card to get a temporary job with
23:06
Speaker 7: food services at the University of Georgia, did not provide
23:10
Speaker 7: further documentation, so he was fired from that job, never
23:14
Speaker 7: officially paid by the University of Georgia. So you have
23:17
Speaker 7: these two brothers that are living there in Athens, in
23:20
Speaker 7: that area, and both you know, allegedly illegal immigrants, and
23:25
Speaker 7: there's no kind of nobody looking out for what they're doing,
23:30
Speaker 7: why they're doing it, and you know, and as Cheryl
23:34
Speaker 7: mentioned earlier, and she maybe can speak to this, but
23:37
Speaker 7: according to reports, there's no visible security cameras or really
23:41
Speaker 7: good lighting in that area around the lake. But the
23:44
Speaker 7: University of Georgia did release a statement recently and then
23:47
Speaker 7: a letter to parents actually about this disturbing incident that
23:51
Speaker 7: they said right before this murder happened, they approved some
23:55
Speaker 7: enhanced lighting improvements. I'm not sure if it's for this
23:57
Speaker 7: specific area, but for around camp in that and this
24:01
Speaker 7: brings to light the need for those kind of things.
24:04
Speaker 1: Can I just point out that the entire UGA campus
24:08
Speaker 1: is forty one thousand, five hundred and thirty nine acres, repeat,
24:16
Speaker 1: forty one thousand, five hundred and thirty nine acres, spread
24:20
Speaker 1: out over multiple counties. Yes, I wish to add surveillance
24:26
Speaker 1: video there. But this guy is the killer, and I
24:31
Speaker 1: want to know, Cheryl McCollum, what do we know that's
24:33
Speaker 1: going to connect him? Do you know, Dale jump in, here's.
24:36
Speaker 9: A thank you, there's a there's a broader problem that
24:39
Speaker 9: we're all missing here. When people come into this country illegally,
24:44
Speaker 9: the ability of us to vet them out and find
24:47
Speaker 9: out what their personal history is with Venezuela is nonexistent.
24:52
Speaker 9: These individuals could be serial predators in Venezuela and coming
24:57
Speaker 9: here for the rest of the as you've mentioned with
25:01
Speaker 9: an excellent description of the Hyaenas and the Gazelles. I mean,
25:06
Speaker 9: we can't let people just wander into the country. When
25:09
Speaker 9: we used to do background investigations, we had the authority
25:14
Speaker 9: of the FBI to look at the other countries criminal records.
25:19
Speaker 1: We don't have that revengeous no speaking of him having
25:23
Speaker 1: left Venezuela, how do I know he wasn't leaving crime
25:27
Speaker 1: allegations there. I do know this. He is married with
25:31
Speaker 1: a five year old child, Cheryl McCollum, Cheryl, and trying
25:35
Speaker 1: to figure out what is connecting him. Obviously he's not
25:39
Speaker 1: that smart. So did he have bloody clothing? Does somebody
25:43
Speaker 1: place him there? What do you know?
25:45
Speaker 8: There's two heroes in this thing, Nancy. First, the roommate
25:49
Speaker 8: that cut his time down from able to hide and
25:53
Speaker 8: cover up and get away with this thing. So the
25:55
Speaker 8: roommate is the first person that alerted us so quickly
25:59
Speaker 8: so that they could get on his trail. The second
26:02
Speaker 8: thing is I absolutely believe he discarded something at a
26:05
Speaker 8: dumpster from the back of his apartment complex. How you
26:09
Speaker 8: access the path is where their dumpsters are. I believe
26:13
Speaker 8: a second person notified law enforcement that they saw him
26:17
Speaker 8: discard something.
26:19
Speaker 1: Emotion for a new trial is a predictable and necessary
26:23
Speaker 1: first step a defense team makes before they can file
26:28
Speaker 1: and appeal. Well, I know it may be a formality
26:32
Speaker 1: to them, but this judge is not going to grant
26:37
Speaker 1: any trial. I can predict that from one thousand miles away.
26:43
Speaker 1: Over the course of that four day trial, there were
26:46
Speaker 1: twenty nine prosecution witnesses, three defense witnesses, and them arguments
26:53
Speaker 1: on both sides, And it was heartbreaking to see Lincoln's
26:57
Speaker 1: mother crying in court, sometimes putting her hands over her
27:01
Speaker 1: eyes because she just couldn't take it any longer. But
27:05
Speaker 1: let me report she did not leave that courtroom. She
27:10
Speaker 1: stayed for the evidence, regardless of how difficult it was.
27:15
Speaker 1: And at this hour, the defense is demanding a new trial.
27:19
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? With facts like this? Crime stories
27:28
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. A motion for a new trial in
27:35
Speaker 1: the case of a violent illegal immigrant who murdered nursing
27:40
Speaker 1: student Lake and Riley has been filed. What went in
27:45
Speaker 1: to that verdict? Finding and closing arguments? The defense actually
27:52
Speaker 1: argued to the judge with a straight face, that Lake
27:57
Speaker 1: and Riley, the murder victim, should have could have outrun
28:03
Speaker 1: jose Ebarra. Why why is that relevant? Because the defense
28:10
Speaker 1: Caitlin Beck, argued that jose Ebarra was shorter, end quote
28:16
Speaker 1: fatter than brother Diego. So I guess she's arguing the
28:21
Speaker 1: killer had to be Diego, the brother, because he was
28:25
Speaker 1: taller and faster. They actually argued that, But back to
28:31
Speaker 1: real evidence.
28:32
Speaker 11: Listen, a match between the contact Swobbings from the jacket
28:37
Speaker 11: and jose Abara is approximately one hundred trillion times more
28:41
Speaker 11: probable than a coincidental match to an unrelated person in
28:44
Speaker 11: the population.
28:45
Speaker 1: That from our friends at the National desk. You were
28:47
Speaker 1: hearing the GBI Crime Lab analyst Ashley Hinkel, did you
28:51
Speaker 1: hear that Philip debate one hundred trillion times?
28:55
Speaker 12: But you could not eliminate it, and it is a match.
28:58
Speaker 12: She could not eliminate transfer. Okay, problem, hold on, there
29:01
Speaker 12: is a man.
29:02
Speaker 1: I think I think that we can illuminate transfer because
29:07
Speaker 1: Dave Mack joining us at the courthouse. Isn't it true
29:10
Speaker 1: that video catches jose Ebarra throwing that jacket, Not Diego
29:17
Speaker 1: the brother, but Jose Ebarra throwing that jacket into up
29:22
Speaker 1: there he is That's the same shirt he was wearing
29:25
Speaker 1: one hour earlier posting on Nancy what's happen that video?
29:30
Speaker 13: Okay, the video of him throwing the jacket into the dumpster.
29:34
Speaker 13: That is what they've used to say Diego is the killer,
29:37
Speaker 13: because they said that one of the friends that actually
29:40
Speaker 13: was interviewed by police said she thought it was Diego
29:43
Speaker 13: throwing the jacket in the dunster. Now she wasn't one
29:46
Speaker 13: hundred for scent, sure, but a friend who knew them
29:48
Speaker 13: both much better said, no, that's Jose. So that's for
29:51
Speaker 13: the defense got their whole idea was from the winds.
29:54
Speaker 1: I think Diego is throwing the jacket away.
29:56
Speaker 13: The entire defense strategy came from that one comet, from
30:00
Speaker 13: somebody who was not even sure.
30:01
Speaker 1: Okay, So to believe that, Dave mac, I mean, I've seen.
30:06
Speaker 1: I was sitting in court when the state showed the
30:09
Speaker 1: photo of jose E Barra one hour before the murder
30:14
Speaker 1: posting selfies wearing that exact shirt. I'd like to see
30:19
Speaker 1: it because it has very unusual markings. There is there
30:24
Speaker 1: he is in the shirt one hour later throwing the
30:28
Speaker 1: jacket with a one hundred trillion likelihood DNA match. So
30:33
Speaker 1: I don't know what Dubet is talking about. Transfer and
30:37
Speaker 1: listen about the fingernail clippings.
30:39
Speaker 11: The DNA match between the wet rush squabbings from the
30:43
Speaker 11: fingernail clippings from the right hand and the match was
30:47
Speaker 11: to Jose Antonio.
30:49
Speaker 1: Abara still Ashley Hinkle on the stand from our friends
30:53
Speaker 1: at the National Desk, and there's more on the fingernail
30:57
Speaker 1: DNA match.
30:58
Speaker 11: The match is too million times more probable than a
31:02
Speaker 11: coincidental match to an unrelated person.
31:04
Speaker 1: In the population. Okay, Philip Dubay ten billion likelihood, one
31:10
Speaker 1: hundred trillion likelihood. There's no chance of the transfer because
31:15
Speaker 1: you just saw jose Ebora throwing that jacket into the
31:19
Speaker 1: trash minutes after Laken is killed. So when's the transfer.
31:24
Speaker 12: There's a difference between consciousness of guilt and throwing that
31:27
Speaker 12: away and consciousness of fear.
31:29
Speaker 1: He obviously realized that.
31:31
Speaker 12: There was some type of zerological evidence on the jacket
31:33
Speaker 12: and dumped it out of fear of being accused.
31:36
Speaker 7: So he dumped it.
31:37
Speaker 12: I mean, that's how I would have attacked it. It
31:40
Speaker 12: doesn't necessarily mean just because biological evidence is on your
31:44
Speaker 12: clothing that you're the culprit.
31:45
Speaker 1: We've seen this in history.
31:46
Speaker 12: We saw it a few months ago out of the
31:48
Speaker 12: Detroit murder, where a well known Jewish community advocate was
31:52
Speaker 12: murdered by knife in front of her home. The defendant
31:55
Speaker 12: was caught on video outside of her home. He testified
31:58
Speaker 12: he was acquitted. He said he touched her as an
32:01
Speaker 12: afterthought to try to rifle through her belonging to see
32:04
Speaker 12: what was happening. The jury believed him in this case,
32:07
Speaker 12: the judge would not have believed him.
32:09
Speaker 1: Speaking of fantastical arguments. The defense also argued that Jose
32:13
Speaker 1: Ebarra was just an accomplished that maybe two men were
32:20
Speaker 1: involved in Lacoln's murder and two rocks, that makes it
32:25
Speaker 1: so easy for the judge to find Eborra guilty. Joining
32:29
Speaker 1: me right now a special guest, renowned medical examiner, doctor
32:33
Speaker 1: Kendall Crown's chief medical examiner, Terrence County, esteemed lecturer at
32:37
Speaker 1: the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. Doctor Kendl Crowns,
32:41
Speaker 1: you and I have gone over and over the autopsy
32:45
Speaker 1: evidence in this case. Could you describe what happened to Lacoln?
32:50
Speaker 10: Certainly so.
32:52
Speaker 14: She has one trauma to the head from the rock
32:56
Speaker 14: that set the scene with the blood on it, that
32:58
Speaker 14: has caused lacerations or kind of splitting of the skin
33:01
Speaker 14: in a depressed skull fracture, which is kind of pushing
33:04
Speaker 14: in of the skull itself from being struck over and
33:07
Speaker 14: over and over with the rock. She also has what
33:10
Speaker 14: they've described as asphyxia. The medical examiner said she had
33:14
Speaker 14: signs of a sixia at the autopsy. That can be
33:18
Speaker 14: particular hemorrhages of the eye, which are a little bursting
33:21
Speaker 14: of the capillaries on your eye. It can also be
33:25
Speaker 14: hemorrhages and the neck musculature from a manual strangulation. So
33:30
Speaker 14: probably she's strangled, wakes back up, annocks and then beats
33:36
Speaker 14: her head in with a rock, or he hits her
33:38
Speaker 14: with a rock, she passes out. He's trying to rape her.
33:43
Speaker 14: What she wakes back up and then he strangles her.
33:46
Speaker 14: Either way, it's pretty bad now.
33:48
Speaker 1: I always wondering, Dubey, we'll have a big fit over
33:51
Speaker 1: this based on what doctor Knell Crown's has just told us,
33:55
Speaker 1: what lake Can went through as she fought for her life.
34:00
Speaker 1: Why the defendant didn't take the stand and testify. Hey,
34:04
Speaker 1: if you're not guilty, where were you? What were you doing? Listen?
34:07
Speaker 8: I'm sure mar you want to touch off and you
34:10
Speaker 8: want you no sense?
34:16
Speaker 1: I guess he didn't. That's my friends at the National
34:18
Speaker 1: Death Cheryl McCollum. You just heard what doctor Kendall Crown's
34:21
Speaker 1: explained happened to Lakan and her fight to live, how
34:27
Speaker 1: she was humiliated, attacked, brutalized, her face, disfigured. Did you
34:34
Speaker 1: really think a barrow was going to take the stand?
34:37
Speaker 5: Not a shot? And I'll tell you something. We can
34:40
Speaker 5: talk about her injuries, and those are vital. To understand
34:44
Speaker 5: that the injuries that she gave to him, to me
34:47
Speaker 5: are just as vital. She punched him dead the mouth.
34:51
Speaker 5: She scratched him on the wrist, on the throat, on
34:55
Speaker 5: the back of the neck, on his back, on his elbow,
34:58
Speaker 5: on his arm. She fought for those eighteen minutes like
35:04
Speaker 5: her life depended on it, because she knew it did.
35:08
Speaker 15: One of the defense's first witnesses is a neighbor of
35:11
Speaker 15: the Ebarras. The woman says Diego Ebarra approached her the
35:14
Speaker 15: evening of February twenty second, asking why the complex is
35:18
Speaker 15: crawling with cops In broken Spanish, The woman tells him
35:22
Speaker 15: a young lady lost her life behind the complex. Aware
35:25
Speaker 15: that it's along Diego's path to work, she encourages him
35:28
Speaker 15: to speak up if he saw anything suspicious. Two officers
35:32
Speaker 15: briefly check in on Ibarra.
35:34
Speaker 1: And the woman. When they walk away.
35:36
Speaker 15: The woman says Diego Ebarra urgently type something into the
35:39
Speaker 15: translator app for her to read.
35:41
Speaker 1: The defense trying to shift blame on hoosei Ibarra's brother Diego.
35:46
Speaker 1: It didn't work. Straight back out to doctor Kendall Crowns
35:52
Speaker 1: joining us. We're now medical examiner out of Terrant County.
35:56
Speaker 1: Doctor Kendall Crowns. We know that lake and fought back.
35:59
Speaker 1: She fought for her life. She refused to be hose
36:03
Speaker 1: Ebar's next rape victim. How long would she have lived
36:11
Speaker 1: sustaining the injuries she did to.
36:12
Speaker 14: Her skull, So, the injuries to the skull with the
36:15
Speaker 14: depressed cull fracture, she could have survived that. Had a concussion,
36:21
Speaker 14: she could have potentially, depending on how much brain damage
36:24
Speaker 14: there was, been still able to survive that injury. If
36:30
Speaker 14: it was severe enough, she probably could have died within
36:33
Speaker 14: minutes of receiving it. It all depends on how much
36:36
Speaker 14: damage the skull fracture went through into her brain. The strangulation,
36:41
Speaker 14: on the other hand, she'd probably be on unconscious when
36:45
Speaker 14: a little over ten to twenty seconds, and if he
36:48
Speaker 14: continued to apply pressure, she'd be dead within about four
36:51
Speaker 14: to five minutes.
36:52
Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, it's beyond understanding for me that the defense
36:59
Speaker 1: actually are Maybe there were two assailants in two rocks.
37:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, Nancy, the injuries to his wrist and
37:07
Speaker 5: his elbow, says to me. She probably knocked the first
37:11
Speaker 5: lock out of his hand and he simply grabbed the
37:13
Speaker 5: second one and finished the job. To the point part
37:17
Speaker 5: of her skull was in her brain. He beat her,
37:21
Speaker 5: He beat her violently. He set out that morning to
37:27
Speaker 5: find a victim. He did not care who.
37:30
Speaker 1: In my mind, the judge had no alternative other than
37:34
Speaker 1: finding Ebarra guilty in the murder of Lacoln Riley. Yes,
37:42
Speaker 1: a verdict has been rendered. He's not the only one
37:46
Speaker 1: sentenced in this case. Her mother, her family, or sentenced
37:52
Speaker 1: to life without Lacoln. Their sentence to life remembering what
38:00
Speaker 1: she suffered. They are sentenced to life remembering those last
38:06
Speaker 1: images of her running free Lake and Rileigh rest in peace.
38:16
Speaker 6: Good night for