Laken Riley's father accuses Georgia university system of negligence in wrongful death lawsuit

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ATLANTA (AP) — The father of Laken Riley, who was killed on the campus of the University of Georgia by a Venezuelan man who lived nearby, is accusing the state university system of negligence that he says led to his daughter's death.

Jason Riley filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, as well as several property management companies. His daughter, a 22-year-old nursing student, was killed in February 2024, and Jose Ibarra was convicted of murder and other charges in her death.

Just over an hour before Riley was killed, Ibarra had looked into the window of a University of Georgia graduate student’s on-campus apartment and tried to open the front door before fleeing into a wooded area. The lawsuit alleges that the Board of Regents “failed in its duty to provide a reasonably safe premises” and failed to notify students and guests on campus of the threat posed by Ibarra that morning.

“Soon thereafter, with no knowledge of the potential assailant and no reason to suspect any danger, nursing student Laken Riley went for her routine morning run near the Intramural Fields on the UGA campus,” the lawsuit says.

A Board of Regents spokesperson said the board does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Gwinnett County State Court also says the Board of Regents failed to follow its own policies and procedures on screening employees, which resulted in Ibarra’s brother, who was also in the country illegally, being employed on campus. And it says the board failed to monitor criminal activity on campus.

Prosecutors said Ibarra encountered Riley while she was running on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on Feb. 22, 2024, and killed her during a struggle. Riley was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.

Ibarra, 28, had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay while he pursued his immigration case. Riley’s killing in February 2024 heightened tensions in the national debate over immigration.

The lawsuit also alleges negligence on the part of the property management for the apartment complex where Ibarra lived with other people, including two of his brothers. The property manager “failed in its duty to properly screen prospective tenants” and allowed Ibarra to live there regardless of the fact that he was in the country illegally and had a criminal history.

Had the property manager “not permitted Ibarra to live in the Apartments in close proximity to the citizens of Athens and students of the University of Georgia, Ibarra would not have had the opportunity to assault and murder Ms. Riley in February 2024.”

Riley's father is asking for a jury trial. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as reimbursement of legal costs.