Jose Antonio Ibarra, the migrant who allegedly killed nursing student Laken Riley, received a taxpayer-funded hotel stay in New York City and a flight to Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2023, according to a witness in a criminal court trial on Monday.
Rosbeli Flores Bello, a Venezuelan migrant and former roommate of Ibarra, testified at his trial that she stayed at the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, which had been turned into a temporary migrant intake center.
Flores Bello said she and others “requested a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta.”
She had gone to Athens, Georgia, to find work that Ibarra’s brother Diego had promised her.
JUST IN: The roommate of the illegal alien who m*rdered Laken Riley says they got a taxpayer-funded flight, thanks to the Biden administration, to Georgia.
“In Manhattan, we requested a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta… in September 2023.”pic.twitter.com/HPHcRRkcrG
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 18, 2024
Ibarra reportedly received a taxpayer-funded flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Atlanta in September 2023.
Less than six months later, Ibarra allegedly hunted down and killed Riley in Athens on Feb. 22.
Last week during the trial, prosecutors said Riley “fought for her life” for 18 minutes, during which he allegedly smashed her head with a rock and asphyxiated her when she attempted to fight him off in a sexual assault. Prosecutors showed the exact timing of her struggle with Ibarra and her death through digital forensics on her phone and smartwatch, which tracked her heart rate reaching a peak of 170 beats per minute and dramatically dropping to zero.
Flores Bello was questioned about video footage identifying Ibarra throwing away a jacket in a dumpster that she had often seen him wearing. Prosecutors claimed that Riley’s blood was on the jacket, and she agreed with them that it seemed “strange” that he would throw the jacket out in February.
An FBI agent testified on Monday that cellphone data showed Ibarra very close to Riley’s cellphone at the time of the killing.
University of Georgia Police Cpl. Rafael Sayan had been involved in questioning the Ibarra brothers and noticed the accused killer as having multiple cuts on his arms and wrist.
Prosecutors also played a recording of a jail phone call between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, who repeatedly pressed him: “What happened with the girl?”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ibarra’s defense attorneys are saying the evidence was “circumstantial” and that the evidence linking Ibarra to the crime “is lacking.” He has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, battery, kidnapping, and concealing the death of another. He also was charged with a misdemeanor interfering with a 911 call.
Flores Bello is facing her own legal troubles with Ibarra’s younger brother, Argenis Ibarra. Both are facing charges of possessing fraudulent U.S. Permanent Resident cards and counterfeit U.S. Social Security cards.