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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Police arrested a suspect on Friday within the killing of a nursing pupil whose physique was discovered on the College of Georgia campus in Athens, and stated there is no additional risk to the college group.
The suspect was taken into custody for the dying of 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley. The physique of the Augusta College Faculty of Nursing pupil was discovered close to working trails Thursday after she didn’t return from a run.
The arrest comes after a extremely seen police investigation Friday that centered on an condo advanced simply south of the wooded parkland the place Riley’s physique was discovered.
College of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark had stated earlier “We’re not going to depart any rock unturned on this investigation,” noting there has not been a murder on campus within the final 20 years.
“A suspect within the homicide of Laken Riley has been taken into custody by the College of Georgia Police Division,” the college police introduced in an announcement. “Right now, there aren’t any indications of a seamless risk to the UGA campus associated to this matter.”
Riley’s physique was discovered Thursday afternoon after a buddy instructed police she had not returned from a morning run, authorities stated. She was unconscious and had “seen accidents” when officers discovered her, the College of Georgia Police Division stated.
Officers have labeled the dying as a murder and stated they have been checking safety cameras and advising college students to journey in teams and keep away from the wooded space the place her physique was discovered. Friday, police had arrange a cell command put up at an condo advanced simply south of the wooded space, with greater than a dozen officers current. At one level, officers searched a dumpster at a gasoline station throughout the road.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County Police Division joined the college police division within the investigation.
Riley had studied on the College of Georgia by way of the spring of 2023 earlier than transferring to Augusta College’s Faculty of Nursing, based on an announcement from the College of Georgia, which doesn’t have a nursing program itself. She remained energetic within the sorority she had joined on the College of Georgia.
Riley graduated in 2020 from River Ridge Excessive College in Woodstock, a suburb northwest of Atlanta, the place she ran cross nation.
“Our group and our world misplaced a shining mild with the tragic passing of Laken,” Cherokee County faculties Superintendent Brian Hightower stated in an announcement. “An excellent scholar athlete, Laken impressed classmates and academics together with her love of studying and her kindness to all. We ask that the group please maintain her household of their hearts.”
The College of Georgia Police Division on Thursday at roughly 12:07 p.m. “acquired a name from a buddy of Laken’s who was involved that she had gone to run on the intramural fields earlier within the morning and had not returned as anticipated,” a police assertion stated.
Officers instantly started a search and located her physique in a forested space close to Lake Herrick that features trails fashionable with runners and walkers. Emergency medical responders decided she had died earlier than officers discovered her.
The world is near the College of Georgia’s intramural fields, and solely a bit of farther from a big dormitory advanced principally occupied by freshmen. The College of Georgia has 41,000 college students, principally in Athens, dominating Athens-Clarke County, which has about 129,000 residents within the consolidated city-county.
The College of Georgia canceled lessons Friday. Augusta College canceled lessons at its Athens campus however stated it could stay open as a gathering place for college kids, school and workers. Nonetheless, the Augusta College campus in a strip mall appeared largely abandoned Friday afternoon, with an worker saying reporters weren’t being allowed inside.
Freshman enterprise main Paige Soskel was having espresso Friday with fellow freshman Julia Lambert in downtown Athens, the place some individuals have been out having fun with sunny climate.
Soskel stated she was shocked that Riley was killed throughout the day.
“It was type of simply surreal to assume that we’ve got pals within the sorority that she was in. And simply to assume that it’s someone that individuals we all know truly know is simply scary — that it could possibly be anybody.”
She stated she already tries to let others know the place she is, together with utilizing a web based monitoring service. However now she’s contemplating additional precautions. Her father despatched her pepper spray, she stated.
Nate Stein, who graduated in December with a biomedical engineering diploma stated he’s prone to be “on edge for a bit of bit.” His roommate is a frequent runner and so they usually go to the world across the lake for train, he stated.
“I used to stroll there each morning too and I imply, it simply looks like a really protected area,” Stein stated “It’s on campus so, like I stated, it doesn’t actually really feel like it could ever be unsafe in any respect.”
College students on the college have been already shaken after a male pupil was discovered lifeless in his dorm room Wednesday and an armed theft befell within the middle of campus on the evening of Feb. 16. College of Georgia police stated Thursday there was no cause to consider the incidents have been related to Riley’s dying.
Homicide is comparatively uncommon in Athens, with the town averaging 6 murders per 12 months, a homicide charge that’s about half Georgia’s statewide common. However Athens-Clarke crime statistics present different forms of crime with charges above Georgia’s statewide common, together with aggravated assault, housebreaking, rape and motorized vehicle theft.
The College of Georgia has grown steadily, creating housing and gentrification pressures in a metropolis the place many nonstudent residents are much less prosperous. The college, within the meantime, has grown extra elite because the state’s inhabitants has swelled. Georgia has a lottery-funded scholarship program that pays the complete value of tuition for greater than 80% of College of Georgia college students, making it a gorgeous vacation spot for prime in-state college students.
Amy reported from Atlanta.
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