ATHENS, Ga. — The roommate of a 22-year-old nursing student killed on the University of Georgia campus wrote a heartfelt tribute to her on social media.
Laken Riley was found beaten to death in a wooded area near running trails at UGA on Thursday morning. A 26-year-old Venezuelan, Jose Ibarra, was arrested and charged with murder.
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Police said Riley and Ibarra did not know each other.
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Riley’s roommate, Connolly Huth, wrote a long tribute to Riley, who she called her “bestest friend” on Instagram after her death.
“You never met a stranger and you exuded kindness and acceptance to anyone you met. You put everyone before yourself,” Huth wrote. “You were supposed to cross the finish line with me for our first marathon, you were supposed to stand next to me at my wedding, you were supposed to save so many lives, you were supposed to be the aunt to my children. It was not supposed to be like this.”
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Huth wrote that she finds comfort in knowing that Riley was a strong believer in God.
“Our house will never be the same without you,” Huth wrote. “Waking up to you on your iPad multitasking watching tv and doing homework at the kitchen table will always be my favorite sight to have woken up to. I’m not sure how I will continue this life without you by my side, but what I do know is I will run that 26.2 in your honor and let everyone know of the perfect, beautiful, hilarious, smart, kind, and driven human that Laken Riley was.”
Riley was a nursing student at Augusta University’s campus in Athens and a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority at UGA.
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