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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Police arrested a suspect on Friday in the
killing of a nursing student whose body was found on the University
of Georgia campus in Athens, and said there’s no further threat to
the university community.

The suspect was taken into custody for the death of 22-year-old
Laken Hope Riley. The body of the Augusta University College of
Nursing student was found near running trails Thursday after she
didn’t return from a run.

The arrest comes after a highly visible police investigation Friday
that centered on an apartment complex just south of the wooded
parkland where Riley’s body was found.

University of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark had said earlier
“We’re not going to leave any rock unturned in this investigation,” noting there has not been a homicide on campus in the last 20 years.

“A suspect in the murder of Laken Riley has been taken into custody
by the University of Georgia Police Department,” the university
police announced in a statement. “At this time, there are no
indications of a continuing threat to the UGA campus related to this
matter.”

Riley’s body was found Thursday afternoon after a friend told police
she had not returned from a morning run, authorities said. She was
unconscious and had “visible injuries” when officers found her, the University of Georgia Police Department said.

Officials have classified the death as a homicide and said they were
checking security cameras and advising students to travel in groups
and avoid the wooded area where her body was found. Friday, police
had set up a mobile command post at an apartment complex just south
of the wooded area, with more than a dozen officers present. At one
point, officers searched a dumpster at a gas station across the
street.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County
Police Department joined the university police department in the
investigation.

Riley had studied at the University of Georgia through the spring of
2023 before transferring to Augusta University’s College of Nursing, according to a statement from the University of Georgia, which does
not have a nursing program itself. She remained active in the
sorority she had joined at the University of Georgia.

Riley graduated in 2020 from River Ridge High School in Woodstock, a
suburb northwest of Atlanta, where she ran cross country.

“Our community and our world lost a shining light with the tragic
passing of Laken,” Cherokee County schools Superintendent Brian
Hightower said in a statement. “An outstanding scholar athlete,
Laken inspired classmates and teachers with her love of learning and
her kindness to all. We ask that the community please keep her
family in their hearts.”

The University of Georgia Police Department on Thursday at
approximately 12:07 p.m. “received a call from a friend of Laken’s
who was concerned that she had gone to run at the intramural fields
earlier in the morning and had not returned as expected,” a police
statement said.

Officers immediately began a search and found her body in a forested
area near Lake Herrick that includes trails popular with runners and
walkers. Emergency medical responders determined she had died before
officers found her.

The area is close to the University of Georgia’s intramural fields,
and only a little farther from a large dormitory complex mostly
occupied by freshmen. The University of Georgia has 41,000 students,
mostly in Athens, dominating Athens-Clarke County, which has about
129,000 residents in the consolidated city-county.

The University of Georgia canceled classes Friday. Augusta
University canceled classes at its Athens campus but said it would
remain open as a gathering place for students, faculty and staff.
However, the Augusta University campus in a strip mall appeared
largely deserted Friday afternoon, with an employee saying reporters
were not being allowed inside.

Freshman business major Paige Soskel was having coffee Friday with
fellow freshman Julia Lambert in downtown Athens, where some people
were out enjoying sunny weather.

Soskel said she was stunned that Riley was killed during the day.

“It was kind of just surreal to think that we have friends in the
sorority that she was in. And just to think that it’s somebody that
people we know actually know is just scary — that it could be
anyone.”

She said she already tries to let others know where she is,
including using an online tracking service. But now she’s
considering further precautions. Her father sent her pepper spray,
she said.

Nate Stein, who graduated in December with a biomedical engineering
degree said he’s likely to be “on edge for a little bit.” His
roommate is a frequent runner and they often go to the area around
the lake for exercise, he said.

“I used to walk there every morning too and I mean, it just feels
like a very safe space,” Stein said “It’s on campus so, like I said,
it doesn’t really feel like it would ever be unsafe at all.”

Students at the university were already shaken after a male student
was found dead in his dorm room Wednesday and an armed robbery took
place in the center of campus on the night of Feb. 16. University of
Georgia police said Thursday there was no reason to believe the
incidents were connected to Riley’s death.

Murder is relatively rare in Athens, with the city averaging 6
murders per year, a murder rate that’s about half Georgia’s
statewide average. But Athens-Clarke crime statistics show other
types of crime with rates above Georgia’s statewide average,
including aggravated assault, burglary, rape and motor vehicle
theft.

The University of Georgia has grown steadily, creating housing and gentrification pressures in a city where many nonstudent residents
are less affluent. The university, in the meantime, has grown more
elite as the state’s population has swelled. Georgia has a lottery-
funded scholarship program that pays the full cost of tuition for
more than 80% of University of Georgia students, making it an
attractive destination for top in-state students.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/ap-us-news/ap-a-woman-was- found-dead-on-the-university-of-georgia-campus-after-she-failed-to- return-from-a-run/

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