Laken Riley: A final goodbye
GEORGIA (WJBF) – Funeral services for Laken Riley are scheduled for today, March 1st, in her hometown of Woodstock, Georgia.
Visitation begins at noon at Woodstock City Church, followed by funeral services at 2:00 pm.
The 22-year-old nursing student was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia campus on February 22nd.
Laken was well loved by her peers at the Augusta University College of Nursing in Athens.
University of Georgia students gather to pay tribute to Laken Riley at the Tate Plaza on campus in Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University’s Athens campus, was found dead Thursday, Feb. 22, after a roommate reported she didn’t return from a morning run in a wooded area of the UGA campus near its intramural fields. Students also gathered to pay tribute to a UGA student who committed suicide last week. (Nell Carroll/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Augusta University students, in blue, and University of Georgia students gather at the Tate Plaza on the UGA campus in Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, to pay tribute to Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University’s Athens campus who was found dead Thursday, Feb. 22, after a roommate reported she didn’t return from a morning run in a wooded area of the UGA campus near its intramural fields. UGA students also gathered to pay tribute to a student who committed suicide last week. (Nell Carroll/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) People gather at the Tate Plaza on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, to pay tribute to Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University’s Athens campus who was found dead Thursday, Feb. 22, after a roommate reported she didn’t return from a morning run in a wooded area of the UGA campus near its intramural fields. Panhellenic President Dabney Duncan hugs Alpha Chi Omega President Chloe Mullis after she spoke about what Riley meant to the sorority. People also gathered to pay tribute to a UGA student who committed suicide last week. (Nell Carroll/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Students gather at the Tate Plaza on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, to pay tribute to Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University’s Athens campus who was found dead Thursday, Feb. 22, after a roommate reported she didn’t return from a morning run in a wooded area of the UGA campus near its intramural fields. UGA students also gathered to pay tribute to a student who committed suicide last week. (Nell Carroll/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
In addition to her parents, Riley is survived by her stepfather, two sisters and a brother. One of her siblings, Lauren Phillips, posted on social media that Riley was “the best sister and my built in best friend from the very first second.”
“This isn’t fair and I will never understand it but I know you are in heaven,” Phillips wrote on Instagram following her sister’s death. She added, “I’m not sure how I’m going to do this but it’s all going to be for you from now on. I cannot wait to give you the biggest hug someday.”
26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra has been arrested and charged in her death.
The read Laken Riley’s obituary, click here
The Associated Press Contributed to the report.
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