A former roommate of Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan migrant accused of brutally murdering University of Georgia student Laken Riley, implied in court Monday that the pair wound up in Athens, Ga., where the slaying took place, thanks to a “humanitarian flight” out of New York City.
Rosebeli Flores-Bello, who said she lived with Laken’s accused killer and two other men in an apartment in Athens, suggested through an interpreter that she, Ibarra and an unknown number of others traveled to the Peach State after requesting the flight from the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which had been established as a temporary residence site for migrants arriving in the Big Apple.
New York City set up a so-called “reticketing center” in October 2023 which provided migrants with one-way plane tickets anywhere in the world in an effort to relieve pressure on city services which were inundated by the arrival of more than 130,000 asylum seekers. It was not immediately clear if Ibarra acquired his ticket through the program.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
