The story was published and shared on the Post’s social media with the headline “Man charged with murdering Laken Riley likely panicked when she fought back”; it appears that it has since been changed, likely due to the controversy. Many readers felt the piece tried to “humanize” the 26-year-old Venezuelan, Jose Antonio Ibarra, who came to the U.S. through the border in El Paso, Texas in September 2022 and was paroled by the Biden administration.
The author of the story, Yaron Steinbuch, is an Israeli native who has been with the Post for eight years. In the article, a former criminal profiler for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, John Lang Jr., is quoted as saying that the killer was probably taken by surprise that the 22-year-old nursing student fought back when he grabbed her during a run on the University of Georgia campus and that’s why he killed her.
“In this case, the offender was met with resistance which he wasn’t expecting, and it got overpowering and he couldn’t control it and he resorted to violence,” he said.
During the attack, Ibarra reportedly stopped Riley from calling 911 for help, attacking her violently and then dragging her body into a secluded area.
Lang, who is not involved in the case, said: “But he didn’t know what he was in for and I suspect she probably fought back. He’s not a very big fellow and he may have been overwhelmed by her size and her strengths and tenacity to fight back.”
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Ibarra, who is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, already had a rap sheet, with a previous arrest in New York City on child endangerment charges. His case was dismissed and the records are sealed, however. He was also charged with shoplifting in Georgia.
After Riley's murder, he was booked into Clarke County Jail and has been charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping, concealing the death of another, hindering a 911 call and false imprisonment. Affidavits indicate some of his charges stem from “seriously disfiguring her body… by disfiguring her skull.”
Washington, D.C. Young Republicans National Committeewoman Kingsley Wilson called out the New York Post on X, writing: "Journos are trying to humanize the animal who murdered Laken Riley. 'He likely panicked and bashed in her skull' is a real quote from this article. You don't hate the media enough."
Several mainstream media outlets are twisting the story to take the focus off Riley's illegal immigrant murderer
It isn’t just the New York Post that is painting this story in the wrong light. Several news outlets are using the story as an excuse to call out people who are criticizing her killer and the immigration policies that helped him stay in the country. CNN Opinion Columnist Paul Reyes wrote an article entitled: "Laken Riley deserves justice - not to be exploited as a symbol of xenophobia or hate."
In the piece, he argued: "Any narrative that portrays undocumented immigrants generally as violent criminals is harmful and inaccurate."
Crime statistics, however, tell a different story, with violent crimes carried out by illegal immigrants rising considerably in the past few months.
Other stories in the press have glossed over the identity of her killer, with some simply saying it was a man she didn’t know and conveniently omitting the fact that he was an illegal immigrant. Others have focused their stories on how dangerous it is for women to go running, another angle that seems to imply that what happened is the victim’s fault.
The idea that this innocent murder victim is somehow responsible for her own death because she went jogging alone or because she tried to defend herself from a brutal murderer is absolutely abhorrent. The mainstream media has a lot to be ashamed of, but this type of desperate victim-blaming to avoid drawing attention to the real issue of criminals taking advantage of open borders and making America unsafe is a new low.
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