The black-and-white photo shows a grinning big sister holding a happy baby — Laken Riley and her younger sister Lauren.
Lauren posted the photo Friday with the caption, “the best sister and my built in best friend from the very first second.” It’s just one of several heartfelt posts starting to pour in on social media to pay tribute to Laken Riley, 22, a nursing student from Woodstock whose body was found Thursday on the campus of the University of Georgia.
The post went up several hours before UGA announced the arrest of Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, charged with murder in Laken Riley’s death. Police called it “a crime of opportunity.”
“This isn’t fair and I will never understand it,” the Instagram post read. “I’m not sure how I’m going to do this but it’s all going to be for you from now on.”
Laken Riley was a junior and dean’s list student in Augusta University’s College of Nursing, where she took classes at the program’s Athens campus. Before joining the nursing school, she was enrolled at UGA until spring 2023.
She graduated in 2020 from River Ridge High School in Woodstock in metro Atlanta, where she was a member of the track team.
The nursing college also posted a tribute to Riley. The post praised her “compassion and care” that led her to pursue a career in helping others.
“We know that she would have been a wonderful nurse, and her passing is a loss for the profession and the communities she would have graciously served,” the post said.
The post closed with lines from “The Nightingale Tribute,” a poem recited to honor nurses during funeral services.
The UGA chapter of Alpha Chi Omega, Riley’s sorority, addressed the loss to their sisterhood in an Instagram story. The sorority thanked those who had shown an “outpouring of love and support” and asked for everyone to respect the privacy of her grieving loved ones.
Credit: screenshot
Credit: screenshot
UGA’s Student Care & Outreach team also used social media to offer services. In a video, students were reminded that “everyone is different and that whatever you are feeling and needing today is totally OK.”
Students can talk to a licensed therapist or gather with friends and classmates in campus engagement opportunities.
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