ATHENS, Ga. — A heartbreaking twist in the Laken Riley case surfaced in court Tuesday when it was revealed that the slain coed’s mom missed her daughter’s final text and phone call.
“Good morning, about to go for a run. Are you free to talk?” the Georgia nursing student texted her mother at 8:55 a.m. Feb. 22 — before then trying her mom by phone less than 10 minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., when she didn’t hear back.
Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, missed the call — which was made 7 minutes before the 22-year-old was attacked.
Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips (here with her daughter), missed a final phone call from the coed. Allyson Phillips/facebookRight after Riley’s last call to her mother, her phone locked — and it wouldn’t be unlocked again until authorities did so after retrieving it from the slaying scene.
The unsuspecting mom didn’t end up responding to her daughter’s text until 9:37 a.m. — roughly 9 minutes after Riley died in the horrific sex attack gone awry, allegedly at the hands of Jose Ibarra, an illegal migrant linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.
“Call me when you can,’’ Phillips casually texted Riley.
When Phillips didn’t hear back from Riley, she started firing off a slew of texts and phone calls to her daughter over the next three hours — and enlisted some family members to do so, too — showing she was growing alarmed.
Riley’s last “good morning” text to her mom, read aloud in court Tuesday, was, “Are you free to talk?” The National DeskThe mom called her daughter at 9:24 a.m., as Riley lay dying in the woods.
When Riley didn’t pick up the call, Phillips texted her daughter at 9:57 a.m. saying: “You are making me nervous not answering while you are out running. Hope you are OK.”
The increasingly frantic mom phoned her daughter five more times, to no avail.
Illegal migrant Jose Ibarra allegedly murdered Riley. The National Desk
The unsuspecting mom didn’t end up responding to her daughter’s text till 9:37 a.m. — roughly 9 minutes after Riley died in the horrific sex attack gone awry. APAt 11:57 a.m., Phillips texted her daughter, “Please call me. I am worried sick about you.’’
Riley’s sister and stepdad also separately called the college student without getting an answer.
Cops found Riley’s lifeless body just before 1 p.m. near the running trail where she went for her morning jog.
Security video shows images of Riley running on the day her body was found in the area. Robin Rayne for NY Post
A trail camera reveals a man whom prosecutors say is Jose Ibarra the morning of the murder.
The mom sobbed at Ibarra’s murder trial in the Athens, Ga., courtroom Tuesday as a local police sergeant read her and her daughter’s final texts to each other out loud from the stand.
The mom put her hands over her eyes at one point as Riley’s aunt comforted her in the courtroom gallery.
The emotional testimony occurred before Ibarra chillingly spoke for the first time in court, telling the judge in a low voice that he would not testify in his own defense.
The prosecution had just rested its case, and the judge informed Ibarra about his right to testify and asked him if he planned to.
“No,’’ the migrant said, also shaking his head back and forth.
Previously Tuesday, surveillance footage also was shown of Riley running on a trail moments before Ibarra allegedly attacked and killed her.
The footage was from 9:05 a.m., just minutes before he allegedly pounced.
Other video shown in court allegely caught Ibarra stalking outside another woman’s apartment on and off for roughly an hour before Riley was murdered.
In addition to murder charges, Ibarra also faces a Peeping Tom rap related to his attempts to get into the lady’s apartment.
