By Raul Castillo
Feb 26, 2024, 2:24 PM EST
The wife of José Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan suspected of murdering Georgia student Laken Riley, broke her silence about the man, saying “he was not aggressive.”
Layling Franco, also from Venezuela and 23 years old, told the New York Post that they both entered the United States irregularly through El Paso, accompanied by their 5-year-old son.
In El Paso, Franco explained to the media, they lasted five days before traveling to New York on September 15. Ibarra posted smiling, carefree photos of himself on social media in Times Square and Rockefeller Center, The Post reported.
“We got married so we could unite our asylum cases,” he told the outlet. “He was the person I thought I could get over. “We have known each other all our lives.”
The woman said Ibarra was a quiet person and that he left New York because he wanted to get a better job in Georgia.
When they separated in November, he left for Georgia to live with his brother Diego, who was also arrested for presenting a fake green card when officers approached him because of his resemblance to the suspect.
“calm” man
Franco told the Post that the charges do not reflect the quiet man she knew and that she would like the opportunity to speak with him.
“He wasn’t aggressive, nothing like that,” he told the outlet. “We had problems as a couple, but our problems were not physical. “We didn’t hit, but we raised our voices.” “I want to speak with [José]”he added. “I have a lot of faith that it wasn’t him, that there was a misunderstanding somewhere.”
However, the woman made it clear that if the accusations are true, she should “pay for what she did.” Franco is not charged with any crime in connection with the case.
He commented that now he sees crime news “everywhere.”
He had been arrested in NY
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported Sunday that Ibarra, 26, entered the United States illegally in 2022 and had previously been arrested in New York.
The Venezuelan citizen had been arrested by the New York Police Department on September 14, 2023, and “accused of acting in a manner to injure a child under 17 years of age and a motor vehicle license violation” according to the agency. .
Ibarra had been released by the NYPD before ICE could issue a detention order, Fox News Digital reported.
Keep reading:
- Laken Riley: 7 keys to the murder of a student on the University of Georgia campus
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