AU student’s slaying sends shockwaves from Athens to CSRA

AUGUSTA, Ga. - A death 100 miles away sent ripples across the CSRA as we learned a woman found dead in Athens was a nursing student of Augusta University.

The victim of Thursday’s slaying was identified as 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley, a junior who was on the dean’s list at AU’s College of Nursing campus in Athens.

Police said they had a suspect in custody shortly after 5 p.m. Friday.

“The College of Nursing will miss Laken’s spirit on campus, and our hearts go out to her family and friends,” the AU College of Nursing said in a condolence message. “We know that she would have been a wonderful nurse, and her ing is a loss for the profession and the communities she would have graciously served.”

Riley was found Thursday in a wooded area near Lake Herrick after a worried friend reported she hadn’t returned from a run. Riley was suffering “visible injuries,” UGA Police Chief Jeffery Clark said, and officers tried to give emergency aid, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

When the death was reported on the University of Georgia campus, many assumed the victim was a UGA student.

But then AU s had to deliver the news they feared on Thursday night.

“It is with deepest sorrow that I share with you the news that one of our students at our College of Nursing campus at Athens has ed away,” AU President Brooks Keel said in a statement. “Police have said they suspect foul play. The receipt of this news this afternoon was shocking to all of us.”

The school immediately wanted to make sure students and employees had the they needed to cope with the news.

The university let everyone know that 24/7 emergency counseling assistance was available to all students and employees at 833-910-3364.

For AU College of Nursing students, faculty and staff in Athens, counselors were on site starting at 8 a.m. Friday.

This despite the fact that classes were canceled because of the death.

“The campus will remain open as a gathering place for students, faculty and staff to receive care and counseling as needed,” the school said.

On Friday morning, more details emerged about the death as Riley’s name was released.

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“We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Laken Riley, a junior and Dean’s List student who studied at our campus in Athens,” Keel said in a new statement.

“This sudden loss of one of our students is truly heartbreaking,” he said.

As far as solving the case, UGA police vow to leave no stone unturned.

“This is a tragic day,” UGA Police Chief Jeffery Clark said Thursday evening. “My investigators will be working this case day and night, and they will look at every camera that we have.”

What we know

• On Thursday, a person called UGA police around noon after their friend didn’t return from a morning run at the school’s intramural fields. Police found Riley’s body in a wooded area behind Lake Herrick with “visible injuries,” and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
• The coroner’s office has identified the victim as 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley. Augusta University said she was one of its students at the school’s College of Nursing campus in Athens.
• Foul play is suspected, police said.
• The death is the first homicide on campus in decades, UGA Police Chief Jeffery Clark said.
• All classes at UGA were canceled until Monday. The Augusta University College of Nursing also canceled classes on Friday.
• Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call 706-542-2200.

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