Georgia nursing student Laken Riley's stepdad offered emotional testimony, reading aloud one of her final diary entries addressed to her "future husband" Wednesday during her killer's sentencing hearing.
"To my future husband: I want you to know that I'm thinking about you. I'm working every day to become the best wife I can be – working through my current relationships to best prepare me for ours and our kids one day," Riley's stepfather, John Phillips, told the court while delivering his victim impact statement. "I'm focusing on God and what He defines as a faithful Christian life, and so that I can best embody those characteristics. I pray that you know that is with my full faith and trust in God that I know this relationship has been handcrafted by him. I pray that we continue to glorify the Lord, prioritize him in every aspect of our lives, and raise our future family, and be God fearing Christians, as well, and pray God is the center of our relationship as it is a gift from him."
"I thank him for you before I even know you," he continued.
"We can't wait to love you in the best way I know how for the rest of our lives. I pray you know and feel the importance of my love and hopes for our relationship, no matter what challenges we face, I pray that our trust in God and love for one another overrules the obstacle. May our relationship last forever. Your future wife, Laken."
Following a four-day trial, Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was found guilty of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing a person making an emergency call, tampering with evidence and peeping Tom, according to CNN.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Laken, 22, was a student at the Augusta University College of Nursing when she disappeared during a jog Feb. 22. She was later found dead as a result of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation, but she fought for her life.
"She did fight. And it is a direct result of that fight that gives you all the physical evidence you need to convict him," Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during closing arguments Tuesday, explaining DNA evidence found underneath Laken's fingernails tied Ibarra to her murder, CNN reported.
"The evidence in this case has spoken loud and clear that he is Laken Riley's killer and that he killed her because she would not let him rape her."
