In the nine months since Laken Riley was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia, her death turned into a lightning rod over crime and illegal immigration and cast an ominous shadow over the college town of Athens.

Prosecutors claim Jose Ibarra, 26, attacked the Augusta University nursing student, hitting her head and asphyxiating her with the plan to sexually assault her.

A trial is set to get underway for a man accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, in a case that fanned the immigration debate in the last election cycle