The body of a 22-year-old woman was found in a wooded area at the University of Georgia in Athens on Thursday, sending shock waves through Clarke County, a community about 70 miles east of Atlanta.

When authorities revealed that the man charged with the killing was an immigrant from Venezuela, the crime became a political flashpoint.

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The victim, Laken Riley, was a nursing student at nearby Augusta University. On Friday, Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged with her killing. The two did not know each other, authorities said.

Many questions remain about the killing, which was believed to be the first in nearly 30 years on the campus. Here’s what we know.

— The Victim

Riley was once a student at the University of Georgia.

Riley was an undergraduate student at the school until the spring of 2023. After that, she enrolled in Augusta University’s nursing program, which has a campus in Athens, school officials said. She was on Augusta University’s fall 2023 dean’s list.

In posts on Instagram, Riley’s friends described her as a great friend, student and roommate, who loved running, dancing and singing, and who had an infectious laugh.

Bianca Tiller, Riley’s freshman-year roommate, said Riley “lit up every room she walked into and brought a smile on everyone’s face.”

Riley was also an experienced runner. She attended high school in Cherokee County and was on River Ridge High School’s cross-country team. She participated in the Georgia High School Association State Cross-Country Final several times, her former coach, Keith Hooper, said in a statement, adding that Riley “was an unselfish individual.”

— The Suspect

Ibarra lived in Athens and was from Venezuela.

Ibarra lived in an apartment complex about 1 mile from the wooded trail where the body of Riley was found, said Jeffrey Clark, the chief of university police.

Ibarra migrated to the United States from Venezuela, authorities said. He was arrested by the Border Patrol for crossing the border illegally in September 2022 and was released quickly with temporary permission to stay in the country, according to federal officials.

That release, or parole, was a practice the administration used when officials were overwhelmed with high numbers of crossings. It ended that practice about six months later.

It appears that Ibarra also spent some time in New York City. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was arrested by the New York Police Department in August, and then released. A law enforcement official in New York said Ibarra had been driving a scooter without a license and with a child who was not wearing a helmet.

Ibarra was denied bond at a hearing Saturday and remained in jail, authorities said.

— The Killing

Riley went missing after going for a run.

Shortly after noon Thursday, a friend reported to campus police that Riley was missing after she did not return from a run near the university’s intramural fields, university police said.

At 12:38 p.m., officers found her body in a patch of forest near a lake. Riley “was unconscious and not breathing” and had “visible injuries,” police said.

Clark said Friday that she had died of “blunt force trauma.”

According to arrest affidavits filed at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Ibarra has been accused of using an object to attack Riley, and of dragging her body to a secluded area.

The charges against Ibarra include murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another, Clark said. Asked about a motive, he said, “This was just a crime of opportunity.”

Ibarra appeared to have acted alone, authorities said.

— The Politics

The killing has inflamed disputes over immigration policy.

Many conservative politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, an Athens native, have linked the killing to the immigration policies of President Joe Biden. They contend the policies have overwhelmed the country with more migrants than the system can handle.

In a social media post, former President Donald Trump called Ibarra a “monster,” and blamed Biden for an “invasion” that is “killing our citizens.”

Such statements have struck many liberals as demagogic rhetoric. Kelly Girtz, the Democratic mayor of Athens-Clarke County, said that the conversation should be focused on mourning the victim, and on blaming an individual rather than a group.

“This murder was a violent, heinous act,” he said, “and it rests squarely on the shoulders of the perpetrator.”

More than 6 million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country over the past decade, the largest population displacement in Latin America’s modern history.

At the apartment complex listed as the address for Ibarra, one resident, Manuel Alcides, 26, said that many Venezuelan migrants were living in the building. Alcides, who is also from Venezuela, said he did not know Ibarra.

“It’s a danger for our community because society will look at this error and think the rest of us could be a threat,” Alcides said. “But we’re not all the same.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.