Classes canceled at UGA after nursing student found dead after going for run on campus, school says
ATHENS, Ga. — An Augusta University nursing student was found dead “with visible injuries” near the University of Georgia Intramural Fields on Thursday afternoon. The university said that foul play is suspected.
UGA Police received a call just around noon from a concerned friend of an individual who had gone for a run at the Intramural Fields, which is on the UGA campus.
Officers then responded to the area at 12:38 p.m. and immediately began searching for her 20 minutes after they received the call.
UGA Police then found the woman dead behind Lake Herrick in the forested area on campus, which is not too far from the intramural fields.
Augusta University confirmed the news Thursday night that the woman found dead was one of their students. “The receipt of his news this afternoon was shocking to all of us,” a school spokesperson said in a statement.
In an update, the Athens Clarke County Coroner’s Office identified the woman as 22-year-old Laken Riley.
11Alive was told that Riley was in a partnership program that allows students to participate in UGA campus life and activities.
In a Thursday night update, UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark said they do not have a suspect involved at this time.
In remarking just how rare this is, Clark said this would be the first homicide investigation that has happened on the campus of UGA in at least the last 20 years. However, the cause of death for the woman has not yet been released.
Police said there is not any immediate danger to the area, but potential danger in general as an apparent suspect is still out there.
Clark said he urges the public to avoid the area while the investigation is ongoing and, if anyone has information, to contact UGA Police.
11Alive’s Cody Alcorn said that the E01 UGA parking deck, the lot to the campus’ intramural fields, was closed down and blue lights were seen in the parking deck. It appeared that police officers were searching cars in the garage and the woods behind the garage as they searched for a potential suspect.
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