The murder trial of the man accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley while she was out for a morning run on the University of Georgia campus got underway on Friday morning.

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.

The case was swept up in the debate over immigration after investigators said the perpetrator was a migrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.

A man on trial for the murder of Laken Riley was out “hunting for females” on the University of Georgia campus when he came across the 22-year-old on her morning jog and killed her, a court heard on Friday.