Slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley “fought for her life” for a staggering 18 minutes before her skull was crushed by an illegal migrant, prosecutors said Friday — as opening statements got underway for the shocking murder case that was a cornerstone of the presidential election.

The man accused of killing a nursing student in Georgia earlier this year "went out hunting for females" on the day Laken Riley was killed, prosecutors told a judge Friday on the first day of Jose Antonio Ibarra's murder trial.

Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally two years ago, is charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s February killing.