The authorities arrested 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a suspect in the deaths of four University of Idaho students, on Friday.The arrest marks a breakthrough in a case that initially bewildered investigators, who took weeks to locate a murder weapon or reach out to the public for help.
The four students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found dead at an off-campus home, after police responded to reports of an unconscious person, on Sunday, Nov. 13.
Kohberger has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in connection with the killings of the four students.During a Friday press conference, the authorities reiterated that they would remain tight-lipped on what information could be shared with the public as the investigation continued
Suspect in killings of Idaho college students arrested in Pennsylvania; authorities mum on motive.
The man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last month has been arrested and will be extradited from Pennsylvania to face charges, police said.
In a news conference in Moscow, Idaho, on Friday, authorities said Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was taken into custody late Thursday.
The unsettling late-night attack inside a rental home left college students and the community on edge for more than a month as investigators worked on the case. Authorities have not released a possible motive in the Nov.
13 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle.
Authorities said he is scheduled to be in court Tuesday to attend an extradition hearing in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, with a public defender, which could shed more light on the case and the timing of his return to the state.
"These tragic murders took four young, vibrant lives from our community. Nothing we do can bring them back," said Idaho State Police Colonel Kedrick Wills. "The only thing that we can do in law enforcement to honor their memories, that we know of, is to bring this to a successful conclusion."
Two other roommates inside the home slept through the attack, police said.
Goncalves' family issued a statement through their lawyer, Shanon Gray: “The family is relieved that the authorities have someone in custody and now the journey through the criminal justice system begins.”
Suspect a graduate student at Washington State University
Authorities said Kohberger was a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington.
Ben Roberts, a fellow graduate student in the department at WSU, described Kohberger as confident and outgoing, but said it seemed like “he was always looking for a way to fit in.”It’s pretty out of left field,” he said of the news of his arrest. “I had honestly just pegged him as being super awkward.”
Roberts started the program in August — along with Kohberger, he said — and had several courses with him. He described Kohberger as wanting to appear academic.
Authorities began tracking the man charged in the killings of four Idaho college students as he drove across the country around Christmas and continued surveilling him for several days before finally arresting him Friday, sources tell CNN.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in his home state of Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, as well as felony burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November, according to Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson.
In the nearly seven weeks since the students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home, investigators have conducted more than 300 interviews and scoured approximately 20,000 tips in their search for the suspect.
News of the killings -- and the long stretch of time without a suspect or significant developments -- have rattled the University of Idaho community and the surrounding town of Moscow, which had not seen a murder in seven years.
Investigators honed inon Kohberger as the suspect through DNA evidence and by confirming his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.
Kohberger, who authorities say lived just minutes from the scene of the killings, is a PhD student in Washington State University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed.
