According to ABC News, police identified Bryan Christopher Kohberger as the defendant accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November using DNA from public genealogical databases. Through his vehicle, local police and the FBI tracked him to Pennsylvania.
Prior to the arrest, the FBI conducted a four-day surveillance of the residence in the Pocono Mountains. The 28-year-old was arrested on Friday morning for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin.
Idaho murders: A 28-year-old Ph.D. graduate student was apprehended in Pennsylvania. Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University, which is fewer than 10 miles from the University of Idaho, according to Moscow Police Chief James Fry at a news conference on Friday.
According to the chief, the murder weapon has not been recovered. According to Jason LaBar, Kohberger’s public defender in Pennsylvania, Bryan and his father Michael were stopped twice in Indiana while traveling from Pullman, Washington, to the Poconos, “roughly an hour apart, once for speeding, once for tailgating.”
They were on their pre-planned end-of-semester cross-country road trip when they arrived at the family house on December 13, 2022, one month after the killings. They arrived in a white Elantra that is currently being processed by officials.
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Bryan Kohberger is shown in this photo given by the Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility. Pennsylvania State Police filed arrest paperwork in Monroe County Court on December 30, 2022, according to Kohlberg… View more images of Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility through AP.
Kohberger is a Ph.D. student in the department of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University. He finished his first semester in the university’s criminal justice department earlier this month, according to the university.
Fry added that within an hour of Kohberger being identified as the suspect, the Moscow Police Department’s tip line received over 400 calls. Kohberger is scheduled to appear in Monroe County Court on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.
It is also the initial step toward his extradition to Idaho, where he will appear again. No additional arrests are likely in Idaho murders, according to the chief: ‘We feel we have our guy.’ The suspect’s attorney, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, previously stated that Kohberger “intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho” and that he “is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as soon as possible.”
Police have stated that they will not release any information, including a motive or how they located Kohberger until he returns to Idaho. Many facts of the case remain unknown, such as a possible motive for the murders and how Kohberger knew the victims.
Authorities revealed earlier this month that they were hunting for the driver of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra seen near the victims’ home around the time of the murder. When asked if the car had been recovered at Friday’s news conference, the chief said, “We have found an Elantra.”
Fry later told ABC News on Saturday that authorities believe Kohberger is the only suspect in the high-profile case. “We believe we have our person, the one who did these killings,” he added, adding that no additional arrests are expected.
Kohberger previously attended DeSales University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and will complete his graduate studies in June 2022. “This horrible tragedy has wounded us as a Catholic, Salesian community. During this tragic moment, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families “Following his arrest, the institution issued a statement.