- Rex Heuermann’s client reveals ‘chilling’ comments about Gilgo Beach serial killings The Independent
- Neighbor says he confronted suspected Gilgo Beach killer for leering over fence at his wife as she sunbathed Fox News
- ‘They were disgusted. They were embarrassed’: Police commissioner tells CNN about Gilgo Beach suspect’s family CNN
- In Gilgo Beach Case, a Wife Nearby but Apparently Unknowing The New York Times
- Wife’s DNA ‘bad fact’ for defense, says analyst on Gilgo Beach killings WFLA
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Tag Archives: killings
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- Gilgo Beach murders: Victim’s phone used to ‘taunt’ family | LiveNOW from FOX LiveNOW from FOX
- Creepy voicemail left by accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann revealed by designer: ‘I had a question for you’ New York Post
- ‘The day has finally come’: Years in the making, evidence leads investigators to Rex Heuermann CNN
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Texas shooting – latest: Manhunt for Francisco Oropesa widens as reward reaches $80k over five killings – The Independent
- Texas shooting – latest: Manhunt for Francisco Oropesa widens as reward reaches $80k over five killings The Independent
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3 takeaways from ‘Dateline’ & ’20/20’ specials on the University of Idaho killings – Idaho Statesman
- 3 takeaways from ‘Dateline’ & ’20/20’ specials on the University of Idaho killings Idaho Statesman
- NYT reporter pored through 10 years of Idaho killings suspect’s internet posts. See what he found CNN
- How internet sleuths posting viral, misleading Idaho murders theories are posing safety concerns WLS-TV
- Dateline & 20/20 to air specials tonight on Moscow homicides. Here’s when, where to watch Idaho Statesman
- ”Horror in Idaho: The Student Murders’; ABC 20/20 Special takes a look at the case ABC11
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Idaho murders: Suspect in student killings was seen multiple times wearing gloves, also placing garbage bags outside Pennsylvania home, source says
CNN
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The man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November had thoroughly cleaned the interior and exterior of his car and was also seen wearing surgical gloves multiple times before being apprehended, a law enforcement source tells CNN.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is currently the sole suspect in the gruesome stabbings of students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, who were found dead inside their off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13.
Kohberger, who was pursuing a PhD in criminal justice at Washington State University at the time of the killings, “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the law enforcement source.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was briefed on observations made by investigators during four days of surveillance leading up to Kohberger’s arrest at his family’s Pennsylvania home on December 30.
As Kohberger now remains behind bars in Idaho awaiting his January 12 status hearing, new details have emerged elucidating some of the suspect’s movements in the days leading up to his arrest.
A surveillance team assigned to Kohberger was tasked with two missions, according to multiple law enforcement sources: keep eyes on Kohberger so they could arrest him as soon as a warrant was issued, and try to obtain an object that would yield a DNA sample from Kohberger, which could then be compared to DNA evidence found at the crime scene.
Kohberger was seen multiple times outside the Pennsylvania home wearing surgical gloves, according to the law enforcement source.
In one instance prior to Kohberger’s arrest, authorities observed him leaving his family home around 4 a.m. and putting trash bags in the neighbors’ garbage bins, according to the source. At that point, agents recovered garbage from the Kohberger family’s trash bins and what was observed being placed into the neighbors’ bins, the source said.
The recovered items were sent to the Idaho State Lab, per the source.
Last Friday, a Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team then moved in on the Kohberger family home, breaking down the door and windows in what is known as a “dynamic entry” – a tactic used in rare cases to arrest “high risk” suspects, the source added.
On Thursday, Kohberger had his initial court appearance in Idaho after he was booked into the Latah County jail Wednesday night following his extradition from Pennsylvania.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. He did not enter a plea at the hearing.
Authorities spent nearly two months investigating before they were able to name publicly a suspect, a task that grabbed national attention and rattled the victims’ loved ones as well as the community – which had not recorded a murder in years.
Still, the public’s view of the case remains mired with questions. As of late Thursday, it remains unclear what motivated the killings. It’s also unclear how the suspect entered the house after authorities said there was no sign of forced entry or why two roommates who were inside the residence at the time of the killings survived the attacks.
Here’s how investigators narrowed the search to Kohberger:
- DNA: Trash recovered from Kohberger’s family home revealed that the “DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit released Thursday. The DNA recovered from the trash “identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father” of the suspect whose DNA was found on the sheath. “At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” the affidavit said.
- Phone records: Authorities found the suspect’s phone was near the victims’ Moscow, Idaho, home at least a dozen times between June 2022 to the present day, according to the affidavit. The records also reveal Kohberger’s phone was near the crime scene hours after the murders that morning between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m, the document says. The killings were not reported to authorities until just before noon.
- A white sedan: A Hyundai Elantra was seen near the victims’ home around the time of their killings. Officers at Washington State University identified a white Elantra and later learned it was registered to Kohberger. The same car was also found at the suspect’s Pennsylvania family home when he was arrested last Friday. The suspect’s university is about a 10-minute drive from the Idaho crime scene.
One of two roommates who were not harmed in the attacks said she saw a masked man dressed in black inside the house on the morning of the killings, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Identified as D.M. in the court document, the roommate said she “heard crying” in the house that morning and also heard a man’s voice say, ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you.’” D.M. said she then saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” the affidavit continued.
“D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10” or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit says. “The male walked past D.M. as she stood in a ‘frozen shock phase.’
“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” the document says, adding the roommate did not recognize the male.
Idaho killings suspect Bryan Kohberger waives extradition from Pennsylvania
CNN
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The suspect in the November slaying of four University of Idaho students waived extradition from his home state of Pennsylvania to face murder charges in the state of Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger arrived at Pennsylvania’s Monroe County Courthouse Tuesday by prison transport van, cuffed and in a prison jumpsuit, and was escorted to the back of the courthouse by armed law enforcement.
Kohberger answered “no” when the judge asked if he had any mental health issues that would impede his ability to waive his extradition, and Kohberger’s father, also in the courtroom, shook his head “no.” The defendant signed the waiver at the defense table with shackles still around his wrist.
Judge Worthington ordered Kohberger must be handed over to the custody of Latah County District Attorney’s Office within 10 days.
Kohberger has invoked his right to be silent going forward, his state-appointed extradition attorney, Jason LaBar, said.
Tuesday’s move was expected after the attorney earlier indicated his client planned to waive extradition from his home state and called the hearing a “formality proceeding.”
All the commonwealth needed to prove is that his client resembles or is the person on the arrest warrant and that he was in the area at the time of the crimes, Monroe County Chief Public Defender LaBar told CNN’s Jean Casarez.
Kohberger did not answer reporters’ questions as he was escorted in. He made eye contact with and nodded to his family seated in the first row of the courtroom behind the defense table as officers brought him in.
Kohberger’s mother and father sat on either side of his sisters, accompanied by a representative from the public defender’s office, and when the judge told Kohberger he faces charges of murder when he returns to Idaho, his mother collapsed into his sister’s arms, both sobbing openly.
Arrangements are currently being made to transfer Kohberger to Idaho, according to state police, but no timeline has been announced.
“My heart goes out to the families of the victims, their friends, the community of Moscow and the University of Idaho,” Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Robert Evanchick said at a news conference. “No words can heal the pain associated with the loss of a child. Their young lives were ended far too soon.”
The Monroe County Correctional Facility warden informed officials that Kohberger has been a “model prisoner” who has not caused any problems during his time in detention, according to a source familiar with Kohberger’s status at the facility.
Kohberger, considered a maximum status prisoner, is being held in a cell monitored by an officer at all times.
He has been “quiet” and “followed directions,” according to the source.
Kohberger was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania, almost seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead November 13 in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger was “shocked a little bit,” LaBar told CNN a day after his client was arrested. Kohberger is presumed innocent until proven guilty, LaBar added in a statement. He “believes he’s going to be exonerated.” LaBar said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday.
Kohberger has been “very easy to talk to,” is “in a calm demeanor” and understands the proceedings, including what to expect concerning his transport to Idaho and what to expect when he gets there, LaBar said.
The 28-year-old suspect last month finished his first semester as a PhD student in the criminal justice program at Washington State University’s campus in Pullman, about a 15-minute drive west of Moscow.
He drove home to Pennsylvania for the holidays, accompanied by his father, LaBar told CNN on Saturday. The two arrived in the commonwealth around December 17.
A white Hyundai Elantra authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings was found at Kohberger’s parents’ house, LaBar confirmed.
Driving through Indiana, Kohberger was stopped twice by law enforcement on December 15 for following another vehicle too closely in the Elantra, authorities said Tuesday. The second stop was by a state trooper, who let Kohberger go with a warning.
“At the time of this stop, there was no information available on a suspect for the crime in Idaho, to include identifying information or any specific information related to the license plate state or number of the white Hyundai Elantra which was being reported in the media to have been seen in or around where the crime occurred,” Indiana State Police said. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, which had stopped him the first time, also said this in their release.
Investigators focused on Kohberger as a suspect after tracing ownership of the Elantra, which had been seen in the area of the killings, to him, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. Also, his DNA was matched to genetic material recovered at the home where the students were slain, the two sources said.
An FBI surveillance team tracked Kohberger for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to get a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Other than the DNA and the car, details such as whether Kohberger knew the victims – or a possible motive in the slayings – are not publicly known. The probable-cause affidavit, which would contain information to justify the suspect’s arrest, remains sealed until he appears in an Idaho court.
Michael Mancuso, Monroe County’s first assistant district attorney, on Tuesday posited that Kohberger waived extradition because he wants to see what is in the affidavit.
“I definitely believe that one of the main reasons the defendant chose to waive extradition and hurry his return back to Idaho was the need to know what was in those documents,” Mancuso said at a news conference.
With those details still unknown, much public interest has focused on Kohberger’s criminal justice studies.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and this year completed his Master of Arts in criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, according to a spokesperson for the university.
In a post removed from Reddit after his arrest was announced, a student investigator associated with a DeSales University study named Bryan Kohberger sought participants for a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
“In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post read.
Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry said after the arrest that the investigation of the complex, extensive case was not over.
Investigators are still searching for pieces of evidence, Fry said, including the weapon used, believed to be a fixed-blade knife.
“We developed a clear picture over time,” he said, “(but) be assured that the work is not done. This is just started.”
Kohberger is being held without bail in Pennsylvania, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said Friday. Once Kohberger is in Idaho, he is expected to make an initial appearance before a magistrate, and further hearings will be scheduled.
Idaho killings suspect Bryan Kohberger waives extradition from Pennsylvania
CNN
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The suspect in the November slaying of four University of Idaho students waived extradition from his home state of Pennsylvania to face murder charges in the state of Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger arrived at Pennsylvania’s Monroe County Courthouse Tuesday by prison transport van, cuffed and in a prison jumpsuit, and was escorted to the back of the courthouse by armed law enforcement.
Kohberger answered “no” when the judge asked if he had any mental health issues that would impede his ability to waive his extradition, and Kohberger’s father, also in the courtroom, shook his head “no.” The defendant signed the waiver at the defense table with shackles still around his wrist.
Judge Worthington ordered Kohberger must be handed over to the custody of Latah County District Attorney’s Office within 10 days.
Kohberger has invoked his right to be silent going forward, his state-appointed extradition attorney, Jason LaBar, said.
Tuesday’s move was expected after the attorney earlier indicated his client planned to waive extradition from his home state and called the hearing a “formality proceeding.”
All the commonwealth needed to prove is that his client resembles or is the person on the arrest warrant and that he was in the area at the time of the crimes, Monroe County Chief Public Defender LaBar told CNN’s Jean Casarez.
Kohberger did not answer reporters’ questions as he was escorted in. He made eye contact with and nodded to his family seated in the first row of the courtroom behind the defense table as officers brought him in.
Kohberger’s mother and father sat on either side of his sisters, accompanied by a representative from the public defender’s office, and when the judge told Kohberger he faces charges of murder when he returns to Idaho, his mother collapsed into his sister’s arms, both sobbing openly.
Arrangements are currently being made to transfer Kohberger to Idaho, according to state police, but no timeline has been announced.
“My heart goes out to the families of the victims, their friends, the community of Moscow and the University of Idaho,” Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Robert Evanchick said at a news conference. “No words can heal the pain associated with the loss of a child. Their young lives were ended far too soon.”
The Monroe County Correctional Facility warden informed officials that Kohberger has been a “model prisoner” who has not caused any problems during his time in detention, according to a source familiar with Kohberger’s status at the facility.
Kohberger, considered a maximum status prisoner, is being held in a cell monitored by an officer at all times.
He has been “quiet” and “followed directions,” according to the source.
Kohberger was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania, almost seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead November 13 in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger was “shocked a little bit,” LaBar told CNN a day after his client was arrested. Kohberger is presumed innocent until proven guilty, LaBar added in a statement. He “believes he’s going to be exonerated.” LaBar said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday.
Kohberger has been “very easy to talk to,” is “in a calm demeanor” and understands the proceedings, including what to expect concerning his transport to Idaho and what to expect when he gets there, LaBar said.
The 28-year-old suspect last month finished his first semester as a PhD student in the criminal justice program at Washington State University’s campus in Pullman, about a 15-minute drive west of Moscow.
He drove home to Pennsylvania for the holidays, accompanied by his father, LaBar told CNN on Saturday. The two arrived in the commonwealth around December 17.
A white Hyundai Elantra authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings was found at Kohberger’s parents’ house, LaBar confirmed.
Investigators focused on Kohberger as a suspect after tracing ownership of the Elantra, which had been seen in the area of the killings, to him, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. Also, his DNA was matched to genetic material recovered at the home where the students were slain, the two sources said.
An FBI surveillance team tracked Kohberger for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to get a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Other than the DNA and the car, details such as whether Kohberger knew the victims – or a possible motive in the slayings – are not publicly known. The probable-cause affidavit, which would contain information to justify the suspect’s arrest, remains sealed until he appears in an Idaho court.
With those details still unknown, much public interest has focused on Kohberger’s criminal justice studies.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and this year completed his Master of Arts in criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, according to a spokesperson for the university.
In a post removed from Reddit after his arrest was announced, a student investigator associated with a DeSales University study named Bryan Kohberger sought participants for a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
“In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post read.
Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry said after the arrest that the investigation of the complex, extensive case was not over.
Investigators are still searching for pieces of evidence, Fry said, including the weapon used, believed to be a fixed-blade knife.
“We developed a clear picture over time,” he said, “(but) be assured that the work is not done. This is just started.”
Kohberger is being held without bail in Pennsylvania, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said Friday. Once Kohberger is in Idaho, he is expected to make an initial appearance before a magistrate, and further hearings will be scheduled.
Bryan Kohberger: Suspect in the Idaho college student killings plans to waive extradition hearing, attorney says
CNN
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The suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho college students plans to waive his extradition hearing this week, his attorney said, to expedite his return to the Gem State, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger is “shocked a little bit,” Jason LaBar, the chief public defender for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, told CNN Saturday, a day after the 28-year-old’s arrest in his home state on charges related to the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. He also faces a charge of felony burglary, according to Latah County, Idaho, Prosecutor Bill Thompson.
LaBar did not discuss the murder case with the suspect when they spoke for about an hour Friday evening, the attorney said, adding that he did not possess probable cause documents related to it and is only representing Kohberger in the issue of his extradition, which the attorney called a “formality.”
“It’s a procedural issue, and really all the Commonwealth here has to prove is that he resembles or is the person who the arrest warrant is out for and that he was in the area at the time of the crime,” LaBar said.
Waiving the extradition hearing set for Tuesday was “an easy decision obviously,” LaBar said, “since he doesn’t contest that he is Bryan Kohberger.”
In a statement, LaBar stressed his client is presumed innocent until proven guilty, saying, “Mr. Kohberger is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
The arrest of the suspect – a PhD student in Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed – comes nearly seven weeks after the victims were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on November 13. Since then, investigators say they have conducted more than 300 interviews and scoured approximately 20,000 tips.
But authorities have yet to publicly confirm the suspect’s motive, or even if he knew the victims, whose deaths rattled the college community and the surrounding town of Moscow. The murder weapon has also not been located, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday.
In the weeks since the killings, some community members have grown frustrated as investigators have yet to offer a thorough narrative of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the victims’ activities leading up to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.
Fry told reporters Friday state law limits what information authorities can release before Kohberger makes an initial appearance in an Idaho court. The probable cause affidavit – which details the factual basis of Kohberger’s charges – is sealed until the suspect is physically in Latah County and has been served with the Idaho arrest warrant, Thompson said.
Investigators honed in on Kohberger as a 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. Authorities say he lived just minutes from the site of the stabbings.
He drove cross-country in a white Hyundai Elantra and arrived at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania around Christmas, according to a law enforcement source. Authorities began tracking him at some point during his trip east from Idaho.
An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case told CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to his identification as the suspect, the source said.
LaBar confirmed Kohberger, accompanied by his father, had driven from Idaho to Pennsylvania to celebrate the holidays with his family. A white Hyundai Elantra was found at his parents’ home, LaBar said, where authorities apprehended Kohberger early Friday.
LaBar was unsure how quickly his client would be returned to Idaho following his intent to waive extradition at Tuesday’s hearing, saying it would be based on authorities. But LaBar expected Kohberger to be returned to Idaho within 72 hours of the proceeding.
Bryan Kohberger Idaho student killings suspect: Authorities tracked the suspect as he drove cross-country to Pennsylvania, sources say
CNN
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Authorities carefully tracked 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.
Still, investigators have not publicly confirmed the suspect’s motive or whether he knew the victims. The murder weapon has also not been located, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday.
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 in on 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.
He drove cross-country in a white Hyundai Elantra and arrived at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania around Christmas, according to a law enforcement source. Authorities were tracking him as he drove and were also surveilling his parents’ house, the source said.
An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case tells CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to him as the suspect, the source said.
Kohberger was arraigned Friday morning in Pennsylvania and is being held without bail, records show.
Kohberger intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar said in a statement to CNN on Saturday.
“Mr. Kohberger is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible,” LaBar said.
LaBar later told CNN that the extradition hearing is a “formality proceeding.” He said all the Commonwealth needs to prove is that his client resembles or is the person on the arrest warrant and that he was in the area at the time of the crime.
LaBar said he spoke to Kohberger for around an hour Friday evening, discussing where he was at the time of the killings. “Knowing of course that it’s likely they have location data from his cell phone already putting him on the border of Washington and Idaho,” LaBar told CNN, “it was an easy decision obviously, since he doesn’t contest that he is Bryan Kohberger.”
Kohberger is “shocked a little bit,” LaBar said. “He’s doing OK. Obviously, he’s calm right now.”
LaBar added, “We don’t really know much about the case. I don’t have any affidavit or probable cause. I didn’t want to discuss the case with him because I’m merely his representation for this procedural issue as to whether or not he wants to be extradited back to Idaho.”
Even with a suspect charged, law enforcement’s work is far from over, prosecutors said.
“This is not the end of this investigation. In fact, this is a new beginning,” Thompson said Friday night.
Thompson urged people to continue submitting tips, asking anyone with information about the suspect “to come forward, call the tip line, report anything you know about him to help the investigators.”
Since the killings of the four students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 some community members have grown frustrated as investigators have yet to offer a thorough narrative of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the victims’ activities leading up to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.
Fry told reporters Friday state law limits what information authorities can release before Kohberger makes an initial appearance in Idaho court. The probable cause affidavit – which details the factual basis of Kohberger’s charges – is sealed until the suspect is physically in Latah County, Idaho, and has been served with the Idaho arrest warrant, Thompson said.
Kohberger is a resident of Pullman, Washington, a city just about nine miles from the site of the killings, authorities said. His apartment and office on the Washington State University’s Pullman campus were searched by law enforcement Friday morning, the university confirmed in a statement.
In June 2022, he finished graduate studies at DeSales University, where he also was an undergraduate, according to a statement on the school’s website. He also got an associate degree from Northampton Community College in 2018, the college confirmed to CNN.
LaBar called Kohberger “very intelligent.”
The attorney said he spoke with Kohberger’s family Friday night for 15 to 20 minutes.
“They’re also very shocked,” he said. “Out of character for Bryan… The FBI, local police, Idaho State Troopers were at their house at approximately 3 a. m. yesterday knocking on the door and announcing themselves to enter, out of real shock and awe to them.”
In a Reddit post removed after Kohberger’s arrest was announced, a student investigator named Bryan Kohberger who was associated with a DeSales University study sought participation in a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
“In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post said.
CNN reached one of the principal investigators of the study, a professor at DeSales University, but they declined to comment on the matter. The university has not responded to requests for comment.
Idaho college killings suspect is criminology PhD student
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A 28-year-old criminal justice graduate student was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania on Friday as a suspect in the mysterious stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students last month, authorities said.
DNA evidence played a key role in identifying Bryan Christopher Kohberger as a suspect in the killings, and officials were able to match his DNA to genetic material recovered during the investigation, a law enforcement official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation.
The students — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were stabbed to death at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, sometime in the early morning hours of Nov. 13.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Kohberger attends Washington State University, which is only a few miles across the state line from Moscow.
Investigators are still looking for a weapon, Fry said at a press conference. He was emotional as he announced the arrest, calling the victims by their first names.
The killings initially confounded law enforcement and shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn’t had a murder for five years. But tips began pouring in after law enforcement asked the public for help finding a white Hyundai Elantra sedan seen near the home around the time of the killings.
In addition to the DNA evidence, authorities also learned Kohberger had a white Hyundai Elantra, the official who spoke anonymously said. In recent days, federal investigators had been watching Kohberger and arrested him early Friday morning at a home in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania.
Federal and state investigators are now combing through his background, financial records and electronic communications as they work to identify a motive and build the case, the official said. The investigators are also interviewing people who knew Kohberger, including those at Washington State University, the official said.
During the press conference, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said investigators believe Kohberger broke into the students’ home “with the intent to commit murder.” He is being held without bond in Pennsylvania, and will be held without bond in Idaho once he is returned, Thompson said. The affidavit for four charges of first-degree murder in Idaho will remain sealed until he is returned, as required by state law.
Kohberger is also charged with felony burglary in Idaho, Thompson said. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Kohberger just completed his first semester as a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University. He is also a teaching assistant for the university’s criminal justice and criminology program, according to WSU’s online directory. University police assisted Idaho law enforcement in executing search warrants at Kohberger’s campus apartment and office, the university said. WSU officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kohberger’s work as a teaching assistant.
“This horrific act has shaken everyone in the Palouse region,” said WSU provost Elizabeth Chilton in a prepared statement, referring to the scenic rolling hills surrounding both universities. “We will long feel the loss of these young people in the Moscow-Pullman community and hope the announcement today will be a step toward healing.”
WSU and UI are partners in several academic programs, and students sometimes attend classes and seminars or work at the neighboring schools. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Kohberger: University of Idaho President Scott Green wrote in a memo to students and employees on Friday evening that the Idaho school had no record of him.
Kohberger graduated from Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania with an associate of arts degree in psychology in 2018, said college spokesperson Mia Rossi-Marino. DeSales University in Pennsylvania said that he received a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and completed graduate studies in June 2022.
Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington, were members of the university’s Greek system and close friends. Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle lived in the three-story rental home with two other roommates. Kernodle and Chapin were dating and he was visiting the house that night.
Autopsies showed all four were likely asleep when they were attacked. Some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault, police said.
Police said Thursday the rental home would be cleared of “potential biohazards and other harmful substances” to collect evidence starting Friday morning.
Shanon Gray, an attorney representing Goncalves’s father, Steve Goncalves, said law enforcement officials called the family last night to let them know about the arrest, but gave no additional information about how or why they believe he might be connected to the murders.
Ben Roberts, a graduate student in the criminology and criminal justice department at WSU, described Kohberger as confident and outgoing, but said it seemed like “he was always looking for a way to fit in.”
“I had honestly just pegged him as being super awkward.” Roberts said.
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.
“One thing he would always do, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something,” he said. “He had to make sure you knew that he knew it.”
Ethan Chapin’s family emailed a statement after the press conference. “We are relieved this chapter is over because it provides a form of closure. However, it doesn’t alter the outcome or alleviate the pain,” the family wrote. “We miss Ethan, and our family is forever changed.”
The case enticed online sleuths who speculated about potential suspects and motives. Safety concerns also had the university hiring an additional security firm to escort students across campus and the Idaho State Police sending troopers to help patrol the city’s streets.
Kohberger was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains. No lawyer for Kohberger was listed in court documents and phone calls to the county public defender’s office went answered Friday.
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Balsamo reported from Washington. News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York, and reporters Mark Scolforo and Brooke Schultz in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Martha Bellisle in Seattle also contributed.