What we know about accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger
On Dec. 30, law enforcement officials announced the arrest of 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger in connection with the Nov. 13 killing of four University of Idaho students.
It’s not known what connection, if any, Kohberger had to Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. He claims not to been involved in their deaths and so far neither he nor police have indicated a possible motive for the crimes. But after a three-week investigation conducted by local and state police in Idaho, in coordination with FBI investigators, authorities believe they have their man.
He is being held without bail in Latah County Jail in Moscow, awaiting a Jan. 12 pretrial hearing. Prosecutors charged Kohberger with four counts of murder in the first degree and felony burglary.
Background
Before becoming a murder suspect, Kohberger was a Ph.D. criminal justice student at Washington State University, which is 10 miles from where the victims were found stabbed to death in their beds. He had applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in Washington, according to investigators. He’d previously studied psychology at DeSales University in his home state of Pennsylvania.
Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, PA. Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology denounced “the alleged horrendous acts of one of its graduate students” in a Dec. 31 statement expressing relief “justice will be carried out.”
A public defender who represented Kohberger at his extradition hearing said his client looks forward to being exonerated.
Friends and family
Kohberger’s parents and two older sisters said in a statement they were cooperating with law enforcement.
His father, 67-year-old Michael Kohberger, worked as a maintenance man for Pleasant Valley School District for more than a decade, school records show. His mom, Maryann Kohberger, 62, also worked for the school district. A high school friend of Kohberger described the accused murderer’s parents as “kind people.”
Friends of his told CBS News Kohberger was bullied for being overweight in high school, but lost 100 lbs. going into his senior year. He too worked for the Pleasant Valley School District as a security guard, according to two women who knew him back home. His social skills were said to be limited.
“People were not his strong suit,” Bree Arntz claimed.
A Washington State classmate said Kohberger “seemed comfortable around other people” and described him as opinionated and intelligent.
The suspect’s family vowed to “love and support our son and brother” in the statement made public by a lawyer who handed Kohberger’s extradition proceedings.
Arrest
Police said on Dec. 7 they were searching for the owner of a white Hyundai Elantra who might have “critical information” regarding the night of the killings. Cops said they recovered a car fitting that description when Kohberger was taken into custody.
Records show the WSU student got a Washington state license plate for a white Hyundai Elantra previously registered in Pennsylvania days after the quadruple homicide in Idaho.
Kohberger was pulled over by police twice while driving the automobile through Indiana on Dec. 15. He was headed back to Pennsylvania with his father, who flew into Washington to make the 2,500-mile drive home for the holidays with his son. The Idaho Statesmen reports Kohberger was given a “verbal warning” but no tickets. Authorities reportedly orchestrated those stops while tracking their suspect.
Kohberger did not resist extradition to Idaho after being told he would be tried there in connection with the killing of the two 20-year-old and two 21-year-old victims.
DNA evidence collected from trash in the Kohberger’s family home, along with “a single source of male DNA” found on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene were used to link the suspect to the crimes, according to an affidavit made public Thursday. The weapon itself has not been recovered.
Law enforcement said they followed Kohberger during his drive to Pennsylvania by using cellphone data. On the night of the killings, his phone sent a signal from near the crime scene hours after the killings and a dozen times in the days before the slayings occurred.
Before Kohberger was transferred to Idaho, NewsNation reports the suspected killer told a fellow inmate in Pennsylvania he had been in Idaho around the time of the killings because “the shopping is better.”
Quoting a source, NewsNation said Kohberger showed no signs of concern or remorse.
The night of the murder
Two women who were in the Idaho home where the quadruple homicide happened were unharmed. Court documents indicate one surviving roommate told investigators she heard one of the victims say something to the effect of “There’s someone here.” She later heard a man say, “It’s okay. I’m here to help you.”
The roommate opened her bedroom door and saw a man about 5′10″ tall with “bushy eyebrows” walking toward the house’s sliding glass doors. He was dressed in black with a mask covering most of his face. She retreated to her room and locked the door.
