Police arrested a 28-year-old graduate student on Friday morning for the brutal murders of four students at the University of Idaho in November 2022.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, is a Pullman, Washington resident and a graduate student at Washington State University, located a few miles from the University of Idaho. He was arrested early Friday morning in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, the Moscow Police Chief, James Fry, said they would charge the man with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary for breaking into the students’ house to commit a felony.
Law enforcement sources said that investigators had identified the 28-year-old as a suspect using DNA technology and then tracked him to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, more than 2,000 miles away from Idaho.
A specialized team of state troopers and FBI agents stormed a residence they believed he was in at around 2 am on Friday after watching it for several days. Reportedly, it is the suspect’s parents’ home.
Police have not yet disclosed a motive or what exactly led them to arrest the man, with the probable cause affidavit, which lists the reasons he was arrested, still sealed. It will only be released once the suspect returns to Idaho.
The Police Chief did not say if they were looking into other suspects in the case. At the beginning of December 2022, police announced that they wanted to speak to the driver of a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen near the victims’ residence around the time of the murders.
At Friday’s news conference, Police Chief Fry said they had found an Elantra but did not elaborate on whether it was the one they were looking for.
The suspect studied at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, received his undergraduate degree in 2020, and completed his graduate studies in 2022.
Kohberger is a PhD student at Washington State University, registered in the university’s criminology and criminal justice department. According to the university, he finished his first semester in December.
Washington University’s police department assisted law enforcement officers from Idaho in executing search warrants at Kohberger’s office and apartment located on the campus on Friday morning. The university said in a statement that they were working closely with other law enforcement agencies in their investigations.
Over six weeks ago, the murders of four students shocked the Idaho community. Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were murdered in an off-campus house on November 13.
Two other roommates survived the attack, but police quickly determined that they were not suspects and said they likely slept through the incident. The two were asleep on the ground floor while the murder victims were on the second and third floors.
Police Chief Fry said at the news conference that even though no arrest could ever bring the four students back to life, he believed the criminal process would provide justice for the victims.
The Mayor of Moscow released a statement on Friday, saying that he hoped the arrests would provide answers for the senseless murders.
The University of Idaho, which had increased security on the campus after the murders, said in a statement on Friday that the arrest was news that they had been waiting for and a relief for the entire community.
