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Suspect In University Of Idaho Students' Murders Arrested In Pennsylvania
Bryan Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday morning and is being held on charges that he murdered University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin in November.
Pennsylvania State Police have detained the man suspected in the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students in November.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, was booked into the Monroe County Correctional Facility in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania — part of the Poconos region 80 miles west of New York City — shortly before 7:00 a.m. on Friday, according to jail records reviewed by Oxygen.com. Arrest paperwork filed on Friday indicates he's being held on warrant for four counts of first degree murder out of Idaho, according to the Associated Press. During a Friday press conference, Moscow Police Chief James Fry confirmed Kohberger is the suspect in the murders of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
A SWAT team arrested Kohberger after officials tracked him to Monroe County. The Morning Call reported that he was taken into custody at a residents inside the gated community of Indian Mountain Lakes.
A judge ordered his extradition to Idaho on Friday, per court records cited by NBC News.
In Friday's press conference, Chief Fry additionally confirmed reports that Kohberger is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, which is just seven miles west of the University of Idaho.
Chief Fry added that they would not be sharing information about what led to Kohberger's arrest as part of the ongoing investigation.
A man with that name is listed as a May 2022 graduate of DeSales University's Master of Arts in Criminal Justice, as well as on the undergraduate Dean's List for spring 2019 and 2020. DeSales is located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which is in Monroe County. DeSales University Associate Vice President Carolyn Steigleman confirmed to the Allentown Morning Call that Kohberger received his undergraduate degree from the school in 2020 and completed his Masters degree in 2022.
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The Idaho Statesman reports that Kohberger has no criminal history in either Idaho or Washington, save an August 2022 ticket for failing to wear a seatbelt in Latah County, Idaho — which the University of Idaho is in.
Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 14, after sorority sisters Mogen and Goncalves returned to their Moscow, Idaho group home at the edge of campus from a night out. Chapin was sleeping over at the home with his girlfriend, Kernodle, after they had attended a party together. The four students were killed in their beds on the second and third floors of the home, while two other housemates asleep on the first floor, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were not attacked. Police ruled them out as suspects.
One of those housemates called 911 just before noon to report an unconscious woman after friends arrived and multiple efforts to contact one of the murdered women had been unsuccessful. Police entered two of the bedrooms and found the four students dead.
The only lead in the case released by police before Friday was that they were looking for a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra seen in the vicinity of the victims' home around the time of the murder. They subsequently collected security footage from a nearby gas station of a white sedan seen around 3:45 a.m., but police have not confirmed whether it was the car they were seeking.
NBC News reports that police removed a Hyundai Elantra from the scene were Kohberger was arrested, however, Chief Fry told the press that they cannot confirm if the car was the same one spotted near the house.
Moreover, Chief Fry said that they're still looking for the murder weapon.
Goncalves' parents have repeatedly criticized the murder investigation to the media, prompting the police to tell the media that each family has its own liaison within the department but that they couldn't share more information without hurting the investigation.
“I know that’s very frustrating,” Chief Fry told NBC News last week. “It’s frustrating to family members and [the] community, but our end goal is to bring somebody to justice for those families and for those victims.”
Kohberger is due to appear in court on Tuesday and has been appointed a public defender.
