Authorities arrested 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger in connection to the murders of four University of Idaho students early Friday morning.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains at 3 am Friday and is currently being held without bond awaiting extradition to Idaho.
Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder for allegedly fatally stabbing 20-year-old Ethan Chapin of Conway, Washington; 21-year-old Madison Mogen of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; 20-year-old Xana Kernodle of Avondale, Arizona; and 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves of Rathdrum, Idaho on November 13.
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Not much is known about the case since the probable cause affidavit is still under seal while Kohberger awaits extradition to Idaho.
We still don’t know a motive, however, friends and family members have come forward and provided some information on the suspected killer following his arrest.
According to a new report by CNN, law enforcement was tracking Bryan Kohberger from Idaho to Pennsylvania.
Kohberger’s father reportedly traveled to Idaho and drove cross-country with his son.
Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar said in a statement to CNN, “His father actually went out (to Idaho) and they drove home together.”
CNN reported:
Authorities tracked the man charged in the killings of four Idaho college students all the way to Pennsylvania and surveilled him for several days before finally arresting him on Friday, sources told CNN.
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 began tracking him at some point during his trip east from Idaho.
“Sometime right before Christmas we were zeroing in on him being in or going to Pennsylvania,” the source told CNN.
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 is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.
According to a fellow classmate, Kohberger became more animated in class after allegedly killing the four University of Idaho students.
“[Bryan] seemed more upbeat and willing to carry a conversation,” classmate BK Norton wrote in an email to the New York Times.
“He sort of creeped people out because he stared and didn’t talk much, but when he did it was very intelligent and he needed everyone to know he was smart,” Norton said.
Another classmate from DeSales University said Kohberger often interrupted the professor who was teaching a class on serial killers and believed he knew more than the professor.
What we know so far since Bryan Kohberger’s arrest:
- The white Hyundai Elantra that police were looking for was confiscated at Kohberger’s residence
- The murder weapon has not yet been located
- Search warrants were executed at Bryan Kohberger’s residence in Pullman, Washington and Pennsylvania
- Kohberger’s DNA matched samples at the crime scene
- Kohberger will attend a hearing on pending extradition to Idaho on January 3
- Kohberger is a hardcore vegan with OCD eating tendencies according to a family member