The man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last month has been arrested and will be extradited from Pennsylvania to face charges, police said.
In a news conference Friday afternoon in Moscow, Idaho, authorities said Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was taken into custody late Thursday. Kohberger is a doctoral student in criminal justice at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington.
The unsettling late-night attack inside a rental home left college students and the community on edge for more than a month as investigators worked on the case. Authorities have not released a possible motive in the Nov. 13 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.
“These murders have shaken our community, and no arrest will ever bring back these young students,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday afternoon. “We have an individual in custody who committed these horrible crimes and I do believe our community is safe.”
Fry declined to reveal additional details of the accusations against the suspect, who is being held without bond on possible first-degree-murder and felony burglary charges.
Prosecutors said they cannot release a probable cause arrest affidavit until the suspect is returned to Idaho. He is expected to attend a court hearing in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Tuesday with a public defender, authorities said.
“These tragic murders took four young, vibrant lives from our community. Nothing we do can bring them back,” said Idaho State Police Colonel Kedrick Wills. “The only thing that we can do in law enforcement to honor their memories, that we know of, is to bring this to a successful conclusion.”
Two other roommates inside the home slept through the attack, police said.
Goncalves’s family issued a statement through their lawyer, Shanon Gray: “The family is relieved that the authorities have someone in custody and now the journey through the criminal justice system begins.”
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No motive given for nighttime attack
Investigators for weeks have been looking for a white Hyundai Elantra 2011-2013 model. Police on Friday said they had taken custody of a white Elantra but declined to elaborate.
On Thursday, Fry released a video statement saying the house was being turned over to a commercial crime scene remediation team to remove biohazards like blood and forensic chemicals used by investigators. That work was supposed to begin Friday morning but was halted by court request, Fry said.
Police initially said the deaths were an “isolated targeted attack,” and seemed to confirm that again Friday. But they declined to discuss if there were other potential suspects.
The uncertainty over the motive had prompted many students at the University of Idaho to switch to online classes for the remainder of the semester. Extra police flooded the city during the investigation, trying to bring a sense of security to the unsettled community.
“Today’s news of an arrest is a welcome one,” said University of Idaho President Scott Green during the press conference Friday. “It’s a relief to our university, our community, and our extended Vandal family. We never lost faith that this case would be solved.”
Who were the victims?
A community memorial service for Goncalves and Mogen, both 21, was planned for Friday afternoon in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where they graduated high school. Both women were seniors; Mogen was studying marketing and Goncalves was a general studies major in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences.
Kernodle, 20, was a junior studying marketing and was dating Chapin, whom police said was sleeping over at her house. Chapin, 20, was a first-year student studying recreation, sport and tourism management and was from Washington state.
All four victims were involved in fraternity or sorority organizations.
“Ethan, Xana, Maddie and Kaylee came to the University of Idaho and found their place. … They were brimming with promise and poised to make their mark on the world outside of Moscow,”Green, president of the University of Idaho, said at a vigil in November.