In connection with the Idaho murders, which occurred more than six weeks ago in a Moscow, Idaho, off-campus residence, police have detained a suspect, Bryan Christopher Kohberger.
The 28-year-old was apprehended based on a warrant for his arrest, Pennsylvania State Police said on Friday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Idaho State Police, and the Moscow authorities department, according to the police, were all involved in the capture. Kohberger was detained at his parents’ house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, a law enforcement source said to CBS News.
Police knocked on the Kohbergers’ home at about three in the morning, according to Jason LaBar, the chief public defender for Monroe County, who is representing Kohberger at his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, who spoke to CBS News. They informed him that the suspect’s parents and both of them were “extremely helpful” on Friday.
In court on Friday, Kohberger was remanded without bond to the Monroe County Correctional Facility where he is currently awaiting extradition to Idaho, according to the police.
According to Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson, Kohberger is accused of four counts of first-degree murder and criminal burglary.
About the Killer Bryan Kohberger?
On November 21st, 1994, Kohberger was born. He completed an associate’s degree in psychology in 2018 at Northampton Community College before continuing to pursue a bachelor’s degree in 2020 at DeSales University. His graduate work at the institution continued after that, and he finished it in 2022, according to a DeSales official. The delegate omitted to mention his major or area of study.
Approximately a 15-minute drive from Moscow, Idaho, Kohberger was a Ph.D. criminology student and teaching assistant at Washington State University’s Pullman campus at the time of his arrest. Kohberger had just completed his first semester at WSU, according to a statement from the university.
In a news conference held on Friday afternoon, Moscow Police Chief James Fry verified that Kohberger resided in Washington State. According to the college, university police helped Idaho law enforcement officers carry out a search order at Kohberger’s on-campus residence and office on Friday.
Elizabeth Chilton, chancellor of the WSU Pullman campus and WSU provost, said, “On behalf of the WSU Pullman community, I want to extend my deepest appreciation to all of the law enforcement authorities who have been working relentlessly to solve this crime.” “Everyone in the Palouse region has been shocked by this heinous deed.”
The AP was informed by another graduate student in the WSU department of criminology and criminal justice that the news of Kohberger’s arrest was “quite out of the left field.”
Ben Roberts claimed that after the two of them began the program together in August, Kohberger enrolled in numerous courses with him. According to Roberts, Kohberger “was always seeking a way to fit in.”
Kohberger would “find the most convoluted method to describe things,” according to Roberts.
Roberts said, “He had to make sure you knew that he understood it.
Kohberger was “quite calm, extremely clever, and he was rather stunned” by the arrest, according to LaBar.
According to LaBar, his parents were “simply genuinely astonished” and felt this was “out of character” for their son.
What stage of the investigation?
Officials were hesitant to provide many specifics of the investigation, including those that led to Kohberger’s arrest, during Friday’s news briefing. According to Fry, the material was kept confidential to uphold the validity of the inquiry and to comply with Idaho law.
The police chief acknowledged that some of the 19,000 tips they got helped lead to Kohberger’s arrest, but he would not specify how or when they first grew suspicious of him. According to law enforcement authorities speaking to CBS News, Kohberger was reportedly connected to the Idaho crime scene through forensic examination.
According to those sources, FBI agents tracked Kohberger’s travels on the days before being arrested in Pennsylvania while conducting surveillance operations on him. Before Kohberger’s arrest, according to Fry, “a sleepless few days” had passed.
Fry declared, “I have trust in those agencies all around the country, I have faith in our cops, and I have faith in the FBI, and they did a tremendous job.
Fry said that although police had retrieved a Hyundai Elantra, they had not discovered the murder weapon. The white 2011–2013 Hyundai Elantra that was “in the neighborhood” when the students were slain is what investigators stated they were searching for a few weeks ago.
When a probable cause affidavit is released, which won’t happen until Kohberger goes to Idaho and is given an arrest warrant there, further details, including the factual foundation for the allegations that were brought, will become available. The following court appearance for Kohberger is scheduled on Tuesday afternoon in Pennsylvania.
Fry remained silent on any potential connections between the victims and Kohberger and did not explain why they were killed.
“Our town has been rocked by these killings, and no arrest can ever bring these young students back. However, we do trust that the criminal justice system will lead to justice “added Fry.
News Source: cbsnews.com