A Pennsylvania man was arrested Friday in the Poconos and is expected to be charged with the homicides of four University of Idaho students killed in an off-campus apartment last month, authorities said.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, is being held for extradition to Idaho on a warrant for first degree murder. The Associated Press reported that early Friday morning, Kohberger was apprehended by Pennsylvania State Police troopers and FBI agents at his home inside a gated community in Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, which is about 70 miles north of Philadelphia.
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Kohberger has a master's degree in criminal justice from DeSales University in Lehigh County and reportedly is a Ph.D. student at Washington State University, which is about 10 miles from the University of Idaho campus in Moscow. After his arrest, Kohberger appeared before a Monroe County judge on Friday and was ordered to remain in custody until his extradition to Idaho scheduled to happen next week.
Kohberger is expected to be charged with killing Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogel, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. Each was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 13 in an off campus apartment where Kernodle, Mogel and Goncalves lived with two other roommates who were not harmed. The coroner said the students likely were asleep when the stabbings happened, though there was an indication of some defensive wounds. Also it was determined the killer used large knife in the attacks, and there was no sign of sexual assault.
The Moscow Police Department has dedicated a portion of the department's website to providing updates about the investigation into King Road Homicides. New information was released by the police multiple times each week, including a post on Thursday in which police said they have received more than 9,025 emails, 4,575 phone calls and 6,050 media submissions with tips about the case. Investigators have conducted more than 300 interviews in the case.
Police are still searching for a 2011-2013 white Hyundai Elantra they say was near the house early on the day of the stabbings.
The Moscow police and Latah County Prosecutors Office will hold a news conference to discuss the case and criminal charges against Kohberger at 4 p.m. on Friday. The news briefing will be streamed live below.