What we know about suspect arrested in University of Idaho killings

After more than six weeks of investigating, authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students last month. 

A 28-year-old man named Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested on Friday in Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition to Idaho. He is facing four counts of first-degree murder and a charge of felony burglary in relation to the killings. 

The University of Idaho campus was shaken after four students — 21-year-olds Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen and 20-year-olds Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found dead in a rental home in the city of Moscow near campus on Nov. 13. 

Local police faced some criticism for the pace of the investigation and the weeks that went by without them identifying a suspect or finding the weapon used in the killings, but authorities announced Kohberger’s arrest on Friday. 

Only a limited amount of information about Kohberger is publicly available, as Idaho state law requires him to return to the state and be served with an arrest warrant there before documents such as a probable cause affidavit are disclosed. 

But officials did reveal some information about him, and other details have also come out.

Moscow Police Chief James Fry said at a press conference announcing Kohberger’s arrest on Friday that he is a graduate student at Washington State University (WSU) and lives in Pullman, Wash., which is located not far from the border with Idaho. 

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said at the press conference that investigators believe Kohberger broke into the students’ home with the intent to commit murder. 

The Associated Press reported that Kohberger just completed his first semester as a doctoral student in WSU’s criminal justice and criminology department and is a teaching assistant for the program. 

A spokesperson for Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania said Kohberger graduated from the school in 2018 with an associate degree in psychology. He received a bachelor’s degree from DeSales University in Pennsylvania in 2020 and completed graduate studies in June, a spokesperson for that university said. 

Ben Roberts, a graduate student at WSU who had several courses with Kohberger, told The Associated Press that Kohberger was confident and outgoing but seemed to be “always looking for a way to fit in.” He said Kohberger wanted to appear academic and “had to make sure you knew he knew” something. 

Officials also learned during their investigation that Kohberger had a white Hyundai Elantra, which police had been looking for after one was seen near the house around the time of the stabbings. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.