Bryan C. Kohberger was taken into custody Friday on a “fugitive from justice warrant” in connection with the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students seven weeks ago in a house near campus.
Who is he? Here’s what we know.
He attended Washington State University
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested at a home in Chestnuthill Township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. A court record says he is from Albrightsville, a nearby hamlet in an adjoining county.
Kohberger is a Ph.D. student studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, according to a page on the university’s website that was taken down later Friday.
The school’s campus is less than nine miles west of the house on King Road where the students died.
Police said in a news conference Friday that Kohberger lived in Pullman. University officials have not responded to multiple requests for information from the Idaho Statesman, including requests to confirm whether Kohberger was employed by the university and lived in university housing.
No clear connection to victims
Law enforcement has not identified a connection between Kohberger and the victims, seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Stacy Chapin, mother of Ethan, told the Idaho Statesman in a message that her family does not know of any connection between her son and the suspect.
A former U of I sorority member who used to live in the King Road neighborhood, and who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said Kohberger was not known to several friends of the victims.
“Never seen him or heard of him before. No one I know knows him,” she said Friday in a Facebook message to the Statesman.
Goncalves was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, while Mogen and Kernodle were members of Pi Beta Phi..
He was from Pennsylvania
Albrightsville is a hamlet in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. Kohberger was jailed just to the east in Monroe County, near the New Jersey state line and about 75 miles west of New York City.
He had no criminal history
A review of court records in Washington, Idaho and Pennsylvania showed Kohberger has no criminal history aside from an August 2022 infraction for failing to wear a seat belt in Latah County, which includes Moscow.
He recently graduated from DeSales University
After enrolling in 2020, Kohberger graduated from DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a master of arts degree in criminal justice in May 2022, according to Carolyn Steigleman, associate vice president of marketing and communications.
“On Friday, December 30, DeSales University learned of the arrest of Bryan Kohberger in connection with the murder of four University of Idaho students,” Steigleman said in an email to the Idaho Statesman. “…As a Catholic, Salesian community, we are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families during this difficult time.”
Kevin Fixler and Nicole Blanchard contributed.
Live updates: Four first-degree murder charges for man arrested in U of I killings
Recorded earlier: Moscow police announcement on arrest of suspect in U of I killings
As year comes to end, here’s the latest on U of I killings, police investigation
The house on King Road: A look at the Moscow home where four U of I students were killed