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A suspect has been charged with the knife death of four University of Idaho students in November.
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According to CNN, he arrived in Idaho by plane on Wednesday night.
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The suspect would initially be transported into federal custody, as is customary in cases involving interstate fugitives.
The suspect charged with stabbing four students has been handed over to the Idaho Police Department and arrived in the state by plane Wednesday night, according to CNN.
Bryan Kohberger, age 28, was initially scheduled to be transported into federal custody, as is customary in cases involving interstate fugitives, Brady McCarron, deputy chief of public affairs for the US Marshals Service, told Insider.
But late Wednesday morning, the FBI, which was supposed to be the lead agency in flying the suspect to Idaho from his home state of Pennsylvania, suddenly announced that they were no longer involved and that this would be “a state-to-state transport.” McCarron told Insider.
“The plane obviously took off, but there was no federal involvement, not by the Marshals or the FBI,” McCarron said.
He declined to provide further details, explaining that the two agencies had agreed to comply with an Idaho judge’s gag order on all details of the suspect’s move to Idaho state penitentiary from Monroe County Correctional Facility in Northeast Pennsylvania.
The suspect was a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University who lived 20 minutes’ drive across the border from the crime scene.
He was linked to the murders by crime scene DNA, according to several news outlets, and was arrested Friday, December 30, 2022 at his parents’ home in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Albrightsville.
He had been held in the admissions ward of Monroe County Correctional Facility, a prison near his hometown, since Friday.
During his first trial Tuesday afternoon, he told a Monroe County judge he would voluntarily return to face charges in Idaho, paving the way for Wednesday’s transportation.
Pennsylvania State Police and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office had exercised extreme caution in moving the suspect to and from jail and court.
Journalists from all over the country are already in town for the hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
In Idaho, suspects are expected to appear in court for their first appearance on criminal charges within 24 hours of their arrest or extradition.
On Tuesday, the outline of a body armor could be seen under his prison jumpsuit; eight sheriff’s officers escorted him through the building, including one equipped with an automatic rifle.
The four victims are Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Correction: January 4, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misrepresented law enforcement as transporting the suspect. The suspect was initially scheduled to be transferred into federal custody, but it was announced later in the day that it would be a “state-to-state” transfer and that the FBI would not be involved.
Read the original article on Insider
