Bryan C. Kohberger was taken into custody Friday on a “fugitive from justice” charge in connection with the fatal stabbing of four University of Idaho students seven weeks ago at a home near campus.
Who is Koberger? Here’s what we know.
He attended Washington State University
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, born November 1994, now 28, was arrested at a home in Chestnuthill Township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. According to a police report, he is from Albrightsville, a nearby hamlet in a neighboring 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 later removed Friday.
The school’s campus is less than 9 miles west of the house on King Road where the students were stabbed to death on November 13.
Police confirmed at a news conference Friday afternoon that Kohberger lived in Pullman and was a WSU graduate student.
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 residences.
No clear connection to casualties
Law enforcement officials have found no 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, Ethan’s mother, told the Idaho Statesman in a statement that her family is unaware of any connection between her son and the suspect.
A former member of a U of I sorority, who used to live in the King Road ward, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said Kohberger was not known to several of the victims’ friends.
“I have never seen or heard of him. No one I know knows him,” she said in a Facebook message to the Statesman on Friday.
Goncalves were members 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 imprisoned just east of Monroe County, near the New Jersey state line and about 75 miles west of New York City.
He recently graduated from a university in Pennsylvania
After enrolling in 2020, Kohberger graduated from DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in May 2022 with a master of arts degree in criminal justice, said 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 families of the victims at this difficult time.”
He had no criminal record
A review of court records in Washington, Idaho and Pennsylvania showed no criminal history for Kohberger, aside from an August 2022 violation for not wearing a seatbelt in Latah County, which includes Moscow.
Live Updates: Four First Degree Murder Charges for Man Arrested in U of I Murders
Previously recorded: Moscow police announcement about arrest of suspect in U of I murders
As the end of the year approaches, here’s the latest on U of I murders, police investigation
The House on King Road: A Look Inside the Moscow House Where Four U of I Students Were Murdered
