Latah County, Idaho, prosecutor Bill Thompson announced Friday that according to state law, the suspect in last month’s murder of four University of Idaho students will be served an arrest warrant when he arrives back in the county.
Earlier in the day Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI took Bryan Kohberger into custody in northeast Pennsylvania.
The 28-year-old “appeared before a judge in Pennsylvania on Friday morning. Court documents show the judge ordered Kohberger’s extradition to Idaho where he will face criminal charges,” WPVI-TV reported.
Thompson told reporters his office filed a criminal complaint Thursday charging Kohberger with four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
Kohberger is accused of the stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20 on Nov. 13 at a rental home in Moscow, Idaho.
Thompson said a probable cause affidavit had been filed with the court.
“According to the rules of the Idaho Supreme Court, that is sealed until Mr. Kohberger is physically back in Latah County and has been served with the Idaho arrest warrant,” the prosecutor explained.
Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson says Bryan Kohberger is being charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary in the Idaho stabbings of four college students.
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Thompson confirmed media reports that Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University and had an apartment in Pullman, Washington.
He was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology, according to The New York Times.
His apartment was about a 15-minute drive from the location where the murders took place, Fox News reported.
Fox News: "The suspect is a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, according to the college's website. Pullman is a 15-minute drive from the rental home where the four students were stabbed to death."https://t.co/7edClzzSao
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) December 30, 2022
Police sources described the bloody crime scene as one of the worst they had ever seen.
The assailant is believed to have stabbed all four students to death while they were sleeping.
Mogen’s father, Ben Mogen, told The Spokesman-Review last week that he believes justice will ultimately be served in the case.
“From the very beginning, I’ve known that people don’t get away with these things these days,” he said. “There’s too many things that you can get caught up on, like DNA and videos everywhere.”
Thompson said Kohberger is being held without bond in Pennsylvania and the same will be true when he arrives in Idaho.
The prosecutor noted that the suspect can wave any opposition to extradition, which means he could be back in Latah County soon.
If Kohberger chooses to fight his extradition, “It can take a while for him to get here.”
Thompson said. “This is not the end of this investigation — in fact, this is a new beginning.”