A suspect in the brutal slayings of four University of Idaho students — in crimes that have “shaken our community” — was arrested in Pennsylvania, authorities said Friday.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old Pullman, Washington, resident, was apprehended in Albrightsville in northeastern Pennsylvania, officials said.
He’ll be charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary, for allegedly breaking into the Moscow, Idaho home with the intent to commit a felony, authorities said.
“These murders have shaken our community and no arrest will ever bring back these young students,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry told reporters in Idaho. “However, we do believe justice will be found through the criminal process.”
Kohberger is due back in court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday when he’ll opt to fight or waive extradition to Idaho, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said.
The prosecutor said investigators are still in need of more information and pleaded with Idaho residents to come forward with anything they know about Kohberger.
“This is not the end of this investigation,” Thompson said. “In fact this is a new beginning.”
Investigators still need the public’s help to “understand fully everything there is to know not only about the individual, but what happened and why,” according to Thompson.
Police and prosecutors on Friday revealed few details about the arrest, such as a possible motive and what tips or evidence first led detectives to Kohberger.
A probable cause affidavit, with details supporting Kohberger’s arrest, is sealed and cannot be made public until he sets foot in Idaho and served with those papers in court, authorities said.
Fry appeared to say that Kohberger is the only suspect in this case.
“What I can tell you is that we have an individual in custody who committed these horrible crimes and I do believe our community is safe,” he said.
A Hyundai Elantra was taken away from the person’s home in Pennsylvania on Friday, law enforcement sources said. Police in Moscow had been looking for a white Hyundai Elantra as a possible piece of evidence.
Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, were killed on Nov. 13.
Three of the victims shared the home they were killed in — Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle — while Kernodle’s boyfriend, Chapin, was staying overnight, according to investigators.
The mother of one of the four students told NBC News Friday that a huge weight had been lifted with the arrest of a suspect.
Cara Northington, the mother of Xana Kernodle, said she learned of an arrest after waking up and speaking to a friend. All she has been able to think about is who would have killed her daughter and her friends as she held out hope that there would be a break in the case.
“It’s been a nightmare. This whole thing has been a nightmare, literally,” Northington said. “But I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
She added that she is unfamiliar with the person who was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania, but is relieved he was apprehended.
“A lot of the grief was not knowing who this was, knowing that whoever was responsible for that is still out there,” she said. “So yeah, this definitely takes a lot of the grief that we were experiencing off our shoulders.”
Northington said she’s also grateful to the support from strangers across the country and to law enforcement. Authorities believe they were killed inside the apartment house while they slept, although some had defensive wounds.
Police were also still looking for the weapon, believed to be a large knife, Frey said Friday.
Two other roommates were home at the time of the slayings in the early morning of Nov. 13, but police said they are not believed to have been involved in the crime.
They were asleep during the stabbings, and one of their cellphones was used to call 911 when they woke up later that morning, detectives said.
The investigation has been led by Moscow police, with dozens of state and federal agents providing forensics analysis of a scene that experts say had been complicated by the nature of the crime — a quadruple homicide — and the fact that the roommates would host parties.
As weeks went by without an arrest or a person of interest named, the case drew attention from internet sleuths, leading police to dispel unfounded claims on social media.
Chief Fry insisted that the case was not cold.
He also declined to speak in detail about the case or investigators’ best leads, telling NBC News last week that police must protect the integrity of the investigation and also don’t want to taint a potential jury pool if there is a trial.
“I know that’s very frustrating,” Fry said. “It’s frustrating to family members and [the] community, but our end goal is to bring somebody to justice for those families and for those victims.”
The case was initially dogged by mixed messaging from authorities, who first told the public that the “targeted attack” posed no lingering threat to the community. But Fry, days later, said he couldn’t say where the killer or killers may be.
An arrest comes as a “celebration of life” was planned later Friday for two of the roommates, Goncalves and Mogen.
Shanon Gray, a lawyer for the Goncalves’ loved ones, said of her clients: “The family is relieved that the authorities have someone in custody and now the journey through the criminal justice system begins.”
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