Idaho student murders: Five things we know about suspect Bryan Kohberger
Misty Severi
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Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger was arrested on Friday as the lead suspect in the murder of four Idaho college students that has baffled law enforcement officials for over a month.
Listed below are five things known about Kohberger and the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin on Nov. 13.
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Educational background
Kohberger was a Ph.D. student at Washington State in Pullman, Washington, studying criminology and criminal justice, according to the campus website. The university is just 9 miles from Moscow, Idaho, where the murders occurred.
Prior to his start at Washington State, Kohberger received a master’s degree from DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.
Kohberger puts out a call to former convicts on Reddit seven months before arrest
Seven months ago, Kohberger posted on a since-deleted Reddit forum regarding a criminology research project where he studied criminals and their decision-making.
Kohberger asked former criminals to participate in a DeSales University research project that intended to “understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime,” according to the Daily Beast, and sought to “understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense.”
Kohberger has same model of car Moscow police were searching for:
A white Hyundai Elantra was taken from Kohberger’s home in Pennsylvania on Friday, according to NBC News. Authorities were searching for a white 2011-2013 Elantra that was believed to have been in the “immediate area” of the home at the time of the murders.
The suspect was arrested 2,000 miles away from the crime scene
Although a graduate student at Washington State, Kohberger’s arrest occurred 2,000 miles away from the scene of the crime, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to arrest paperwork from the Pennsylvania State Police in Monroe County Court. The arrest comes just under two months from the date of the crime and is the most significant breakthrough in the case.
DeSales University is located an hour and a half from the house where he was arrested in Scranton. It is unclear whether Kohberger resides in Pennsylvania when he’s not in Washington or why he was back in Scranton.
His demeanor upon his arrest
When Kohberger was arrested, he had a “quiet blank stare” and “asked if anyone else was arrested,” according to a NewsNation correspondent.
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Plenty of questions still remain about the quadruple homicide, including what Kohberger’s ties are to the students and what his motive was for killing them. A murder weapon still has not been found.
Arrest paperwork also showed that Kohberger is being held for extradition in the homicide investigation based on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder issued by the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, according to the Associated Press.
The Moscow Police Department will have a press conference at 4 p.m. EST to talk about the latest in the case.