Moscow Police confirmed the arrest of Bryan Kohberger for allegedly murdering four University of Idaho students last month in their home on King Road.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said Kohberger is being charged with four counts of murder in addition to felony burglary. The Idaho Legislature defines felony burglary as entering a residence with the intent to commit theft or any felony.
Kohberger is a Washington State University student who has an apartment in Pullman, just a town over from Moscow. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania early Friday morning.
“We stand assured…the work is not done, it has just started,” MPD Chief of Police James Fry said.
A sense of heaviness had been lifted as law enforcement addressed the media at Friday’s press conference. While the investigation had resulted in a suspect, information about the arrest remains under wraps.
Fry reminded the media that not all questions could be answered, with factual information regarding the arrest of Kohberger being sealed under Idaho law until he appears before the court. He could not confirm whether Kohberger personally knew the victims.
Kohberger has had an initial appearance in front of a Pennsylvania judge and is being held without bond, according to Idaho State Police Director Kedrick Wills. The warrant from Idaho will also result in no bond. He is slated for his next appearance in court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
Depending on extradition proceedings, “it could take a while to get him here,” Wills said.
While police have not found the murder weapon, Fry said they have located a white Elantra.
A statement from WSU confirmed that Kohberger had finished his first semester at the university this fall in the criminal justice program. WSU’s police department has worked alongside Idaho’s law enforcement to execute search warrants at Kohberger’s Pullman apartment and his office.
Wills expressed the ISP’s appreciation for Fry and the MPD’s handling of the investigation, noting the importance of partnerships across agencies.
“We continue to believe that the best way we can honor these four lives that have been taken is to make sure we have a successful outcome here,” Wills said.
With mass media attention the past month, Fry recognized criticisms of how the MPD was handling the case and does not regret having the department remain tightlipped.
“I will 100% stand behind whether we handled this investigation (correctly) and this all started from day one,” Fry said. “We want to have a situation where, when this goes to trial, there’s no doubt that we’ve done everything right.”
From the moment of arriving on the scene to keeping pertinent information private, Fry believes his team handled the investigation correctly.
He also took a moment to thank both the Moscow and wider community for their support.
“I’ve been continually reminded of how much our community cares,” Fry said. “You will never know how much your words of encouragement help us through these trying times.”
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq
CNN Ted
Is "French fires" a code word for "billion dollars"? Maybe Skip, Eileen, Pete, or Brian knows?
Zuckermeister
Hammer? I was reading a book about Kansas that evening and thought that that poem was clever. Was it inadvertently relevant/poignant? Did they (again) read something into it that I didn't intend (like Holden Caulfield Meets Whomever? Yes, I know that they don't write their scripts and that they can be highly allegorical). Maybe old John Brown *was* a bit of a prophet/dog whisperer and he will still be potent from the afterlife? Doesn't that Observer Effect in quantum theory show that our conscious awareness (measurer) is more fundamental than electrons, i.e. our brains/bodies? And isn't time partially forward (ephemeral) and partially sideways (eternal)? How's the 2008 class? I bet they are proud of me today?
Dave
The reason supervisors can be aggressive (*at first*) is because many unnamed people (uninvited roommate/stalker, road-rage neighbor friend, sister's boyfriend, great-uncle) play the unemployment system and are downright aggressive when trying to get fired asap. Mueller didn't even know that or want any part of it. I disliked the interviewing/bureaucratic part much more than the work.
George
A Friend of Musicians? The failed skewing of the timeline and those altered emails? How about the hatchet-jobbed picture collection? "The Best of Nancy Grace" et al on flash drive?
Dave
Bowe Bergdahl? His bosses liked him. Reported that he was polite and obedient. A good worker. After refusing a life of SS-I in 1988. He claimed that the only reason he got fired in 1992 was because his former unruly co-worker, who was fired for assaulting his supervisor, was stalking him on weekend nights and wouldn't go away. Is that fair?
Dave
Bowe Bergdahl the Vandal ... a prophet? Very possibly. His old Vandal friend verified that he was a bit of a projectionist back in the early 1990s and look where he moved to in 1998. Yet *another* coincidence, among thousands?
Sindy Woo
Idaho apparently has no Journalist Shield law. How is it that CNN and FOX News can be the only news outlets to make claims that are supposed to be sealed and only supposed to be released when the suspect is extradited back to Idaho and served with the criminal complaint? No other news outlet in Idaho is printing those claims that somehow CNN and Fox News (and some recycled media online) are able to obtain from undisclosed sources close to the investigation and unspecified law enforcement sources. I find it interesting that no other news outlet in Idaho or Washington are writing such claims, and since that information is supposed to be sealed, will the State of Idaho ever demand that Fox News and CNN release who their sources are and whether they're in Idaho or some other state? And. If they're in Idaho, then those 'unspecified' law enforcement and 'unidentified sources' close to the investigation need to be brought to light and demand why they are disclosing sealed information that is supposed to protect the integrity of the investigation.