Nearly two months later, authorities were able to arrest Brian Koberger, the suspect who killed four University of Idaho students. The victims were found dead in bed, the killer stabbed to death. The 28-year-old suspect holds a PhD from a neighboring university.
In addition, he holds a PhD in criminology and has previously written studies on the psyche of criminals.
The relationship between the four victims who returned home from a party and the man’s motive for the murder is still unknown. Relatively little information has leaked out about Kohberger, some of which must be considered tabloid news rather than proven fact. However, what is known so far does not cast a good light on him: he visited the scene of the murder several times before the tragedy.
Police are silent, rumors are spreading on Tiktok
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, lived near the victims’ home and was a graduate student in the criminal justice program at Washington State University’s Pullman campus. Kohberger was previously a student at DeSales University, a Catholic university in Pennsylvania. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and a master’s degree in criminal justice in 2022, a university spokeswoman said.
Kohberger lived a 15-minute drive from Moscow, Idaho, where the victims lived. It is easy to imagine that the man could have known any of the four murdered youths. According to police files He also visited the houses of the students with his car in August, before the start of the semester.
Within days of his arrest, Kohberger’s studies in criminal law and criminology received much attention. The detail was called “very interesting” by a former senior FBI informant. “We have other cases where offenders graduated from fields of study that more or less prepared them to commit the crime,” Mary Ellen O’Toole said. CNNFor Sunday. But even if he was guilty, according to the expert, Kohberger’s “field of investigation is not related to the murder. […] So it was an avenue to explore what he was already interested in.” By itself, the study of criminals does not begin to kill the criminologist himself.
In addition to his studies, Kohberger’s professional interests also revealed that he was previously able to ask for help on a forum called Reddit. In his university research, he investigated how emotions and psychological characteristics influence decision-making when committing a crime. At the forum, he asked people to participate in the census.
While it’s not 100 percent certain that Koehberger wrote the Reddit post, Brian Koehberger, a student at DeSales University, posted it asking for help, so it’s clear that it could have been him. CNN reached out to one of the study’s lead researchers, a professor at DeSales University, but he declined to comment on the matter.
Onlookers watch as Kohberger leaves the court on January 3 – Photo: Mark Makela/Reuters
The murder created a stir on social media, especially on Tiktok. Casey Arndts, who According to He knew Kohberger — and backed this up with a photo together — in a video, for example, where he talked about how the suspect used drugs and had anger management issues during his high school years. But by 2017, when they last met, he had already quit heroin. Arntz’s brother, who was on good terms with Kohberger, described his old friend as a malicious “bully” who regularly attacked him and others.
In her since-deleted TikTok video, Casey Arndts also talked about what she thought was a criminologist calling the podcast after the murders. The caller’s voice is said to be Kohberger’s. The caller also mentioned the student fraternity, Sigma Chi, of which one of the victims, Ethan Chapin, was a member.
“The weird thing about it is, I live in a college town and I’ve worked with at least ten Sigma Sis, and you know, they all asked me one thing: If you wanted to kill someone, what would you do? Get away with it? […] I wonder if it’s nothing more than a guy in the student union trying to prove himself, maybe, maybe it’s nothing, that’s all” – He said the man
The post was quickly picked up on social media, but the podcast creator, who didn’t know who called him, introduced himself as Dave. According to Arntz’s brother, Kohberger is not 100 percent speaking because he usually articulates very clearly, but for him, the suspect’s voice is deceptive.
They found it a little slow
The police have been tight-lipped about the case since the beginning, and it will remain a secret for some time. That’s because Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, but the murder took place in Idaho, so police can’t release certain documents until he’s extradited to the state of Idaho and the case’s first trial takes place. However, the documents written to obtain the arrest warrant, justifying his arrest, can be quite eloquent – He said Joey Jackson, CNN legal expert.
It was already known that a DNA sample found at the scene of the murder led to Kohberger. The CNNAccording to an anonymous source, several samples were collected and then run through a public database used to trace family relationships. Kohberger was also identified as such. Both Kohberger’s DNA and information about previous relationships with the victims were key pieces of evidence, Jackson said.
Also, on the night of the murder, security cameras in the area recorded Kohberger’s Hyundai Elantra parked near the student’s home for hours and three times. has passed In front of the house. Kohberger, on the other hand, went home to Pennsylvania on the other side of the US for the holidays. During the long car ride, Kohberger and his accompanying father were stopped twice: once for speeding and once for not maintaining braking distance. Body camera footage of the patrol officers who stopped him has been posted online, some of which show Kohberger visibly distressed during an ID check.
Investigators declined to say whether they knew the victim and what his motive might have been, according to their sources. The man in custody’s lawyer called his client “very intelligent” and added that he “understands where we are now”. Kohberger has pleaded not guilty, and according to his lawyer, “he very much wants to be released and looks forward to this case being resolved as soon as possible.”
A memorial to the victims in front of the apartment building where the crime took place – Photo: Lindsey Wasson / Reuters
Kohberger arrived in Pennsylvania on Dec. 17, but police didn’t find out until a few days before Christmas whether he had been there or had already been there. Authorities followed him for four days before he was arrested. When Kohberger was tracked down, Moscow police, Idaho State Police homicide detectives and the FBI worked with prosecutors to find enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant.
After the warrant was issued, the Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI arrested Kohberger on December 30, charging him with four counts of murder and robbery. Between the murders and his arrest, Kohberger was on the loose for about six weeks, drawing criticism from authorities.
A lot of information was revealed in the first phase of the investigation
A Pennsylvania court on Tuesday ordered Kohberger’s extradition to Idaho within ten days. Kohberger did not contest the decision and exercised his right to remain silent. On Thursday, January 5, the first hearing began, where some details were finally clarified. For example, a sample of Kohberger’s DNA was found on the sheath of the knife used as the murder weapon. This and the security camera footage were confirmed to be suspicious. Further investigation suggests that Kohberger – according to his phone’s cell data – may have returned to the crime scene the morning of the murder, before the bodies were found.
Authorities did not elaborate on the relationship between the suspect and the victims, but cell data showed he had been near their home dozens of times before the night of the murders. It was previously reported that friends and family of one of the victims, Kayleigh Goncalves, had previously spoken about the girl’s existence as a bully. This was denied by police in December, but with Kohberger coming into the picture, the theory may be resurgent.
At the same time, the testimony of roommates of the four murdered teenagers who were sleeping in another part of the apartment came out during the trial, based on which Kohberger may have had something to do with another victim, Chana Kernodil. According to security cameras, around 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 13, Kohberger’s car drove past the house several times. After four in the morning, a food delivery arrived in Kernodle’s name, and according to her cell data, the girl was using TikTok at that time. Her roommate, who lived in a separate apartment, heard the noise minutes later, leading him to believe the woman was playing with her dog.
Moments later, the roommate heard a woman crying, followed by a man’s voice saying, “It’s okay, I’ll help you.”
Around 5:30 a.m., one of the security cameras in the area recorded whining and barking and a dog barking. Around the same time, the roommate who made the above statement looked out of his bedroom and saw a man with “shaggy eyebrows” in black clothing and a mask. When she saw him go to the second floor, she closed the door instead and locked herself in. According to investigators, the roommate may have seen the killer.
Bryan Kohberger did not testify at Thursday’s hearing and will next appear in court on Jan. 12. Until then he will remain in custody. According to Lata County’s chief prosecutor, bail was out of the question because the man was caught thousands of kilometers from the crime scene.
Steve Goncalves is the father of one of the victims, Kayleigh Goncalves he said, the day they learned that a suspect had been arrested, they celebrated. “We’re definitely looking at this guy, seeing him in the eye. You’ve got to deal with us. He hasn’t been in touch with us for seven weeks, but it’s not over,” Goncalves said. The family kept their promise and actually sat through Thursday’s hearing.
An investigation is ongoing to determine what kind of connection Kohberger had with the victims. “We’re providing the Moscow police with a list of all the contacts we think are important,” Shannon Gray, an attorney for Kayleigh Goncalves’ family, told CNN, urging anyone with any vital evidence or information about the crime to come forward. . Police. If convicted, Kohberger could face life in prison or the death penalty They can beat.
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