Idaho students murder suspect Bryan Kohberger to appear in court

A makeshift memorial sits at the site of a quadruple murder, seen on January 3, in Moscow, Idaho.

The suspect in Idaho student killings case appeared in court today for a status conference – his second time in an Idaho court since his extradition from Pennsylvania after his arrest late last month.

At this hearing, the judge set the date for a preliminary hearing for Bryan Kohberger: June 26 at 9 a.m. in Moscow, Idaho.

Upon the judge’s orders, Kohberger will remain remanded in state custody with no bond until the June hearing.

Meanwhile: Authorities still want to hear from people who may be able to shed more light on Kohberger.

“This is not the end of this investigation, in fact, this is a new beginning,” Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said after announcing that Kohberger was arrested.

Urging anyone with information to come forward, the prosecutor said: “Report anything you know about him, to help the investigators, and eventually our office and the court system, understand fully everything there is to know about not only the individual, but what happened and why.”

“We want information on that individual,” the chief told CNN. “We want that updated information so that we can start building that picture now. Every tip matters.”

Bryan Kohberger, left, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court on January 5 in Moscow, Idaho.

A judge on Thursday set a preliminary hearing for suspect Bryan Kohberger to begin June 26 at 9 a.m. in Moscow, Idaho.

Kohberger was arrested in connection with the November killings of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death.

Here’s what we know about him so far:

Kohberger was apprehended at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania, where Kohberger went several days before Christmas, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar told CNN. A white Elantra authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings was also at the parents’ house, the attorney added.

“He was home for the holidays,” LaBar said.

He is a PhD student in criminal justice: Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, according to a now-removed university graduate directory, which was seen by CNN.

Kohberger had finished his first semester as a PhD student in the school’s criminal justice program earlier in December, the university said in a statement.

Kohberger applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in Washington in the fall of 2022, writing in his essay he was interested in “assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations,” according to court documents.

Pullman is about a 15-minute drive from Moscow, where the killings took place.

A Reddit post asking about criminal offenses: Kohberger was previously an undergraduate and graduate student at DeSales University, according to a statement on the school’s website. DeSales is a Catholic university in Pennsylvania, according to its official Facebook page.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and earlier this year completed his “graduate studies for the Master of Arts in criminal justice program,” according to a university spokesperson.

Kohberger’s attorney described his client as “very intelligent,” adding “he understands where we are right now.”

In a post removed from Reddit after the arrest was made public, a student investigator associated with a DeSales University study named Bryan Kohberger sought participation in a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”

The post said, “In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.”

CNN reached one of the principal investigators of the study, a professor at DeSales University, but they declined to comment on the matter. The university has not responded to comment.

An affidavit released last week offered a look at the investigative work that went into identifying Bryan Kohberger as the suspect in the killing of four University of Idaho students.

DNA allegedly found on a knife sheath at the crime scene: Trash recovered from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger’s family late last month and sent to the Idaho State Lab for DNA testing revealed that the “DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The DNA in the trash “identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father” of the suspect whose DNA was found on the sheath.

“At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit released last week, the suspect in the case falls into what criminal profilers call an “organized offender,” who likely planned and prepared for the attack, said CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.

But the suspect made a “rookie mistake,” Miller said: leaving the knife sheath at the crime scene. Other experts agree.

Roommate saw a figure dressed in black clothing and a mask: One of two roommates who were not harmed told investigators she saw a masked man dressed in black in the house the morning of the attack, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Identified in the document as D.M., the roommate said she “heard crying” in the house that morning and a male voice saying, ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you.’”

D.M. told investigators she saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” according to the affidavit.

“D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10” or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit said. “The male walked past D.M. as she stood in ‘frozen shock.’”

“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” according to the document, which said the roommate did not recognize the male.

Surveillance video pointed to a white sedan: Authorities reviewed local surveillance footage and were drawn to a white sedan, later identified as a Hyundai Elantra, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was seen in the area around the home where the killings took place.

By Nov. 25, local law enforcement had been notified to be on the lookout for the vehicle, the affidavit said.

Days later, officers at nearby Washington State University, where the suspect was a PhD student in criminal justice, identified a white Elantra and found it was registered to Kohberger.

Kohberger’s driver’s license information was consistent with the description the unharmed roommate gave investigators, according to the affidavit.

The document specifically noted Kohberger’s height and weight – 6 feet and 185 pounds – and that he has bushy eyebrows.

White Elantra at the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger’s parents: Kohberger received a new license plate for his Elantra five days after the killings, the affidavit said, citing records from the Washington State Department of Licensing.

At the time of Kohberger’s arrest last week, a white Elantra was found at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who said Kohberger had gone home for the holidays.

Suspect’s phone used at least a dozen times near the students’ residence: Phone records show Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times since June, according to the court documents. “All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”

Additionally, records show Kohberger’s phone was near the murder scene – 1122 King Road – between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m. – hours after the killings, according to the court documents.

A review of phone records showed Kohberger’s phone left his home at approximately 9 a.m. and traveled to Moscow, the affidavit said, and that the same phone traveled “back to the area of the Kohberger Residence … arriving to the area at approximately 9:32 a.m.”

CNN’s Dakin Andone, John Miller, Elizabeth Joseph and Veronica Miracle contributed to this story.

Nearly two months after the killings of four University of Idaho students, a number of questions remain.

Bryan Kohberger makes a court appearance on January 12.

A preliminary hearing for suspect Bryan Kohberger has been set to begin June 26 at 9 a.m. in Moscow, Idaho. A judge set the date after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy probable cause hearing within 14 days days. 

The public defender representing Kohberger requested the judge allow four or five days for the hearing, and no objection from the district attorney was lodged. The judge said she was blocking the week of June 26 for the matter. 

Kohberger was present in court Thursday, wearing an orange prisoner uniform, with his feet shackled. He spoke only briefly while answering the judge’s questions about his acknowledgment that he was waiving his right to a speedy hearing.

The judge ordered he remain remanded in state custody with no bond ahead of the June 26 hearing. 

Here’s a timeline of some of the major developments in the killing of four University of Idaho students and the arrest of a suspect in the case:

Nov. 12: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were students at the University of Idaho who lived at a nearby off-campus residence in Moscow, a college town of about 25,000 people. They had two other roommates at the three-floor, six-bedroom apartment. That night, Chapin and Kernodle went to a party on campus, and Mogen and Goncalves went to a downtown bar, police said.

Nov. 13: Mogen and Goncalves ordered at a late-night food truck at about 1:41 a.m., the food truck’s live Twitch stream shows. As they waited for their food, they could be seen chatting with each other and with other people standing by the truck. The two students did not seem to be in distress or in danger in any way, said Joseph Woodall, 26, who manages the truck.

Chapin and Kernodle are believed to have returned home around 1:45 a.m., and Goncalves and Mogen used a private party for a ride home at about 1:56 a.m., according to police.

Two other roommates at the home who were not injured woke up later in the morning and summoned friends to the home because they believed one of the victims had passed out and was not waking up. A call to 911 was made just before noon about an unconscious person at the residence, police said.

Arriving officers found the door to the residence open and discovered the bodies of four fatally stabbed students.

There was no sign of forced entry or damage, police said.

Nov. 15: Moscow Police issued a statement saying an “edged weapon such as a knife” was used in the killings. No suspects were in custody and no murder weapon had been found, police said.

Nov. 16: Police Chief James Fry held a news conference – the department’s first in the case – and reiterated there was no suspect. He also noted that the two other roommates who were home at the time of the attack were uninjured. The chief said authorities are not focusing on them. “We’re focusing on everybody that may be coming and going from that residence.”

Nov. 18: Detectives by then had conducted 38 interviews with people “who may have information” about the killings and had taken the contents of three dumpsters near the house in case they held evidence, they said. Investigators also asked local businesses if there had been any recent purchases of a “fixed-blade knife,” according to the police update.

Hoping for tips from the community, investigators released a map and timeline of the victims’ movements last weekend. The map shows the four students spent most of the night separated in pairs.

Nov. 20: Police had fielded 646 tips and conducted more than 90 interviews, Chief Fry said at a news conference. He declined to identify who placed the 911 call from the home where the students were slain, saying only the call came from the phone of one of the surviving roommates. He wouldn’t confirm which one placed the call, but said that the caller is not a suspect.

Nov. 30: Moscow Police release a list of people who they believe are not involved in the crime, including the two surviving roommates, a man in the Grub Truck surveillance video, the private party driver who took Goncalves and Mogen home, the man Goncalves and Mogen called numerous times the night they were killed and any person at the home when 911 was called. Police believe the attack was indeed “targeted,” but investigators have not concluded if the target was the residence or its occupants.

Dec. 5: Regarding Goncalves’ possibly having a stalker, police said investigators identified an incident in October in which two men were seen at a business and one man appeared to follow Goncalves inside and as she exited to her car. The man did not make contact with her.

Investigators contacted both men and learned they were trying to meet women at this business. Detectives said they believe this was an isolated incident and not a pattern of stalking and said there was no evidence to suggest the men were involved in the killings.

Dec. 7: Investigators say they are interested in speaking with the occupant or occupants of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra spotted near the crime scene around the time of the killings.

Dec. 30: Suspect Bryan Kohberger was taken into custody. The arrest was made by Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Jan. 3: In an extradition hearing in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, Kohberger agreed to be extradited to Idaho. The judge ordered that he must be handed over to the custody of Latah County District Attorney’s Office in Idaho within 10 days.

Jan. 5: Kohberger made his initial appearance in court at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho on January 5.

CNN’s Veronica Miracle, Jason Kravarik, Ray Sanchez, Andi Babineau, Caroll Alvarado and Sharif Paget contributed to this report.

University of Idaho students returned to campus on January 11 in Moscow, Idaho. 

Classes resumed Wednesday at the University of Idaho. Nearly seven weeks passed without an arrest in the gruesome stabbing deaths of four students in November, leaving the tight-knit community wracked with unease and uncertainty. Many students had abandoned the campus amid anxiety.

The arrest of a suspect over winter break, however, has alleviated many students’ fears, allowing them to walk into classrooms Wednesday with more confidence in their safety. Still, the community’s long-held sense of security has been irrevocably shattered, some university members say.

“It definitely seems like a different place,” sophomore Shua Mulder told CNN affiliate KXLY. “I’m hanging out with some more people. Definitely staying in groups.”

Sophomore Ryder Paslay was watching the news with his family when he learned of Bryan Kohberger’s arrest. “I breathed a sigh of relief and I’m pretty sure my mom did the same thing,” he told KXLY.

The university’s response: The university significantly heightened security measures and gave students the option to leave campus and complete the semester remotely.

Though some security measures implemented after the killings will be scaled down this semester, campus security will remain heightened, the university’s provost and executive vice president Torrey Lawrence told CNN last week. While students still have the option to attend remotely, he said most have returned to campus.

Even so, he said, the “very peaceful, safe community” has experienced a “loss of innocence” in the tragedy’s wake.

“I don’t know if it will ever feel the same,” sophomore Paige Palzinski told KXLY, “But I think just being conscious of knowing what’s happened and having more protections in place has been huge.”

CNN’s John Miller, Elizabeth Joseph and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

Clockwise from bottom left: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle

Four University of Idaho students, who also shared an off-campus house, were killed in November.

The university identified the four students killed as Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona, and Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Here’s what we know about them.

Xana Kernodle was a positive, funny woman, her sister Jazzmin said. “She made me such a proud big sister, and I wish I could have had more time with her. She had so much life left to live.”

Kernodle was a junior studying marketing and was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, the university said.

Ethan Chapin was a kind and loyal person, his mother Stacy Chapin said in a statement. “It breaks my heart to know we will never be able to hug or laugh with Ethan again, but it’s also excruciating to think about the horrific way he was taken from us.”

Chapin was one of a set of triplets, who enrolled at the University of Idaho, the family said in a statement. He was a freshman majoring in recreation, sport and tourism management and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, the university said.

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen

Kaylee Goncalves’ older sister, Alivea Goncalves, sent a statement to the Idaho Statesman on behalf of her family and Madison Mogen’s family.

“They were smart, they were vigilant, they were careful, and this all still happened,” she said.

Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, according to the university.

Mogen, also a senior, was studying marketing and was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, the university said.

Police tape surrounds the residence where four University of Idaho students were killed as Moscow Police monitor the scene in Moscow, Idaho, on November 30, 2022. 

Authorities arrested Bryan Kohberger almost seven weeks after four University of Idaho students were killed, taking him into custody at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where an attorney said he had traveled for the holidays.

While it took almost two months for authorities to publicly name a suspect, police – who faced mounting criticism while the investigation outwardly appeared at a standstill – had begun focusing on Kohberger as a suspect weeks earlier.

Among the most notable pieces of evidence was a witness account from one of the victims’ surviving roommates, who told police she saw a man dressed in black inside the house the morning of the killings, according to a probable cause affidavit released last week. The witness described the man as about 5-foot-10 or taller and not very muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows, it said.

Investigators were also drawn to a white sedan seen in local surveillance footage in the area around the home. By November 25, they had told local law enforcement to look out for the car, by then identified as a Hyundai Elantra.

Days later, officers at Washington State University, where Kohberger was a PhD student in criminal justice, found such a vehicle and discovered it was registered to Kohberger, the affidavit says.

When investigators searched for his driver’s license information, they found it consistent with the description of the man dressed in black provided by the roommate, the affidavit says, specifically noting his height, weight and bushy eyebrows.

Kohberger got a new license plate for his car five days after the killings, the affidavit says. When he was arrested in Pennsylvania last week, a white Elantra was found at his home, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who represented the suspect in his extradition.

Other evidence listed in the affidavit included phone records showing Kohberger’s phone had been near the victims’ home at least a dozen times since June. Records also show the phone near the site of the killings hours later, between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m., the document says.

Additionally, trash authorities recovered from Kohberger’s family home revealed a DNA profile linked to DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found lying on the bed of one of the victims, the affidavit said. The DNA recovered from the trash is believed to be that of the biological father of the person whose DNA was found on the sheath, it said.

Kohberger was also surveilled for four days before his arrest, a law enforcement source told CNN. During that time, he was seen putting trash bags in neighbors’ garbage bins and “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the source.

A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

Bryan Kohberger, right, is escorted into a courtroom for a hearing in Latah County District Court on January 5 in Moscow, Idaho.

The man suspected of killing four University of Idaho students is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference Thursday – his second time in an Idaho court since his extradition from Pennsylvania after his arrest late last month.

Bryan Kohberger, 28, is being held without bail in the Latah County jail in Idaho, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

After a night out, the four undergrads were found dead Nov. 13 in an off-campus home, according to police, fraying nerves in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, along the Washington state border.