The man accused of the November murders of four University of Idaho students has been released from a Pennsylvania jail in the custody of state police, authorities said Wednesday morning, meaning he could head to Idaho to face charges. of first degree murder.
“He is no longer in the custody of the Monroe County Correctional Center; he is in the custody of the Pennsylvania State Police,” director Garry Haidle told NBC News on Wednesday. “He’s out of my custody.”
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student at Washington State University, a short drive from where the killings occurred across the state line, told a judge Tuesday he would not fight extradition to Idaho.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Police declined to provide additional information on Kohberger’s extradition status, citing security reasons.
Authorities have released few details about the investigation and an Idaho judge issued a gag order barring police and lawyers from discussing the case. But court filings, including a document setting out Latah County Attorney Bill Thompson’s reasons for charging Kohburger with the murders, are expected to be released once Kohberger arrives in Idaho.
Kohberger was arrested last week at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township, eastern Pennsylvania.
THE BRUTAL ATTACK ON STUDENTS
The overnight attack at a home near the University of Idaho campus spread fear in the surrounding community as authorities appeared stunned by the brutal stabbings. However, investigators appeared to make a breakthrough after searching for a white sedan seen at the time of the murders and analyzing DNA evidence collected at the crime scene.
Investigators have said they were still looking for a motive and the weapon used in the attack.
The bodies of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington, were found Nov. 13 in the rental home where the women lived. Kernodle and Chapin were dating and he had been visiting the house that night.
Latah County, Idaho, prosecutors have said they believe Kohberger broke into the victims’ home with the intent to commit murder.
Jason LaBar, the top public defender in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, said Kohberger is eager to be exonerated and should be found innocent and “not tried in the court of public opinion.”
After Tuesday’s hearing, LaBar described Kohberger as “an ordinary guy” and said that after his extradition he would be represented by the top public defender in Kootenai County, Idaho.