The man who has been accused of stabbing and killing four students from the University of Idaho in 2022 was booked into a jail in Boise, Idaho, the city where his trial was moved to last week.
ABC News reported that Bryan Kohberger was booked into jail, according to records from Ada County. This comes after his defense team successfully argued that it would be very challenging to fill a jury with impartial individuals in Moscow, Idaho — the community where the murders happened — due to the strong emotions of the people there and the extensive coverage the media has given the case.
Kohberger is facing four charges of murder for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. All four were asleep in the same house when they were allegedly stabbed by the suspect in the early morning hours of November 13 of 2022.
It took authorities more than a month to name Kohberger as the lead suspect in the case and then track him down. He was eventually arrested in late December that year at a home in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania.
After he was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police, he was held locally before being extradited to Idaho on a first-degree murder warrant, which came out of Monroe County Court.
Investigators have long said that they believe Kohberger broke into the home where the four students were staying “with the intent to commit murder.”
Autopsies show that all four were stabbed likely while they were sleeping.
At a preliminary hearing held last year, Kohberger just stood silent when he was asked to enter a plea. As a result, the judge overseeing the case entered a not-guilty plea on the suspect’s behalf.
The trial was originally scheduled to be held in Moscow, the small town in the state where the University of Idaho is located. The defense team was able to argue that their client wouldn’t likely get a fair trial there, so the trial was moved roughly 300 miles away to Boise.
Prosecutors attempted to argue that bringing in a larger jury pool would allow them to ultimately find jurors who were impartial. They also tried to argue that moving the case would create major inconveniences for witnesses, attorneys and family members of the victims.
Law enforcement officials have said that on the night of the murders, Kohberger traveled all around the region. They found his DNA at the scene of the crime. And they say that cellphone data and surveillance video put him in the area at least 12 other times before he allegedly committed the murders.
The suspect’s defense team, though, has written in court filings that Kohberger just went for a drive on the night of the murder — something that he often did to just look at the stars or find a place to hike.
Prosecutors said they’ll seek the death penalty if they’re able to successfully convict Kohberger on all counts. The trial is currently scheduled to start next June.
