A suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho students has been detained in Pennsylvania.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in Monroe County for first-degree murder in Idaho.
A law enforcement official confirmed the arrest to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity before a formal announcement Friday.
A Ph.D. student with the same name is at Washington State University, which is near the University of Idaho. WSU officials were contacted for more information.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death near campus on Nov. 13. Investigators couldn’t name a suspect or find a murder weapon for weeks.
Law officials urged the public for help finding a white automobile seen near the home around the killings. The Moscow Police Department requested the FBI contact centre on Dec. 7 and by the next day, tips were pouring in.
Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, and Chapin, 20, were Greek members and close friends. Mogen, Goncalves, and Kernodle shared a three-story apartment with two others. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was visiting that night.
All four were likely asleep when assaulted, autopsies found. Each was stabbed numerous times, some defensively. Police said there was no sexual assault.
Police said Thursday the rental home would be cleansed of “possible biohazards and other dangerous substances” on Friday. A news statement indicated the residence would be returned to the property manager once the work was done.
The stabbing fatalities rocked Moscow, Idaho, a farming hamlet of 25,000 in northern Idaho’s Palouse region.
Online sleuths guessed about suspects and reasons. Police offered little details early in the investigation.
Nearly half of University of Idaho students switched to online classes for the rest of the semester, abandoning dorms and flats for the protection of their hometowns. The university hired a security firm to help students navigate campus, and the Idaho State Police patrolled the city’s streets.
Monroe County, PA is in the Poconos. Stroudsburg is 100 miles from Philadelphia.
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