CNN
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A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the investigation into the killing of four University of Idaho students in November in an off-campus home in Moscow, two federal law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN on Friday.
During a news conference on Friday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry confirmed the arrest of 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, on a warrant for the murders of the four students.
He said the suspect resides in Pullman, Washington, and is a graduate student.
The name of the suspect was confirmed to CNN earlier on Friday by a federal law enforcement source as well as a court source in Pennsylvania, where records show Kohberger was arrested and arraigned Friday morning. The arraignment was in Monroe County, in the Pocono Mountains, a state official said.
Police have been tight-lipped over the course of nearly seven weeks since the killings, which prompted investigations by the FBI, state police and Moscow police.
Fry acknowledged frustrations from the victims’ family members and Idaho residents who were anxious for more updates during the course of the investigation.
“This was a complex and extensive case. We developed a clear picture over time …and be assured that the work was not, the work is not done,” Fry said.
Authorities have provided some information on the killings during the course of the investigation, and a preliminary timeline reveals how those killed spent some of their final hours, as well as the investigative response.
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 in the three-floor, six-bedroom apartment.
Goncalves posted a series of photos on her Instagram at some point with the caption, “one lucky girl to be surrounded by these ppl everyday.” One of the photos shows Mogen sitting on Goncalves’ shoulders, with Chapin and Kernodle standing next to them.
That night, Chapin and Kernodle went to a party on campus, and Mogen and Goncalves went to a downtown bar, police said.
Mogen and Goncalves ordered at a late-night food truck at about 1:41 a.m., the food truck’s live Twitch stream shows.
They ordered $10 worth of carbonara from the Grub Truckers and waited for about 10 minutes for their food. As they waited, 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.
Video shows two University of Idaho victims at food truck on night of killings
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.
“It was a pretty traumatic scene to find four dead college students in a residence,” Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt later told CNN affiliate KXLY.
There was no sign of forced entry or damage, police said.
Moscow Police issued a statement saying four people were found dead in a home off campus. University of Idaho President Scott Green announced the four victims were students and canceled classes Monday.
Moscow Police issued a statement identifying the four homicide victims as Chapin, Goncalves, Kernodle and Mogen.
Police said details were limited and no one was in custody. They added Moscow police did “not believe there is an ongoing community risk based on information gathered during the preliminary investigation.”
Moscow Mayor Art Bettge released a statement calling the deaths “senseless acts of violence.” Bettge said only limited information could be shared without “jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation.”
Green issued a statement offering condolences to the victims’ families and the community.
“Moscow police do not believe there is an ongoing community risk based on information gathered during the preliminary investigation, however, we ask our employees to be empathetic, flexible and to work with our students who desire to return home to spend time with their families,” he said.
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.
“Also, based on information from the preliminary investigation, investigators believe this was an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat to the community at large,” police said.
Later in the day, police released another statement, attempting to calm fears of a killer on the loose.
“We hear you, and we understand your fears,” police said. “We determined early in the investigation that we do not believe there is an ongoing threat for community members. Evidence indicates that this was a targeted attack.”
Police Chief Fry held a news conference – the department’s first in the case – and reiterated there was no suspect. He also backtracked on the assurances of no one at risk.
“We cannot say there’s no threat to the community,” Fry said. “And as we have stated, please stay vigilant, report any suspicious activity and be aware of your surroundings at all times.”
Two other roommates were home at the time of the attack and were not injured, Fry said.
“There was other people home at that time, but we’re not just focusing just on them, we’re focusing on everybody that may be coming and going from that residence,” he said.
The victims were “likely asleep” before they were attacked, police said.
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. The map shows the four students spent most of the night separated in pairs.
“Most definitely someone somewhere has a tidbit of information that will help break this case open and we believe the public around here will have that information for us,” Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell said.
The victims were found on the second and third floors of their home, Snell told CNN.
Mabbutt, the coroner, told CNN she saw “lots of blood on the wall” when she arrived at the scene. She confirmed there were multiple stab wounds on each body – likely from the same weapon – but would not disclose how many wounds nor where most were located.
Authorities spent about two hours at the crime scene as a part of the investigation.
“We’re trying to expedite everything that might possibly lead to a suspect,” said Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson, who was there.
“I wish we had more answers, and they’re still asking questions,” Thompson said.
One week after the bodies of the four students were discovered, authorities still had no suspect or weapon, Moscow Police Capt. Roger Lanier said.
Police had fielded 646 tips and conducted more than 90 interviews, Police Chief Fry said at a news conference.
Fry 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.
There were other “friends that had arrived at the location,” Fry said, adding the person who called 911 is not a suspect.
Moscow Police said they have looked extensively into information suggesting Goncalves had a stalker, but they have not been able to verify or identify one.
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.
A series of comments from law enforcement officials added further confusion to the investigation.
Thompson, the Latah County prosecutor, said at least one of the victims was “undoubtedly targeted” in the attack.
Soon after, Moscow Police said they spoke with Thompson and affirmed his comments were a miscommunication. “Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate,” police said, appearing to backtrack on earlier statements.
Police then had to further clarify they believe the attack was indeed “targeted,” but investigators have not concluded if the target was the residence or its occupants.
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.
Investigators said 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.
“Investigators believe the occupant(s) of this vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case,” the police statement said, noting it had an unknown license plate.
Moscow police began returning some of the personal belongings of the four victims to the their families, officials said.
“It’s time for us to give those things back that really mean something to those families and hopefully to help with some of their healing,” Police Chief Fry said in a brief video statement.
“I’m a dad, I understand the meaning behind some of those things,” Fry said. The items being removed are “no longer needed for the investigation,” the police department said.
Moscow police said they have received an overwhelming number of tips related to their search for a white sedan seen near the crime scene around the time of the killings.
Investigators were working through more than 6,000 tips they have received over the course of the investigation, Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told CNN.
Due to the number of tips received, calls were being directed to an FBI call center to help sort leads received, police said.
“We are still 100% committed to solving this crime,” Moscow Police Capt. Lanier said in a video update on the investigation.
“We’re not releasing specific details because we do not want to compromise this investigation. It’s what we must do. We owe that to the families, and we owe that to the victims. We want more than just an arrest, we want a conviction,” Lanier said.
Lanier’s remarks came as hundreds of University of Idaho students were taking final exams the week before the fall semester ends.
“Our analysts have spent hours sorting through and trying to come up with the most relevant tips first for the investigators to follow up on. They have reinterviewed some of the folks we’ve interviewed earlier in this investigation to clarify information,” Lanier said.
Everyone in Moscow should be aware of their surroundings, avoid walking in dark places and walk in groups when possible, Lanier said.
“This is not an indication of a specific elevated risk, but something that we should be vigilant with just in our daily lives,” he added.
Kristi Goncalves, the mother of 21-year-old victim Kaylee Goncalves, expressed frustration over police communications on the status of the investigation into the killings in an interview aired on NBC’s “Today” show.
“It’s sleepless nights. It’s feeling sick to your stomach. It’s just being left in the dark,” Goncalves said in the interview.
Goncalves also recounted the day she learned something had happened to her daughter.
“We’re running around for hours just not knowing what was going on, what happened,” she said. “… We found out by people calling us. And the sheriff showed up about three hours later.”
Goncalves described learning about the police interest in a white Hyundai sedan seen in the area around the time of the murders not from investigators, but from reading about it in a news release sent to her by someone else.
“My first thought just started being like, how long have they had this information? Where do they get this information? Was it on a camera?” Goncalves said.
Police said they have received about 20,000 tips through more than 9,025 emails, 4,575 phone calls, and 6,050 digital media submissions, while having conducted over 300 interviews in the case of the four students slain in an off-campus home.
The home where the killings took place will be cleaned up but remain an active crime scene under police control, authorities said Thursday.
Moscow police said they have worked with a property management services company to remove “potential biohazards and other harmful substances used to collect evidence,” the update said. The home will be turned over to the property management company.
A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the investigation into the murders of the four students, two federal law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN on Friday.
The arrest in the fatal stabbing case was made by Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI in northeastern Pennsylvania, the law enforcement sources told CNN.
Later that afternoon, Moscow Police Chief Fry in a news conference confirmed the arrest in Pennsylvania on a warrant for the murders of the four students. Kohberger resides in Pullman, Washington, and is a graduate student, Fry said.
A criminal complaint was filed on Thursday charging Kohberger with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary, Latah County Prosecutor Thompson said during the news conference.
Kohberger’s DNA has also been matched to genetic material recovered at the off-campus house where the students were stabbed to death, sources told CNN.
Thompson told members of the public that investigators are not done building their case against the suspect and that officials still need help gathering more information.
Fry said police will aim to prove as much information they can about the extradition to Idaho and the criminal process, but due to Idaho state law they are limited in the information they can share until the suspect has his initial appearance in an Idaho court.
