CNN
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The suspect in the murders of four University of Idaho college students plans to forgo his extradition hearing this week, his attorney said, to expedite his return to Gem State, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger is “a little shocked,” Monroe County, Pennsylvania’s top public defender Jason LaBar told CNN on Saturday, a day after the 28-year-old was arrested in his home state on charges related to the fatal stabbing of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. He also faces burglary charges, according to Latah County, Idaho Attorney Bill Thompson.
LaBar had not discussed the murder case with the suspect when they spoke for about an hour Friday night, the attorney said, adding that he had no probable cause documents and was only representing Kohberger on the issue of his extradition, which the attorney called ” formality”.
“It’s a procedural issue, and the Commonwealth here really just has to prove that he resembles or is the person the warrant was issued for and that he was in the area at the time of the crime,” LaBar said.
Forgoing Tuesday’s extradition hearing was “obviously an easy decision,” LaBar said, “since he doesn’t deny that he is Bryan Kohberger.”
In a statement, LaBar stressed that his client will be pleaded innocent until proven guilty, saying, “Mr. Kohberger is keen to be cleared of these allegations and looks forward to resolving these matters as soon as possible.”
The arrest of the suspect – a graduate student in Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed – comes nearly seven weeks after the victims were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on Nov. 13. Since then, investigators say they have conducted more than 300 interviews and trawled through around 20,000 tips.
But authorities have yet to publicly confirm the suspect’s motive, or even if he knew the victims, whose deaths shocked the college community and the surrounding city of Moscow. The murder weapon was not found either, Moscow police chief James Fry said on Friday.
In the weeks since the killings, some members of the community have grown frustrated as investigators have still not given a full account of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the activities of the victims that led to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.
Fry told reporters Friday that state laws limit what information agencies can release before Kohberger first appears in an Idaho court. The probable cause affidavit — which details the factual basis of Kohberger’s charges — will be sealed until the suspect is physically in Latah County and the warrant has been served on him from Idaho, Thompson said.
According to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, investigators have confirmed Kohberger as a suspect through DNA evidence and by confirming his possession of a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen near the crime scene. Authorities say he lived minutes from the scene of the stabbing.
According to a law enforcement source, he was driving across country in a white Hyundai Elantra and arrived at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania around Christmas. At some point during his journey east from Idaho, authorities began stalking him.
An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to find enough probable grounds to get a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Genetic genealogy techniques were used to link Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case told CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family members, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to his identification as a suspect, the source said.
LaBar confirmed that Kohberger was traveling from Idaho to Pennsylvania with his father to celebrate the holiday with his family. A white Hyundai Elantra was found at his parents’ home, LaBar said, where authorities arrested Kohberger early Friday.
LaBar wasn’t sure how quickly his client would be returned to Idaho after intending to waive extradition at Tuesday’s hearing, saying that would be up to authorities. However, LaBar expected Kohberger to be returned to Idaho within 72 hours of the procedure.
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