Pa. man accused in Idaho murders makes first court appearance and waives extradition hearing

The Pennsylvania man accused of killing four University of Idaho students made his first court appearance Tuesday in Monroe County and agreed to be extradited to Idaho.

Bryan Kohberger, 28, waived his extradition hearing in Monroe County on Tuesday. Kohberger is accused of murdering the students — 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 — in a home near the university campus in November.

While Kohberger must be extradited back to Idaho within the next 10 days, the transfer could come sooner. Authorities in Pennsylvania are working with Idaho officials to coordinate Kohberger’s extradition.

“We would like to do it as soon as possible,” Maj. Christopher Paris of the Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday. Authorities did not provide further details.

Kohberger, a doctoral student and teaching assistant in Washington State University’s criminal justice and criminology program, was taken into custody at his parents’ Chesnuthill Township home in Monroe County early Friday morning.

Pennsylvania State Police assisted the FBI with surveillance on the case before serving three search warrants — one for Kohberger himself, another for a Hyundai Elantra, and a third for the residence where Kohberger was staying, said Michael Mancuso, first assistant district attorney of Monroe County.

Due in part to Idaho law, the probable-cause affidavit for the charges against Kohberger will remain sealed until he returns to that state and makes an initial appearance in court, Latah County authorities said Friday. Investigators there say Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students’ off-campus home “with the intent to commit murder,” and fatally stabbed all four victims — likely while they were sleeping, according to autopsy reports.

Mancuso described the affidavit’s remaining sealed as a “quirk” of Idaho law.

“Having read those documents, and the sealed affidavits of probable cause, I definitely believe that one of the main reasons the defendant chose to waive extradition and hurry his return back to Idaho was the need to know what was in those documents,” Mancuso said.

Investigators in Idaho say they were able to track Kohberger’s DNA to the crime scene, and tied him to a white Hyundai Elantra spotted in the area around the time of the killings.

“We believe we’ve got our man,” Moscow Police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told the Associated Press.

On Sunday, Kohberger’s family issued a statement calling for the public to uphold “the presumption of innocence” in the case, rather than “judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions.”

“We care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children,” the Kohberger family’s statement read. “There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them. We will continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family we will love and support our son and brother.”

Jason LaBar, Kohberger’s attorney in Pennsylvania and the chief public defender for Monroe County, issued a similar statement Saturday, noting that “the American justice system cloaks [Kohberger] in a veil of innocence” until he is proven guilty in court.

“Mr. Kohberger is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible,” LaBar said.