A suspect arrested in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students plans to waive an extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face murder charges. Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was taken into custody early Friday morning by the Pennsylvania State Police at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township, “We believe we’ve got our man,” Moscow Police Department Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told The Associated Press. Investigators obtained samples of Kohberger’s DNA directly from the suspect after he was arrested. Bill Thompson, a prosecutor in Latah County, Id., said investigators believe Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students’ home near campus “with the intent to commit murder.”
The bodies of the students — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found on Nov. 13. The arrest raised questions about whether the suspect knew the victims, what he has been doing in the weeks since the killings and how authorities tracked him down in Pennsylvania. Idaho law prohibits police from releasing most investigation records while the investigation is underway. Kohberger’s attorney, chief public defender Jason LaBar, said Kohberger is eager to be exonerated and plans to tell a judge on Tuesday that he will waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho. Police are trying to understand “every aspect” of Kohberger, Dahlinger said. When the arrest was announced, investigators asked that anyone that knows Kohberger call a tip line to share information. “We got 400 phone calls within the first hour after the press conference, which is great,” Dahlinger said. “We’re trying to build this picture now of him: Who he is, his history, how we got to this event, why this event occurred.”