The man suspected of being responsible for the murder of four Idaho college students plans to forego his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, allowing him to return to Idaho to face charges.
Bryan Kohberger’s attorney, lead public defender Jason LaBar, said Kohberger plans to tell a judge in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday that he is waiving his extradition hearing so he can be rushed to Idaho to face charges. and is eager to be exonerated. .
LaBar also warned people not to pass judgment on the case until after a fair trial. The case has generated a great deal of speculation on social media, with aspiring detectives frequently trying to pin the blame for the deaths on various friends and acquaintances of the victims.
“Mr. Kohberger has been charged with very serious crimes, but the American justice system covers him with a veil of innocence,” LaBar wrote in a prepared statement. “He must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, not be tried in the court of public opinion.”
MOSCOW, IDAHO POLICE BELIEVE SUSPECT KOHBERGER ACTED ALONE, CHIEF SAYS
This photo provided by the Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Center shows Bryan Kohberger. Arrest papers filed by Pennsylvania State Police in Monroe County Courthouse
(Monroe County Correctional Center (Pa.) via AP)
Kohberger, 28, was arrested early Friday in eastern Pennsylvania on a warrant charging him with four counts of murder and robbery in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21.
Kohberger is being held without bond in Pennsylvania and will be held in Idaho once he is returned, Idaho District Attorney Bill Thompson said. The affidavit for four counts of first-degree murder in Idaho will remain sealed until he is returned, the prosecutor said.
MOSCOW AND IDAHO POLICE STILL SEARCHING FOR FIXED BLADE KNIFE AFTER ARREST OF SUSPECT KOHBERGER
Bryan Christopher Kohberger was taken to the Monroe County Correctional Center after being arrested early Friday after being charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen. , twenty-one.
(Derek Shook/Fox News Digital)
Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., which is just a 15-minute drive from the rental house where four students were stabbed until death in November.
The four students were stabbed multiple times in the torso and were likely ambushed in their sleep with a large fixed-blade knife between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on November 13.
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Victims of the November 13 massacre at the University of Idaho.
(Instagram @xanakernodle / @maddiemogen / @kayleegoncalves)
Fox News confirmed through a law enforcement source that investigators have only focused on Kohberger as a suspect “in recent days,” and genetic genealogy work on DNA left behind at the crime scene was instrumental in leading them to Kohberger.
Police officers said during a news conference Friday that Idaho state law prevents them from revealing any more details about what led them to Kohberger until he is extradited and appears in an Idaho court.
Rebecca Rosenberg of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
