A man was charged with stabbing to death four University of Idaho students on Monday. He pleaded not guilty in court, setting up a trial where he could face the death sentence.
The killings on November 13, 2022, shocked the small town of Moscow, Idaho, and caused many students to leave campus early and switch to learning from home for the rest of the term.
Bryan Kohberger, who was 28 at the time, was caught at the end of last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus.
Kohberger didn’t say anything in Latah County District Court, so the judge said something for him.
The judge set the hearing for October 2, but it could be moved back.
At the time, he was a graduate student in criminology at the nearby Washington State University. However, officials have not said how he might have chosen the victims or if he had met any of them before.
The tweet below verifies the news:
Judge enters not guilty plea for suspect in stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students https://t.co/fOgDyJ0kpD
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 22, 2023
Before Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ house in eastern Pennsylvania early on Dec. 30, 2022, police didn’t say much about the probe. In court papers, police say they were able to link Kohberger to the killings by putting together DNA evidence, cellphone data, and surveillance video.
Investigators say that Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath in the house where the students were killed. They also say that Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ houses 12 times before the deaths. Surveillance cameras caught a white car that may have been Kohberger’s driving by the rental home several times around the time of the killings.
Kernodle, Chapin, Mogen, and Goncalves were all friends and members of the Greek system at the university. The three women who lived in the rental house across the street from school were all members of the same sorority. On the night of the attack, Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was there to stay.
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Bill Thompson, who is the prosecutor for Latah County, has 60 days to tell the court if he will ask for the death sentence in this case.
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