The suspect’s family shows support for him and sympathy for the people he stabbed in Idaho. In their first public statement since their son Bryan Kohberger was arrested for the November killings of four students at the University of Idaho, his parents and sister voiced their support for him and grief for the victims on Sunday.
In a statement released by Monroe County, Pennsylvania public defender Jason LaBar, Michael and Marianne Kohberger and their sister Amanda said, “As a family, we will love and support our son and brother.” We have worked closely with law enforcement to find the truth and support his innocence presumption.
Kohberger’s family added, “First and foremost, we care sincerely for the four families who have lost their lovely children,” to the statement. Every day, we keep them in our prayers.
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After meeting with Kohberger on Saturday, LaBar reported to The Washington Post that Kohberger, now 28 years old, intends to allow himself to be extradited to Idaho from Pennsylvania to face the charges against him.
As he anticipates his dismissal, he is prepared to forego his right to a hearing on his extradition. That’s what he said,” LaBar explained.
Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
Police in Pennsylvania made public on Friday that they had arrested Kohberger, a doctorate student at Washington State University.
Before his arrest, LaBar told The Post that Kohberger had been living with his family in their house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. Midway through December, his father drove him home from Pullman, the town in eastern Washington where WSU is located.
If what LaBar says is true, the two took a white Hyundai Elantra and drove it across the country to return to their respective homes. At the time of Kohberger’s arrest in early December, police said that a vehicle matching Kohberger’s description had been seen near the scene of the attacks.
Kohberger’s parents, according to LaBar, said that their son had displayed “nothing out of the norm” on the trip or at home.
Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, all died from stab wounds; Kohberger was arrested after a week-long inquiry.
The news of their deaths in the wee hours of November 13th, while they slept in an off-campus residence, horrified the residents of Moscow, Idaho, and the rest of the country. Over the next seven weeks, authorities (including the FBI) sought the public’s help and provided scant updates until announcing Kohberger’s arrest.
Very little further has been made public about this case. Authorities said that until Kohberger appears in court in Idaho, an affidavit of probable cause cannot be released.
Suppose Kohberger follows through with his decision not to fight extradition. In that case, he will be taken to Idaho more quickly, and more facts related to the stabbings and the police’s identification of him as a suspect may be made public.
Capt. Anthony Dahlinger, a spokesman for the Moscow Police Department, told The Post via email on Saturday that “the sealed court documents will only become open to the public once Kohberger has been seen in an Idaho court.” “At this moment, we do not have an estimate for when that might occur.”
In an email on Friday, officials at Washington State University stated that Kohberger, a native of Pennsylvania, had recently finished his first semester in the university’s doctoral program in criminal justice. He had been in Washington for fewer than a semester at the time of the murders, having recently graduated from DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, with a master’s degree in criminal justice.
Kohberger’s university office and apartment in Pullman, roughly a 15-minute drive from Moscow, were searched by Idaho authorities Friday, WSU officials said.
