A man in his 20s was taken into custody in Pennsylvania on Friday in connection with the killings of four University of Idaho students in November, NBC News reported, citing law enforcement officials.
NBC News reported that the man taken into custody near Scranton was Bryan Kohberger, and that he appeared before a judge in Monroe County earlier on Friday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials. He is being held in jail awaiting extradition to Idaho, NBC reported.
Records filed in the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas showed that Kohberger was detained without bail and was due to return to court on Tuesday for an extradition hearing. The records did not state the charges for which he was arrested.
Local and state law enforcement along with university officials said they would hold a news conference at 1 p.m. local time about the murders, which occurred in the college town of Moscow, Idaho.
Pennsylvania State Police worked with Moscow and Idaho police officials as well as the FBI to serve a warrant on a fugitive in Pennsylvania on Friday morning, according to spokesperson Myles Snyder. Snyder said he could not confirm the identity of the person taken into custody.
Moscow police found the bodies of three female students and one male student inside an off-campus house on Nov. 13. The victims appeared to have been killed with a knife or some other “edged” weapon, police said at the time.
The dead were identified as Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee GonCalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho.
The murders shook the town of about 25,000 people as police worked to solve the crime over the last six weeks. The Moscow Police Department said it received more than 13,000 email and phone tips and 6,000 digital media submissions. The department said more than 300 interviews were conducted during the investigation.
Investigators have been searching for a white Hyundai Elantra car believed to have been in the immediate area of the home during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, police said. Police seized a white Elantra on Friday at the Pennsylvania house where Kohberger was arrested, NBC News reported.
