Man arrested in Pennsylvania over Idaho student murders

A man was arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday in relation to the killings last month of four students at the University of Idaho, according to court filings and news reports.

The Associated Press identified the man as Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, and reported that he was being detained pending extradition to Idaho to face a first-degree murder charge.

The document indicated that Kohberger was arrested in the early hours.

Citing four law enforcement sources, NBC News said the man arrested was being held in Monroe county, Pennsylvania, having been brought before a local judge on Friday morning.

The quadruple killing sent shockwaves and sowed mistrust. For weeks, residents remained on edge as no suspect was named. Authorities did not disclose the discovery of a murder weapon, nor proffer any possible motive.

Many of the 11,000 University of Idaho students left Moscow right after the murders, while others who departed for the Thanksgiving holiday opted not to come back.

Before the killings, Moscow, a town of 25,000 near the border with Washington state, had not seen a murder in seven years.

Conspiracy theories proliferated. One University of Idaho professor sued a self-anointed TikTok psychic for alleged defamation over the claim, made without any evidence, that the academic was responsible for the killings.

Moscow police requested public help on 7 December and within a day had to send tips to a special FBI call center due to the volume of calls, the AP said.

According to CNN, law enforcement honed in on Kohberger after linking him to the white Hyundai Elantra.

Later, the page listing graduate students appeared to have been taken down. The university did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Prior to his studies in Washington state, Kohberger reportedly undertook graduate studies at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Reports also indicated that Kohberger had worked as a school security officer in the Pleasant Valley school district.