Idaho Killings Suspect Gets Monthslong Delay in Preliminary Hearing

MOSCOW, Idaho — The person accused of murdering 4 College of Idaho college students moved on Thursday to delay a preliminary listening to within the case, suspending till June a call on whether or not there may be enough proof to carry him for trial on the fees.

Throughout a quick courtroom listening to, Anne Taylor, the general public defender representing the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, requested a multiday listening to wherein the prosecution would current the complete scope of witnesses and different proof within the case. With no opposition from prosecutors, Latah County Justice of the Peace Decide Megan Marshall set the listening to to start on June 26.

Mr. Kohberger, carrying an orange T-shirt and answering solely yes-or-no questions, was returned to custody with out bail.

At the same time as prosecutors and investigators have laid out an array of proof about Mr. Kohberger, a criminology scholar at close by Washington State College, they’ve but to element a motive. Members of the family of the victims have been trying all over the place for info which may present a connection to Mr. Kohberger, however no clear hyperlink has emerged.

“They didn’t know him,” Shanon Grey, a lawyer for the household of one of many victims, Kaylee Goncalves, stated in an interview. He stated households deliberate to share any particulars with investigators about potential hyperlinks, even those who appeared unlikely.

The killings on Nov. 13 shattered the sense of peace in a school city that had not recorded a homicide in years. 4 college students have been discovered brutally stabbed in bedrooms in a house close to campus in the midst of the night time, with no suspect rising for weeks till Mr. Kohberger was arrested at his household’s dwelling in Pennsylvania on the finish of December.

The victims — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — had been killed after spending a typical Saturday night time round city, with two of them going to a celebration and two others going to a bar earlier than returning dwelling within the early morning hours. Investigators imagine all 4 have been killed shortly after 4 a.m.

In courtroom paperwork launched final week, investigators stated they linked Mr. Kohberger to the crime with the assistance of DNA discovered on a knife sheath discovered on the scene. They stated surveillance video confirmed a white automobile, just like the one pushed by Mr. Kohberger, circling the neighborhood across the dwelling shortly earlier than the time investigators imagine the killings occurred.

Mr. Kohberger’s telephone was tracked to the neighborhood on a number of events earlier than the killings, and as soon as on the morning after them, however was not linked to cell networks on the time when the deaths are believed to have occurred.

Mr. Kohberger has stated by means of certainly one of his public defenders that he seems ahead to being exonerated, however he has not but entered a proper plea.

He had lengthy taken an curiosity in learning the psychology of criminals, getting a bachelor’s diploma in psychology from DeSales College in 2020 and a grasp’s diploma in legal justice there in June 2022. He then moved to Washington State College to pursue a Ph.D. in criminology.

Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.