(RepublicanNews.org) – Accused murderer Bryan Kohberger has been indicted by a grand jury in Idaho for the November 2022 slayings of four college students.
Kohberger, a former criminology student, stands accused of breaking into a home at 4 am and killing four students, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
The oldest of the students was 21, and the rest were 20 years old. The three young women were sharing the six-bedroom house with at least two other roommates, who were not attacked. The fourth victim, Ethan Chapin, was dating Xana Kernodle and was spending the night when Kohberger allegedly attacked.
Edwina Elcox, a well-known criminal defense attorney in Boise, said she wasn’t surprised about the indictment and had predicted it would come.
Two of the housemates survived, and one told police that she heard crying coming from roommate Xana Kernodle’s bedroom. She heard a man say, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you,” before witnessing a masked man leaving through the back door.
Crime scene investigators found DNA, presumably from blood, on a knife sheath they discovered next to victim Madison Mogen’s body. They used cell phone records to track Kohberger and his white Hyundai. Police arrested Kohberger in January 2023 and charged him with four counts of first-degree murder, along with felony burglary.
The affidavit supporting Kohberger’s arrest said the accused visited the victims’ home at least 12 times before the murders occurred. The last “visit” happened after the murders and before anyone had called 911.
Kohberger appears to have been fascinated by serial killers during his criminology studies. Former friends said he was addicted to opiates in his teens but quit drugs to pursue a degree. He studied with a well-known expert on serial killers, Katherine Ramsland. Ramsland wrote a book with the infamous “BTK” serial killer Dennis Rader.
If convicted, Kohberger might receive the death penalty. He will not be able to plead insanity in Idaho as a defense.
Copyright 2023, RepublicanNews.org
