The Pennsylvania family of a man arrested in the slayings of four University of Idaho students expressed sympathy for the families of the victims but also vowed to support him and promote "his presumption of innocence.”
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was taken into custody early Friday by state police at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township in eastern Pennsylvania, authorities said.
His parents, Michael and Maryann, and his two older sisters, Amanda and Melissa, said in a statement released Sunday by his attorney that they “care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children. There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them.”
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The family said that relatives will continue to let the legal process unfold, and that “as a family we will love and support our son and brother.” They say they have fully cooperated with law enforcement to try to "seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions.”
Monroe County's chief public defender, Jason LaBar, said his client is eager to be exonerated and plans to tell a judge Tuesday in Pennsylvania that he will waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly taken to Idaho. LaBar also urged people not to pass judgment until a fair trial has been held.
“Mr. Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence,” LaBar said in a statement. “He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise — not tried in the court of public opinion.”
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Capt. Anthony Dahlinger of the Moscow Police Department in Idaho told The Associated Press on Saturday that authorities believe Kohberger was responsible for all four murders. “We believe we’ve got our man,” he said.
Bill Thompson, a prosecutor in Latah County, Idaho, said during a news conference Friday that investigators believe the suspect broke into the University of Idaho students’ home near campus “with the intent to commit murder.” The bodies of the victims were found Nov. 13, several hours after investigators believe they died.
The students — Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington — were members of the university’s Greek system and close friends. Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle lived in the three-story rental home with two other roommates. Kernodle and Chapin were dating, and he was visiting the house that night.
Autopsies showed all four were likely asleep when they were attacked. Some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault, police said.
Latah County prosecutors have said the affidavit for four charges of first-degree murder in Idaho will remain sealed until the suspect is returned. He is also charged with felony burglary in Idaho. Many details of the case are expected to be released after his first appearance in an Idaho courtroom, Dahlinger said.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
