Police have made a long awaited arrest in connection to the shocking murder of four students stabbed to death in their beds.
Authorities in Pennsylvania detained 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger in the early hours of this morning. He has been charged with four counts of first degree murder and felony burglary.
This is the first arrest in connection to the brutal slaying of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin whose bodies were found in an off-campus student house on November 13 in Moscow, Idaho, US.
The small town is home to University of Idaho, where the four studied.
The killings shocked the community and the wider country, even getting international attention due to its brutality.
Arrest paperwork filed in Monroe County Court, Pennsylvania, said Kohberger was being held for extradition to Idaho on a warrant for first degree murder.
It is the first major breakthrough since the incident - with no murder weapon or suspect found by officers until now.
Law enforcement have played the case close to their chest often to the frustration of the families of the victims.
Here is what we know about suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger so far.
What happened on the night
Although exactly what happened in the house on the night of the killings will only be revealed once Kohberger is extradited to Idaho and appears in court, police have released a timeline of events.
Victims Goncalves and Mogen went out the night of the murder, first to a bar and then stopped at a food truck on the way home. They caught a lift at around 2am.
Chapin and Kernodle were at the Sigma Chi house just a short walk away from the house where Kernodle lived and returned at around 1:45 am, police said.
The two other housemates who lived there were also out that evening, but returned home by 1 am, police said. They were unharmed in the tragic incident and didn't wake up until later that morning.
After they woke up, they called friends to come to the house because they believed one of the victims found on the second floor had passed out and wasn't waking up.
At 11:58 am, someone inside the home called 911, using a roommate's phone. Multiple people talked with the dispatcher before police arrived.
Two of the victims were found on the second floor of the three-story home, and two on the third floor. A dog was also at the home, unharmed.
Once the bodies were found a crime scene was established and the investigation launched.
Six weeks later, in which time the killings gained international attnetion, Kohberger was caught.
The suspect's background
Kohberger is a PHD student studying at nearby Washington State University.
He is based at the uni's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in Pullman, Washington, according to the department's website.
Pullman is just a 15-minute drive from the home where the four students were butchered.
He graduated this year from DeSales University in Pennsylvania, which the university has confirmed. He received a bachelor's degree in 2020 and completed graduate studies in June 2022.
His keen interest in criminology has added a sinister turn to the already grim case.
In a questionnaire, believed to be written by Kohberger in support of his studied, he asked respondents who had committed crimes questions such as:
Why did you choose that victim over others?
How did you leave the scene?
Did you struggle with or fight the victim ?
Introducing the questionnaire, the suspect wrote: "Hello, my name is Bryan and I am inviting you to participate in a research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.
"In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience."
He is from Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, a small town in the east of the state.
Public records document him registered as a libertarian voter.
Student who knew him calls him 'super awkward'
Ben Roberts, a graduate student in the criminology and criminal justice department at WSU, described Kohberger as confident and outgoing, but said it seemed like "he was always looking for a way to fit in".
"It's pretty out of left field," he said of the news Friday. "I had honestly just pegged him as being super awkward."
Roberts started the program in August - along with Kohberger, he said - and had several courses with him. He described Kohberger as wanting to appear academic.
"One thing he would always do, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something," he said. "He had to make sure you knew that he knew it."
What led the police to him?
On December 7, investigators asked the public for help in finding a white Hyundai Elantra sedan seen near the Moscow student home around the time of the killings.
By the next day the police department had to direct tips to a special FBI call centre because so many were coming in. By mid-December, investigators were working through nearly 12,000 tips and had identified more than 22,000 vehicles matching that make and model.
NBC News have reported that a white Hyundai Elantra was towed from the Albrightsville house where Kohberger was arrested.
CNN have reported Kohberger’s DNA has also been matched to material found at the scene.
Did he know the victims?
His connection to the victims is so far unknown but more will likely be revealed in the coming months.
Since the killings multiple reports have suggested that Kaylee Goncalves may have had a stalker and police have investigated a number of avenues around this.
It has also been revealed he followed the female victims on Instagram via a personal and PHD account. It is unclear when he started following these pages.
What have the victims' families said
Shanon Gray, an attorney representing Goncalves's father, Steve Goncalves, said law enforcement officials called the family last night to let them know about the arrest, but gave no additional information about how or why they believe he might be connected to the murders.
"Obviously they're relieved that someone has been arrested," Gray said. "You guys know about as much as we do right now."
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.
