The 28-year-old arrested and charged as a suspect in the November murders of four University of Idaho students has been transferred from the Pennsylvania jail Wednesday where he was held without bond before agreeing to be extradited on Tuesday.
The jail warden confirmed that Bryan Kohberger was no longer detained at the Monroe County Correctional Facility and instead in the custody of Pennsylvania State Police. In a statement also issued Wednesday by the Pennsylvania court system, officials said they were not privy to details about Kohberger's transfer from the county jail to Idaho and redirected inquiries regarding the extradition timeline to state police. A spokesperson for the state police told CBS News that they were unable to provide additional information.
Kohberger appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, where he waived his extradition rights during a brief hearing. He was expected to be moved to Idaho in a transfer arranged by state authorities there, according to Monroe County public defender Jason LaBar, who represented Kohberger through the extradition procedure. The attorney said earlier this week that Kohberger's extradition could happen within 72 hours of the hearing, noting that he believed Idaho law enforcement was prepared to act quickly given the national focus on the college murder case.
Early on the morning of Nov. 13, four University of Idaho students — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were stabbed to death at the women's off-campus rental home in the town of Moscow. Despite the ongoing public attention paid to their murders and consistent updates from the Moscow Police Department regarding its investigation, there were few developments in the probe prior to Kohberger's arrest last Friday.
Kohberger was taken into custody on a fugitive from justice charge at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, at around 3 a.m. on Dec. 30. Monroe County district attorney Mike Mancuso subsequently confirmed that Kohberger's parents were both at home when he was arrested, and officials said the timing of the arrest was decided for "tactical reasons." Multiple doors and windows were broken when police gained access to the house.
Details about how the police investigation into the University of Idaho murders led authorities to Kohberger are still unclear, because Idaho law restricts the amount of information that can be released before he appears in an Idaho courtroom. When he does, more concrete facts about the alleged evidence against him, including the probable cause statement, can be made public.
Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary for his alleged involvement in the killings, said Latah County, Idaho, prosecutor Bill Thompson during a news conference that followed his arrest on Friday. Before driving cross-country with his father to Pennsylvania, likely around mid-December, according to Mancuso, Kohberger had just finished his first semester at Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, the campus is roughly 15 minutes from the University of Idaho by car. Kohberger enrolled at the school as a Ph.D. student in criminology and also worked as a teaching assistant there.
He has denied allegations of his involvement in the murders at the University of Idaho, according to LaBar, who said during an appearance on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday morning that Kohberger believed he would be exonerated. LaBar said in the same interview that Kohberger's family was "shocked" by his arrest and the allegations brought against him. Kohberger was placed on suicide watch after the extradition hearing on Tuesday as a precaution, a source told CBS News.
