A 28-year-old man has been charged with the murder of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death in a house.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was detained about 2,500 miles from Menlo County in northeastern Pennsylvania.
He is now charged with four counts of first-degree murder, according to prosecutor Bill Thompson.
At a news conference Friday, police and prosecutors said Kohberger had been charged.
They added that the search for the murder weapon was continuing.
Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13 in Moscow, Idaho, leaving their small community desperate for answers.
Fear of repeat attacks prompted nearly half of the University of Idaho’s more than 11,000 students to leave the city and take online classes instead.
Prosecutor Thompson said investigators believe Coberg broke into the student’s home “with intent to murder.”
Kohberger was also charged with felony burglary in Idaho, Thompson said.
An extradition hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Kohberger is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, a short drive from the University of Idaho.
Moscow police chief James Frye said 19,000 reports had been received and more than 300 interviews had been conducted about the investigation.
Kohberger’s arrest and charges follow weeks of investigations in which no one has been arrested until now.
Police are asking for the public’s help in locating a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen near his home around the time of the homicide.
The Moscow Police Department made the request on Dec. 7 and had to send the tip directly to a special FBI call center the next day because too many people came in.
“We’re still looking for weapons,” Mr Fry said. “I would say we found Elantra.”