Grand jury indicts man in 4 University of Idaho stabbing deaths, eliminating want for listening to

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a person who was already charged within the stabbing deaths of 4 University of Idaho college students, permitting prosecutors to skip a deliberate week-long preliminary listening to that was set for late June.

Bryan Kohberger was arrested late final 12 months and charged with housebreaking and 4 counts of first-degree homicide in reference to the Nov. 13, 2022, killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental residence close to the University of Idaho campus. At the time, Kohberger was a graduate scholar finding out criminology at close by Washington State University, and the killings left the close-knit communities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, reeling.

A preliminary listening to — the place prosecutors should present a decide that there’s sufficient proof to justify shifting ahead with felony expenses — had been scheduled to start June 26. But on Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Kohberger on the identical felony expenses, successfully rerouting the case on to the state’s felony courtroom stage and permitting prosecutors to skip the preliminary listening to course of.

Court paperwork have already detailed a lot of the investigation that prosecutors say ties Kohberger to the slayings. A white sedan allegedly matching one owned by Kohberger was caught on surveillance footage repeatedly cruising previous the rental residence on a dead-end avenue across the time of the killings. Police say traces of DNA discovered on a knife sheath inside the house the place the scholars have been killed matches that of the 28-year-old Kohberger. Investigators additionally contend {that a} cellphone belonging to Kohberger was close to the victims’ residence on a dozen events previous to the killings, although it was apparently turned off across the time of the early-morning assault.

Kohberger was arrested Dec. 30, 2022, at his mother and father’ residence in japanese Pennsylvania, and regulation enforcement officers seized darkish clothes, medical gloves, a flashlight and different objects from the house, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. In Pullman, investigators seized stained bedding, strands of what seemed to be hair, and a single glove from his WSU campus condo, in keeping with one other search warrant.

Still, the unsealed courtroom paperwork don’t seem to counsel a motive, nor whether or not the killer had particularly focused any of the victims. It’s additionally not clear if prosecutors consider Kohberger had met any of the victims earlier than the night time they died.

Kernodle, Chapin, Mogen and Goncalves have been pals and members of the university’s Greek system, and the three ladies lived collectively within the rental residence simply throughout the road from campus. Chapin — Kernodle’s boyfriend — was there visiting on the night time of the assault. The killings left lots of their classmates and residents of Moscow reeling with grief and worry.