The graduate criminology student accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, after which he was expected to be transported to Idaho to face murder charges.
The graduate student, Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested at his parents’ house in Eastern Pennsylvania last week and charged in the overnight killings of four students at a home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13. Mr. Kohberger had entered a Ph.D. program in criminology and criminal justice at Washington State University last summer and moved to Pullman, Wash., a 20-minute drive across the border from the scene of a crime that horrified and confounded the college town.
The police have not outlined a possible motive, but the authorities in Idaho were expected to release more details, including in a criminal complaint, after Mr. Kohberger arrives in the state. The public defender representing Mr. Kohberger in Pennsylvania, Jason LaBar, has said Mr. Kohberger would not challenge his extradition and looks forward to being exonerated.
E. David Christine Jr., the district attorney in Monroe County, Pa., where Tuesday’s court appearance is taking place, said he expected authorities would “immediately” take Mr. Kohberger to Idaho if he consents to his extradition.
Mr. Kohberger arrived at the courthouse from jail handcuffed and wearing a red jumpsuit. He did not respond to reporters as they shouted questions, including whether he had carried out the crime. Mr. LaBar said Mr. Kohberger had told him that he was shocked to be considered a suspect in the slayings.
The four University of Idaho undergraduate students — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — were killed in a home near campus where three of them lived. The one male victim, Mr. Chapin, was there visiting his girlfriend, Ms. Kernodle.
Mike Baker contributed reporting.
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