Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students, was moved on Sunday from rural Latah County to Ada County, where his upcoming trial will be held after a judge granted his defense team a change of venue.
Kohberger was seen arriving in Boise on a small plane and being transferred to a black SUV while wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs. Boise, where the new murder trial will unfold, is roughly 300 miles from where the crimes occurred.
Kohberger is now in the custody of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, according to online jail records, after previously being held in a jail in Moscow, Idaho, since January 2023.
Latah County District Judge John Judge granted the defense’s request for a change of venue earlier this month, citing a number of factors that he said collectively were in favor of moving the trial to a larger courthouse, further removed from the location of the crime.
IDAHO JUDGE RULES ON BRYAN KOHBERGER’S MOTION TO CHANGE VENUE IN STUDENT MURDER TRIAL
Kohberger is accused of entering an off-campus rental home around 4 a.m. on that date and fatally stabbing 21-year-olds Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves as well as 20-year-olds Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Police arrested Kohberger six weeks after the killings at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where he was spending winter break.
IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER GETS NEW JUDGE IN CHANGE OF VENUE IN STUDENT STABBINGS TRIAL
Authorities have said that cellphone data and surveillance video shows that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings; that he traveled in the region that night, returning to Pullman, Washington, along a roundabout route; and that his DNA was found at the crime scene.
His lawyers said in a court filing he was merely out for a drive that night, “as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars.”
Kohberger was a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, just 10 miles away across the state line at the time of the murders. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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