Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students, has been relocated from rural Latah County to Ada County in preparation for his upcoming trial. The move comes after a judge granted his defense team's request for a change of venue.
Kohberger was transported to Boise, approximately 300 miles away from the crime scene, where the new murder trial will take place. He arrived in Boise via a small plane and was then transferred to a black SUV while wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs. Online jail records indicate that Kohberger is now in the custody of the Ada County Sheriff's Office, having been previously held in a jail in Moscow, Idaho, since January 2023.
Latah County District Judge John Judge approved the change of venue earlier this month, citing various factors that supported moving the trial to a larger courthouse further away from the location of the crime. Kohberger stands accused of entering an off-campus rental home and fatally stabbing four young individuals in the early hours of the morning. Police arrested Kohberger six weeks after the killings at his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was on winter break.
Authorities have revealed that cellphone data and surveillance footage place Kohberger in the victims' neighborhood multiple times before the murders, and his DNA was found at the crime scene. Despite these findings, Kohberger's defense team claims he was simply out for a drive that night, a routine activity for him to hike, run, or stargaze.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University located just 10 miles away from the crime scene, could potentially face the death penalty if convicted of the charges against him.