Judge Enters Not Guilty Plead on Behalf of Bryan Kohberger, Charged with Four Idaho Murders

() — An Idaho judge entered a plea of ​​not guilty on behalf of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students last fall, during his appearance in Latah County court Monday.

Judge John Judge read aloud Kohberger’s rights and each of the murder and robbery charges outlined in the indictment. When asked if he understood the charges, Kohberger responded to each one: “Yes.”

When asked to enter his guilty plea to the murder and robbery charges, Kohberger remained silent. His attorney stood up and said, “Your Honor, we remain silent,” and the judge proceeded to enter his not guilty plea.

Kohberger, 28, was charged last week with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the Nov. 13 killings of 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, in a house just outside the university’s main campus in Moscow, Idaho.

The trial has been set for October 2 and is expected to last about six weeks. Prosecutors have 60 days from Monday to announce, in writing, whether they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.

The hearing offered few details about a grisly case that remains shrouded in mystery. Authorities say Kohberger, a graduate student in the Criminology Department at nearby Washington State University, broke into the students’ home and repeatedly stabbed the victims. The police have not revealed the possible motive for the case and, due to a broad summary order of secrecy, few details have emerged so far.

Kohberger has been in police custody since late December, when he was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania after a weeks-long search that left the university and the surrounding community on edge. made up of about 25,000 people. He is in prison without bail.

In the days after the grisly crime scene was discovered, investigators zeroed in on a white Hyundai Elantra that appeared on surveillance footage near the crime scene, according to a probable cause affidavit released in January.

On November 25, area law enforcement was notified to search for the vehicle, according to the affidavit. Within days, police at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Wash., identified a vehicle and found it registered to Kohberger.

The details on his driver’s license matched the description of a man provided to police by the victims’ surviving housemate, according to the affidavit, which specified his height, weight and bushy eyebrows.

The woman told investigators that she saw a man with a similar description dressed in black the morning of the attack. Hours before the murders, Chapin and Kernodle had attended a party on campus, according to police, while Mogen and Goncalves went to a downtown bar before ordering food from a food truck.

Investigators linked Kohberger to the crime scene after DNA from a leather knife sheath found next to one of the victims was linked to DNA from trash recovered from Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania, according to the police. sworn declaration.

There, investigators seized a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra that a lawyer for the suspect previously said he had used to drive, accompanied by his father, to his parents’ house for the holidays. Court documents show that investigators dismantled the vehicle and collected parts, fibers and swabs for examination.

Investigators also seized knives, a cellphone, black gloves, black masks, laptop computers, dark-colored clothing and dark shoes, an evidence log shows.

Following his arrest, Kohberger waived the extradition trial and was returned to Idaho. He was booked into the Latah County Jail on the same charges he was charged with.

Many details about the case remain unknown, in part because of a far-reaching non-disclosure order that prevents lawyers for any interested party in the case from commenting beyond the public record, leaving a veil of secrecy instead.

A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for the end of June, in which the parties were expected to detail the evidence collected by the State. But the hearing was canceled after Kohberger’s indictment, Latah County Assistant Court Clerk Tamzen Reeves said, and court records indicate the names of witnesses who testified before the grand jury are sealed.

— ‘s Cheri Mossburg and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.