Bryan Kohberger Moved to Boise Before Idaho College Murder Trial

Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, was flown Sunday morning from the Idaho County jail where he was being held to another county where he will stand trial.

Last week, the state Supreme Court ordered a change of venue and Kohberger’s transfer from Latah County, where the November 2022 killings took place, to Ada County, more than 300 miles south and home to Idaho’s capital, Boise.

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office booked him into the local jail. Kohberger’s trial is tentatively scheduled for June in Boise.

Latah County District Judge John Judge ruled in favor of attorneys for Kohberger, 29, who argued that a trial in Latah County would be unfair because the intense pretrial publicity would create a “mob mentality” against him.

At a hearing on the issue, defense experts presented research indicating that the most effective way to prevent jury bias was to change the trial venue.

Given Latah County’s smaller population of 41,000, just over half of which are eligible to serve on a jury, the judge wrote in his order that it is “much more likely” that residents of that county have connections to someone involved in the case, making it “more likely” that they discussed it – and therefore “more difficult to make the identities of jurors private.”

“While the problem of extensive and sensationalized media coverage is not unique to Latah County,” Judge added, “it is potentially more impactful given the volume of coverage associated with a smaller population.”

Ada County has a population of approximately half a million people.

The state Supreme Court said in a ruling last week that the case would be reassigned to a new district judge, Steven Hippler. Latah County prosecutors and Kohberger’s public defenders are expected to remain on site during the trial.

The new judge will have another major decision to make in the coming months: Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted. Kohberger’s defense wants to avoid that possibility, arguing in a filing that capital punishment would violate the U.S. Constitution. A hearing on that issue is scheduled for Nov. 7.

Kohberger was arrested more than a month after four students — Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20 — were fatally stabbed in an apartment building on the edge of the University of Idaho campus. Kohberger was a resident of Pullman, Washington, and a doctoral student at Washington State University at the time.

A not guilty plea to four counts of first-degree murder and burglary was entered on his behalf in May 2023. Authorities have not publicly confirmed the motive; a gag order prevented many people involved from speaking.

Prosecutors said they plan to present DNA evidence, details of cellphone usage and security videos to link Kohberger to the crime.

Kohberger’s defense suggested that he often drove late at night and that cellphone tower data would show he was doing so miles away when the four students were killed.

Some victims’ families have expressed frustration with the delay and have pushed to keep the case in Latah County so its residents can represent the jury.

The Goncalves family expressed optimism that the trial would continue, writing on their Facebook page Thursday: “Ada County, we will see you again soon.”