Idaho Murders: Hearing Delayed, Suspect Filled With Bruises

The Idaho State University quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger made a brief court appearance on Thursday and postponed his preliminary hearing until June 26 at the request of his defense.

Kohberger's counsel stated that the 28-year-old was ready to sacrifice his right to a brief preliminary hearing to provide the defense with additional time to evaluate discovery.

Bryan Kohberger Hearing

Kohberger's hands were free during his brief court appearance on Thursday morning, but his feet remained chained. The court asked Kohberger whether he knew he was entitled to a preliminary hearing within 14 days, to which he replied, "yes."

The court asked if he renounced his right to a speedy preliminary hearing, and he said affirmatively. If further time is required to present evidence, the court set aside the full week of June 26 through June 30 for the hearing.

Kohberger, charged with first-degree murder and burglary, has yet to enter a plea, ABC News reported. Kohberger was arrested in his native state of Pennsylvania on December 30 due to the triple killings that gripped the nation.

The doctoral student in the department of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University was spending the holidays with his family in Pennsylvania. A law enforcement source told ABC News that in the days preceding Kohberger's arrest in Pennsylvania, federal agents observed him throwing trash into neighbors' trash cans in the middle of the night.

The 28-year-old criminology Ph.D. student was taken into the courtroom by a sheriff's officer with two cuts near his chin and apparent bruises on his neck for the five-minute hearing.

As he relinquished his right to a speedy trial and was ordered to continue being held without bail, Kohberger wore leg shackles and an orange T-shirt and had a dead-eyed face with dark circles around his eyes.

According to witnesses cited by The New York Post, Kohberger appeared to fidget and answered briefly in response to the judge's straight inquiries.

Kohberger is accused of stabbing to death Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, while they slept in an off-campus residence around 4:00 a.m. on November 13.

Kohberger appeared in court one week after being extradited from his native state of Pennsylvania to Idaho. Per state regulations, after he appeared in court, the police may issue an affidavit containing the evidence that prompted them to suspect him.

This evidence suggested Kohberger may have conducted repeated surveillance on the students' residence and returned to the crime scene after the murders. His capture on December 30 followed a seven-week countrywide search in response to the gruesome murders of students that riveted America.

So, neither a motive nor a connection between Kohberger and the victims has been revealed. Shanon Gray, the attorney representing the Goncalves family, expressed astonishment after the hearing that the court scheduled a hearing so far in the future.

Idaho Murder Suspect Stalked Victims Before The Crime

Kohberger allegedly brought up the matter in a casual talk with his neighbor just days after the murders, stating that he viewed it as a "crime of passion."

One of Kohberger's neighbors in Pullman, Washington, a few miles across the Idaho border from Moscow, had come forward to allege that the suspect told him about the deaths shortly after they occurred when very few facts about the investigations were publicly accessible.

Contrast the neighbor's testimony with Kohberger's classmates, who claimed he was hesitant to discuss the subject, as per The Independent.Kohberger reportedly intends to contest the charges that he stormed into a student residence in Moscow on November 13 and brutally stabbed four pupils to death.

Jason LaBar, who represented Kohberger in Pennsylvania, stated that he was "ready to be exonerated."In an affidavit issued on January 5, detectives disclosed that Kohberger's DNA was detected in a knife sheath found next to the body of one of the victims. Police believe that further evidence, including security video of Kohberger's white Hyundai Elantra near the crime site and information from his smartphone, also links him to the deaths.

A lawyer for the family of Goncalves stated that "no connection" has been established between the four pupils and the suspect. According to the affidavit, cellphone data indicates that Kohberger stalked the student's residence at least 12 times before the murders.

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