Family members of the four University of Idaho students viciously stabbed to death in their beds say they are “relieved” a suspect was finally arrested Friday morning.
“Of course we’re relieved,” Cheryl Goncalves, grandmother of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told The Post upon hearing that Bryan Christopher Kohberger had been taken into custody.
“This is what we wanted,” she continued. “We wanted him caught and now we want justice.”
Goncalves, 21, was found stabbed to death alongside roommates Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in the early hours of Nov. 13.
After a nationwide manhunt by the Moscow police, FBI and Idaho State Police, Kohberger was apprehended near Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a pre-dawn raid Friday.
A white Hyundai Elantra matching the description of the car police had identified as being near the crime scene at the time of the murders was also confiscated from the scene.
Kernodle’s mother, Cara Northington, told NBC News Friday that Kohberger’s arrest felt like “a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed on Nov. 13.
Describing the ordeal of the past seven weeks as a “nightmare,” Northington said she learned about the arrest after waking up and speaking to a friend. She was not familiar with the suspect.
“A lot of the grief was not knowing who this was, knowing that whoever was responsible for that is still out there. So yeah, this definitely takes a lot of the grief that we were experiencing off our shoulders,” she said.
“It’s unreal. I’m thankful to everybody for finding this creep.”
Kohberger, 28, was reportedly a doctoral candidate in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, around 10 miles from the victims’ three-story Moscow home.
Here’s the latest coverage on the brutal killings of four college friends:
- Why Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea means he may get the last laugh — and torment his victims further
- Byran Kohberger’s former criminology professor fears her serial-killer courses inspired him
- Prosecutors offered Bryan Kohberger a plea deal despite a mountain of damning evidence — here’s what they had
- Deluded Bryan Kohberger fans known as ‘probergers’ insist he’s innocent – despite guilty plea deal: ‘Reeks of a coverup’
- Families of slaughtered Idaho students vow to fight Bryan Kohberger plea deal: ‘Idaho has failed’
Earlier this week, Madison Mogen’s father, Ben Mogen, expressed his belief that his daughter’s killer would eventually be caught. Speaking to CBS News reporter Lilia Luciano on Friday, the family reaffirmed their gratitude for law enforcement’s efforts.
“As a family we are happy to see [her father Ben’s] faith in the Moscow PD and the rest of the team justified,” they said.
“Today we are commemorating our Maddie and her friend Kaylee with relief knowing that she can now be properly laid to rest,” the statement concluded, referring to Mogen and Goncalves’ joint celebration of life service scheduled for this afternoon in Coeur d’Alene.
“They’re just inexperienced — and I don’t want anyone making mistakes in my child’s case,” Goncalves told The Post at the time.
Bryan Kohberger has been arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
Local news outlets reported that Kohberger appeared briefly in Monroe County court Friday morning. He is set to appear at a hearing about extraditing him to Idaho to face charges on January 3.
