Idaho College Killings: Idaho Killings: Roommate of Murder Victims Saw Black

In an affidavit, officials provided more details about the night of the killings and said DNA and surveillance video led them to the 28-year-old accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students.

Mike Baker, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Serge F. Kovaleski

MOSCOW, Idaho — On the night in November when four University of Idaho students were murdered in a home near campus, another roommate awoke to a noise that she thought was her friend playing with her dog. Then she heard someone crying, and a man saying something like, "It's OK, I’m going to help you."

When the roommate peered out of her room just after 4 a.m., she later told investigators, she stood in "frozen shock" as a man wearing black clothes and a mask walked by her toward the home's back door. She did not recognize him, she said, but she noticed his bushy eyebrows.

It was not until many hours later that the full extent of what had happened upstairs and down the hall became clear: Four students had been stabbed to death, leaving two roommates — and a dog whose barking had been loud enough to be heard outside — alive.

On Thursday, law enforcement officials ended nearly two months of silence on the details of their investigation and unveiled an array of evidence they say left them with little doubt about the identity of the killer: Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student in criminology at a neighboring university.

Mr. Kohberger, who was arrested on Dec. 30 at his parents’ home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, appeared in court for the first time in Idaho on Thursday to face charges of first-degree murder and felony burglary.

In a packed courtroom where the father of one victim was sitting in the front row, Mr. Kohberger hardly spoke except to say that he understood that the maximum penalty for each murder charge was life imprisonment or death. His public defender, Anne Taylor, said in court that Mr. Kohberger "has a good family that stands behind him." He has said through another lawyer that he looks forward to being exonerated.

Authorities have yet to detail a motive in the killings, nor has there been any explanation for why the two surviving roommates, who are also students at the University of Idaho, did not call 911 until shortly before noon the next day.

But in a small college town that had not recorded a murder in seven years, the newly unsealed court records offer a detailed account of how police officers, with the aid of dozens of F.B.I. agents, methodically triangulated clues. Among them were DNA found on a knife sheath left at the scene, surveillance cameras in the neighborhood, cellphone tower records and DNA from the suspect's father collected from the family's trash in Pennsylvania — all of which, the police said, pointed to Mr. Kohberger.

The early morning attack at the house along a dead-end street, a five-minute walk from campus, claimed the lives of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

It came after an otherwise typical Saturday night. Ms. Kernodle and Mr. Chapin, who were dating, had attended a fraternity party together, and Ms. Goncalves and Ms. Mogen had gone to a bar. All four victims, as well as the two surviving roommates, were back at the home before 2 a.m.

The new documents suggest that Ms. Kernodle was awake around the time of the killings, receiving a DoorDash delivery around 4 a.m. and apparently using the TikTok app on her phone 12 minutes later. Police said the murders likely happened before 4:25 a.m.

In addition to hearing the crying and the man's voice, the roommate on the second floor also heard one of her roommates say something like, "There's someone here," around 4 a.m.

At roughly the same time, a security camera from a nearby home picked up distorted audio of a whimpering sound and a loud thud. A dog could be heard barking several times.

A variety of surveillance footage collected from the neighborhood gave investigators some of their early leads, showing that, shortly before the crimes, a white Hyundai Elantra had made three passes along the dead-end street where the killings took place. It returned a fourth time, at 4:04 a.m., around the time the surviving roommate said she had woken up.

The vehicle was seen 16 minutes later leaving the neighborhood "at a high rate of speed," according to the affidavit, which was signed by Cpl. Brett Payne of the Moscow Police.

Investigators began scouring the region for similar cars. At the end of November, a campus police officer at Washington State University, which is about a 15-minute drive from the University of Idaho and the crime scene, discovered that an Elantra belonging to Mr. Kohberger was registered with the university.

The investigators soon found from Mr. Kohberger's driver's license that he matched the roommate's description of the man in the mask, including, they say, the bushy eyebrows.

In December, Mr. Kohberger drove home to Pennsylvania with his father for winter break while investigators were still piecing together their case. Two days before Christmas, the police were able to obtain cellphone tower records showing that on the night of the killings, Mr. Kohberger's phone had stopped connecting to cell towers somewhere near his apartment in Pullman at 2:47 a.m. before reconnecting somewhere south of Moscow at 4:48 a.m. — suggesting that his phone had either traveled out of a coverage area or been turned off.

His phone had already been in the area of the house 12 times in the months before the murders, according to the affidavit.

He appears to have also been back in the vicinity of the house hours after the killings, but before the victims were found, according to the court affidavit. Cell tower records showed that his phone had traveled from Pullman back to Moscow, connecting for nine minutes to the cell network that services the neighborhood of the crime scene.

Investigators had another key piece of evidence: the DNA sample found on the button snap of a tan leather knife sheath that had been left on a bed next to the bodies of Ms. Goncalves and Ms. Mogen.

In December, investigators traced Mr. Kohberger to his parents’ house in Pennsylvania. On Dec. 27, while he was there over winter break, the police managed to retrieve some garbage from the house and sent what appears to have been a DNA sample from Mr. Kohberger's father for testing. The results showed a strong probability that the elder Mr. Kohberger was the father of whoever left DNA on the knife sheath.

In a predawn raid on Dec. 30, the police broke through windows and doors of the family home and arrested the younger Mr. Kohberger. They followed up quickly with searches of his apartment in Pullman, the white Hyundai Elantra he had driven with his father to Pennsylvania and the parents’ home. They also got a court order to obtain a direct DNA sample from Mr. Kohberger.

Friends of the victims have been searching for possible connections between the victims and the accused killer — so far, disclosing none — and classmates of Mr. Kohberger's at Washington State University have examined their own recollections to try to identify clues.

Some said Mr. Kohberger spent time studying the exact kind of techniques that the police used in recent weeks to identify him, and had a deep interest in criminal psychology and crime scenes.

Benjamin T. Roberts, a fellow graduate student at Washington State, said Mr. Kohberger had been interested in areas like psychology and Rational Choice Theory, which suggests that offenders may often try to assess the potential costs and benefits of committing a crime.

"He took the field of study very seriously," Mr. Roberts said.

But peers also said he at times caused conflict in the program. Mr. Roberts recalled that Mr. Kohberger tended to be more forceful and condescending in challenging the ideas of female students during discussions in classroom settings.

"There was a consistent pattern in which he would push back more with women colleagues than with male colleagues," he said.

One new revelation in the court affidavit had a tinge of irony: After enrolling in the Ph.D. program at Washington State in August, Mr. Kohberger had applied for an internship. In an essay as part of the application, he described his interest in helping rural police departments collect and analyze data as part of public safety operations. The internship he applied for was at the Pullman Police Department, whose officers would wind up helping in the investigation of the murders.

Kirsten Noyes and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

Mike Baker

A sweeping gag order remains in place for the case. The order prohibits the police, prosecutors and defense lawyers from commenting publicly, and may last until a final verdict is reached.

Mike Baker

New investigative details released on Thursday provide the first clear view of the apparent movements of the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in the early morning hours of Nov. 13.

A newly released law enforcement affidavit and information previously released by investigators provide a timeline of what happened that night:

1:45 a.m. — After spending several hours at a fraternity party, two of the victims — Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin — return to the off-campus house Ms. Kernodle shared with several roommates, including the other two victims.

1:56 a.m. — The other victims — Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen — arrive back at the house after spending time at a bar and grabbing food at a food truck.

2:47 a.m. — A phone belonging to the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, stops connecting to the cellphone network in Pullman, Wash., where he lives, a short drive from the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.

2:53 a.m. — Surveillance footage shows a white sedan, consistent with a white Hyundai Elantra registered to Kohberger, traveling toward the highway between Pullman and Moscow.

3:29 a.m. — Surveillance video shows what police say is a white Hyundai Elantra in the Moscow neighborhood that includes the victims’ house, where the crime later occurred. The vehicle makes three passes by the house.

4 a.m. — One of the victims, Xana Kernodle, receives a DoorDash delivery at the home, according to investigators. At about the same time, another occupant of the house is awakened by what she thinks is an upstairs roommate playing with her dog, according to her statement to the police.

4:04 a.m. — Video shows the Elantra returning to the area for a fourth time, at one point doing a three-point turn in the roadway near the house.

4:12 a.m. — Kernodle uses the TikTok app on her phone, her phone records suggest. The downstairs roommate is also awake: Sometime shortly after 4 a.m., she tells investigators, she hears what sounds like crying coming from Kernodle's room. When she opens her door, she hears a male voice telling someone something to the effect of, "It's OK, I’m going to help you."

4:17 a.m. — A security camera from a nearby residence picks up distorted audio of what sounds like a whimper and a loud thud. A dog can be heard barking numerous times. At some point — and exactly when is unclear — the roommate opens her bedroom door again, according to the account she gave investigators, and sees a man with "bushy eyebrows," clad in black clothing and a mask. The man walks past her toward a sliding-glass door on the second floor. She goes back into her room and locks the door, and it is unclear what she does during the next several hours.

4:20 a.m. — The white Elantra is seen leaving the neighborhood "at a high rate of speed."

4:48 a.m. — Kohberger's phone reconnects to cell networks south of Moscow, near Blaine, Idaho.

5:30 a.m. — After traveling in the area south of Moscow, Kohberger's phone is detected back in Pullman.

9:12 a.m. — Kohberger's phone returns to Moscow and connects to the cellular network near the scene of the murders. It stays there until 9:21 a.m. before returning to the area of his home in Pullman.

11:58 a.m. — A 911 call reports an unconscious person at the scene of the killings, triggering a response from law enforcement.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Bryan Kohberger applied for an internship with the police department in Pullman, Wash., in the fall while studying criminology at Washington State University, according to an affidavit unsealed on Thursday. He wrote an essay as part of the application in which he described his interest in helping rural police departments collect and analyze data. It is unclear whether he applied before or after the Nov. 13 murders in Idaho.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Bryan Kohberger appeared in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday to face murder charges in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November.

Six days after his arrest on the other side of the country, Mr. Kohberger, 28, wore an orange jail jumpsuit during a brief appearance in a Latah County courtroom.

Relatives of at least one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, sat in the front row of the courtroom's benches. Mr. Kohberger did not turn around during the hearing, and he spoke only to say that he understood his rights and that he was being represented by a public defender.

The public defender, Anne Taylor, said in court that she was just beginning to learn about the evidence in the case, and that Mr. Kohberger has "a good family that stands behind him."

Mr. Kohberger was not required to enter a plea at the hearing, and did not do so. He is expected to enter a plea at a later date.

Megan Marshall, the Latah County magistrate judge conducting the hearing, declined a request from Ms. Taylor to set bail in the case, meaning that Mr. Kohberger will continue to be held at the jail in Moscow, Idaho. Bill Thompson, the top prosecutor in Latah County, opposed the request, noting that Mr. Kohberger had been arrested in Pennsylvania at his parents’ home, thousands of miles from the crime scene.

Judge Marshall read aloud the charges from the criminal complaint, naming each of the four students — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. For each of the four murder charges, she asked if Mr. Kohberger understood that the maximum punishment was death or life in prison. Each time, he leaned forward and said, "Yes."

Except for a brief conversation with his lawyer, Mr. Kohberger said nothing else during the hearing. He nodded several times as the judge read him his rights, and sometimes tensed his jaw, but did not show any emotion.

After the hearing, a lawyer for the Goncalves family, Shanon Gray, gave a brief statement on the courthouse steps, standing with Ms. Goncalves's father and other relatives.

"It's obviously an emotional time for the family, seeing the defendant for the first time," Mr. Gray said. "This is the beginning of the criminal justice system, and the family will be here for the long haul."

Judge Marshall ordered Mr. Kohberger not to contact the two surviving roommates, who were in the house on the night of the crimes, nor the relatives of the four victims. She scheduled a status hearing for Jan. 12, when Mr. Kohberger's lawyer and prosecutors will update the judge on where matters stand in the case.

Mr. Kohberger is a Ph.D. student in Washington State University's criminal justice and criminology department. Washington State's campus is in Pullman, Wash., a short distance across the state line from the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Mike Baker

Authorities did not detail any links between the suspect and the victims, but said cellphone records showed he was near their house a dozen times before the night of the killings. That night, his phone dropped off the network in Pullman at 2:47 a.m. and reconnected at 4:48 a.m. south of Moscow.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

"It's obviously an emotional time for the family, seeing the defendant for the first time," Shanon Gray, the lawyer for the Goncalves family, said on the courthouse steps, where he was joined by some of Kaylee's relatives. "This is the beginning of the criminal justice system, and the family will be here for the long haul."

The New York Times

Authorities say they identified Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, through a wide range of evidence, including surveillance footage, cellphone data, and DNA on a knife sheath found at the scene, according to court records released on Thursday. Here is the police affidavit:

Here's how the police say they identified Bryan Kohberger as the suspect in the Idaho college murders.

Read more coverage of Thursday's court appearance and what the new documents reveal about the investigation, including a timeline of the suspect's movements on the night of the murders.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Relatives of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four slain college students, were in the courtroom during the hearing and are about to speak to the news media in front of the courthouse.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Bryan Kohberger did not enter a plea at Thursday's hearing. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 12 for a status hearing.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

During the hearing, Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall advised Bryan Kohberger of the charges against him. For each murder charge, the judge read from the criminal complaint, naming the victims, and asked Kohberger if he understood that the maximum penalty was life imprisonment or death. Each time, he leaned forward and said, "Yes."

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

In court, Bryan Kohberger's public defender, Anne Taylor, said she had just begun reviewing the case, but wanted to share that Kohberger "has a good family that stands behind him."

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Bryan Kohberger made his court appearance in an orange jail jumpsuit. The father of one victim, Kaylee Goncalves, was seated on a bench in the courtroom. Kohberger did not turn around to look at the benches.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

A judge denied a request from Bryan Kohberger's lawyer to set bail in the case, meaning Kohberger will continue to be held at the Latah County Jail in Moscow.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Bill Thompson, Latah County's top prosecutor, argued against bail, noting that Bryan Kohberger had been arrested thousands of miles away from the crime scene.

Mike Baker

Investigators suggest the suspect may have returned to the crime scene, saying in court records that on the morning after the killings, his cellphone traveled from Pullman, Wash., to Moscow, Idaho, connecting to a cell tower that provided coverage to the neighborhood where the killings occurred.

Mike Baker

The affidavit says DNA was taken off the button snap of a tan leather knife sheath that was found on the bed next to one of the victims. The DNA, investigators said, was linked to Bryan Kohberger through a comparison with his father's DNA.

Mike Baker

Investigators looking for the killer of four University of Idaho students assembled an array of evidence that led them to their suspect: DNA on a knife sheath found at the scene, surveillance footage that captured a white sedan like his circling the neighborhood, cellphone tower records showing that his phone had visited the area before and, perhaps most chilling of all, the testimony of a roommate who saw a figure clad in black clothing in the house on the night of the murders.

In court records made public after the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, arrived back in Idaho to face murder charges, investigators wrote that a tan leather knife sheath was found on the bed next to one of the victims in the rental house where they were found stabbed to death.

The sheath, investigators said, had DNA on the button snap that was linked to Mr. Kohberger through a comparison with his father's DNA. Investigators obtained that sample from the trash at the family's Pennsylvania home on Dec. 27, three days before Mr. Kohberger was arrested in a pre-dawn raid.

Investigators did not detail a motive for the killings.

They said a review of surveillance footage from the neighborhood of the murders showed that a white Elantra similar to the one Mr. Kohberger drove was seen several times in the neighborhood of the killings between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. The vehicle made three passes by the residence where the killings occurred before returning a fourth time at approximately 4:04 a.m.

The vehicle was seen 16 minutes later departing the area "at a high rate of speed."

One of the surviving roommates in the house told investigators that she was awakened at around 4 a.m. by noises that sounded like one of the victims playing with her dog upstairs. Then she heard someone say something like, "There's someone here." The roommate told investigators that she looked out of her bedroom but did not see anything.

Later, she said, she thought she heard crying coming from another room, then heard a male voice say something to the effect of, "It's OK, I’m going to help you." The roommate reported looking out her bedroom door again after that, and seeing a figure in black clothing and a mask covering the mouth and nose walk toward her and then to the back door. The person had "bushy eyebrows," she told investigators — a detail that they later concluded also matched the suspect.

The roommate said she locked herself in her room. It's unclear why she did not call 911 at that time. The authorities were not called to the scene for several more hours.

The authorities did not detail any previous connections between Mr. Kohberger and the victims, but they said that his phone had connected to cell towers near the residence in Moscow a dozen times in the months before the night of the killings.

That night, the victims had been out at a party and a bar near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow. In the early morning hours, Mr. Kohberger's cellphone was detected in Pullman, Wash., where he lived, but it stopped connecting to cell networks at 2:47 a.m.

The phone did not reconnect to the networks until 4:48 a.m., when it made contact with towers south of Moscow. It then traveled a circuitous route back to Pullman, the investigators said, reaching there at around 5:30 a.m.

The investigation appeared to suggest that Mr. Kohberger returned to the crime scene: Later in the morning, the phone was detected in Moscow at around 9:12 a.m., connecting with the cell tower that serves the neighborhood where the killings occurred. It stayed there for about nine minutes.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

I am entering the Latah County courtroom, where reporters will be prohibited from posting live updates during the hearing, or using electronics at all. I will share updates as soon as I leave the courtroom.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

The prosecutor has entered the courtroom in Moscow, Idaho, and the hearing is set to begin any minute.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Surveillance videos showed a vehicle, a white sedan, pass by the scene of the crime four times on the night of the murders, according to the newly released affidavit, which is signed by a Moscow police corporal. When the car last left the area, at 4:20 a.m., it was driving fast.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

MOSCOW, Idaho — For weeks after four college students were stabbed to death in Moscow, a city of 25,000 people in the rolling hills of northern Idaho that hadn't recorded a murder in seven years, fear cast a long shadow.

The police were flooded with calls: a delivery driver who heard a woman screaming, a mother asking officers to walk her daughter to her car, a woman who woke up to find her front door wide open.

After the killings on Nov. 13, some students left the University of Idaho campus and many refused to come back to after Thanksgiving, leaving some classrooms half empty. Those who did return said they bought doorbell cameras, put rods in their windows to lock them shut or began hunkering down with roommates at night.

Adding to their fear was frustration with the police response: Officials issued sometimes contradictory statements, leading at least one victim's family to question whether investigators are up to the task of solving a quadruple homicide in a city that had not seen a murder since 2015.

Seeking to calm the community in the immediate aftermath of the killings, the police quickly said they believed there was no "ongoing community risk" or "imminent threat." An initial statement from the police that the attacks were "targeted" was walked back, with Bill Thompson, the Latah County prosecutor, saying at one point that he had no more information than the public about why the police had called it that.

"That's what they told us, and we accepted that at face value," he said.

The claims never made sense to locals, students or their parents, since the police were also saying they did not know who had committed the killings, or where they might be. Chief James Fry of the Moscow Police Department ultimately conceded, three days after the crimes, that the police could not say there was no threat.

Mike Baker

Authorities investigating the killing of the four students say they linked the suspect to the crime by analyzing surveillance footage and DNA on an empty knife sheath that was found at the scene, according to records released Thursday.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

A surviving roommate of the Moscow, Idaho, killings heard crying from a victim's room and then a man's voice say something like, "it's ok, I’m going to help you" on the night of the slayings, according to a newly released affidavit. The roommate said she opened her door to see a man clad in black, and then closed and locked her door. Investigators believe the man was the killer.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

There will be dozens of reporters in the courtroom and two television cameras that can record the proceeding and publish it afterward, but cannot carry a live feed. Also in the court will be one photographer, Ted Warren, who grew up in town and is freelancing for The Associated Press.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

I’m toward the front of a long line of reporters at the Latah County courthouse, where some journalists arrived as early as 5 a.m. The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, has been held in the same building since Wednesday night, when he was flown here from Pennsylvania. He was arrested there last week.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Rachel Sun, Mike Baker and Serge F. Kovaleski

MOSCOW, Idaho — About two weeks before four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in a house near campus, Bryan Kohberger was sitting in a criminology class at a college just a short drive away, leaning into a conversation about forensics, D.N.A. and other evidence prosecutors use to win convictions.

The 28-year-old graduate student seemed highly engaged in the discussion, a former classmate recalled. It was a subject that had long captivated Mr. Kohberger, who had researched the mind-sets of criminals, studied under a professor in Pennsylvania known for her expertise on serial killers and, for the last few months, pursued a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, about 10 miles from the Idaho crime scene.

Less than two months later, Mr. Kohberger would be the subject of a criminal inquiry, arrested last week and charged with the Nov. 13 murder of the four students.

Mr. Kohberger's deep interest in the psychology of criminals has opened another layer of mystery in a case that traumatized the college town of Moscow, Idaho, and spawned countless theories from people around the country, who followed the case in captivated horror.

Peers and former classmates of Mr. Kohberger, who grew up in suburban eastern Pennsylvania, recalled that he had an analytical mind, but could sometimes be cruel.

Thomas Arntz befriended him while riding the school bus around 2009. He said their friendship ended in 2014 after lighthearted "ribbing and jabbing" between friends turned "meanspirited," with Mr. Kohberger sometimes putting him in a headlock hold.

"Over time it just got so, so bad that I just shut down when I was around him," said Mr. Arntz, now 26. "I eventually just had to cut ties with him."

Mr. Kohberger struggled with a heroin addiction beginning in high school but had seemed to have moved past it in recent years, according to those who knew him. After earning a psychology degree at a community college in 2018, he began studying psychology and later criminal justice at DeSales University, a Catholic institution in Center Valley, Pa. There, he studied in part under Katherine Ramsland, a well-known forensic psychologist whose books include "The Mind of a Murderer" and "How to Catch a Killer."

In a post on Reddit from about seven months ago, a user who identified himself as Bryan Kohberger sought people who had spent time in prison to take a survey about crimes they had committed. The survey listed Mr. Kohberger as a student investigator working with two professors at DeSales, and it asked respondents to describe their "thoughts, emotions and actions from the beginning to end of the crime commission process."

Mr. Kohberger was a quiet person who liked to work alone but came across as smart, said Brittany Slaven, who took several classes with him at DeSales. She recalled an instance in one of Dr. Ramsland's classes when students were asked to look at photos of a crime scene and figure out what happened; she said Mr. Kohberger was quick to come up with ideas.

He seemed to show a particular interest in crime scenes and serial killers, Ms. Slaven said.

"At the time it seemed as if he was just a curious student, so if his questions felt odd we didn't think much of it because it fit our curriculum," she said.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Mike Baker, Serge F. Kovaleski, Susan C. Beachy and Sheelagh McNeill

Madison Mogen, who went by Maddie, was a senior from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who was majoring in marketing. Her grandmother, Kim Cheeley, said Ms. Mogen had always been a gentle and caring person who kept many long-term friendships and close ties with an extended family.

Ms. Mogen's boyfriend, Jake Schriger, said she had been excited for graduation and talked about wanting to explore other parts of the world. Ms. Mogen always spread positivity and brought acts of kindness to others, Mr. Schriger said, adding that he hoped people would remember her for the love she had given to others.

"There's no words that I can really describe her — how amazing she was and how wonderful of a person she was," Mr. Schriger said.

Kaylee Goncalves, who was from Rathdrum, Idaho, had been set to graduate early in December and planned to move to Austin, Texas, with one of her close friends in June. The friend, Jordyn Quesnell, said Ms. Goncalves had secured a position with a marketing firm and was excited to explore more of the country.

"We wanted that adventure," Ms. Quesnell said. "I would be like, ‘Let's go do this,’ and she’d be like, ‘Down!’"

Alivea Goncalves said her younger sister and Ms. Mogen had served as bridesmaids for her wedding. Her sister, she said, still shared a dog with her former boyfriend, and the two had seemed likely to get back together.

Ethan Chapin, from Conway, Wash., was one of a set of triplets and had spent much of Nov. 12, the day before the killings, with both of his siblings, who are also University of Idaho students, their mother, Stacy Chapin, said. In the evening, they all attended a dance together held by his sister's sorority, she said.

"My kids are very thankful that it was time well spent with him," Ms. Chapin said. "He was literally the life of the party. He made everybody laugh. He was just the kindest person."

Mr. Chapin played basketball in high school and was known by friends and family members for always having a big smile, ever since he was a baby. Ms. Chapin described her son as "just the brightest light."

Xana Kernodle grew up in Idaho but spent time in Arizona in recent years, according to an interview that her father, Jeffrey Kernodle, gave to an Arizona TV station.

Mr. Kernodle told the station that his daughter was strong-willed and had enjoyed having an independent life in college.

He said his daughter had apparently tried to fight her attacker, an account backed up by Cathy Mabbutt, the coroner. Mr. Kernodle expressed shock that his daughter could be killed while at home with friends and said that he, too, had no idea who could have committed the attacks.

"She was with her friends all the time," Mr. Kernodle said.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Mike Baker

MOSCOW, Idaho — The man accused of killing four University of Idaho college students received a new license plate for his car five days after the murders, according to records released Wednesday.

The licensing documents in Washington State show that the vehicle driven by the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, was a white Hyundai Elantra, the type of vehicle that investigators had been seeking in recent weeks.

The police in Moscow had said that a white Hyundai Elantra from between 2011 and 2013 had been seen near the scene of the crimes on the night of the killings in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13. Mr. Kohberger's car was a 2015 model and registered on Nov. 18, according to the licensing document. A vehicle history report shows the car had previously been registered in Pennsylvania, where Mr. Kohberger is from.

Mr. Kohberger, 28, had moved to Pullman, Wash., in recent months and began studying criminology in a Ph.D. program at Washington State University in August. He has said through a lawyer that he expects to be exonerated in the case. Mr. Kohberger's new lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the license plate records.

On Wednesday, the police in Indiana released new body camera footage showing that, two weeks before Mr. Kohberger was arrested, the police there had pulled him over twice in a 10-minute stretch for tailgating. The traffic stops, on Dec. 15, came as Mr. Kohberger was driving across the country with his father for winter break in the same car for which he had obtained the new license plate.

During both stops, the suspect's father mentioned a fatal police standoff that took place that morning near Washington State University, where his son was a student, and told the officer that he and his son had been discussing the "horrifying" incident.

The police shooting that they were discussing does not appear to have any connection to the four fatal stabbings that occurred about a month earlier in Idaho, just across the border from the W.S.U. campus. Mr. Kohberger is now charged with four counts of murder in the stabbings.

Mr. Kohberger was the driver of the car during both stops, and the new footage is the most that the public has seen of him since he became the subject of intense scrutiny after his arrest. On Wednesday, Mr. Kohberger was flown by the police from Pennsylvania, where he was visiting his parents after the road trip, to Idaho, where he stands accused of stabbing four students to death overnight in their home on Nov. 13.

The Pennsylvania State Police plane touched down at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport shortly before 6:30 p.m., and Mr. Kohberger was booked into the Latah County Jail in Moscow.

Mr. Kohberger's father, Michael Kohberger, visited him in December, and they drove across the country from the W.S.U. campus in Pullman, Wash., to their home in eastern Pennsylvania. During that trip, they were pulled over twice on Dec. 15 for tailgating; in both traffic stops, the officers let the men off with a warning.

There is no indication that the police in Indiana had any idea that Mr. Kohberger would be arrested for the murders, or that they were aware of the police in Moscow, Idaho, saying that a white Hyundai Elantra had been seen near the crime scene on the night of the murders.

During the first stop, at about 10:42 a.m., a deputy with the Hancock County Sheriff's Department pulled Mr. Kohberger and his father over along Interstate 70, just east of Indianapolis. The body camera footage released on Wednesday captured the deputy asking where the two were headed. In response, Mr. Kohberger's father said that they were coming from Washington and had been talking about the police standoff that was unfolding near the Washington State campus that day.

Mr. Kohberger's father told the officer that there had been a "mass shooting." He was corrected by his son, who said, "We don't know if it was a mass shooting," and referred to a SWAT team being called for the standoff. "It's horrifying," Mr. Kohberger's father said in the video. That incident involved a man who the police later said had barricaded himself in an apartment and threatened to kill his roommates before a police officer shot him to death.

At another point in the video, the father said, "We’re slightly punchy because we’ve been driving for hours."

After about three minutes, the deputy said, "Do me a favor and don't follow too close, OK?" and then returned Mr. Kohberger's driver's license and let them go.

Just five minutes later, Mr. Kohberger and his father were pulled over again, this time by an Indiana state trooper who also said that they were tailgating. The audio from the trooper's body camera is obscured by traffic noise, but Mr. Kohberger and his father could be heard telling the officer that they were just stopped minutes earlier. Again, the father brought up the incident that morning at Washington State. The trooper wished them a safe trip and let them go with a warning.

It was two weeks later, on Dec. 30, that the police in Pennsylvania carried out a predawn raid of Mr. Kohberger's parents’ home, arresting Mr. Kohberger on suspicion of carrying out the Idaho killings. They also searched his car and executed a warrant to obtain his DNA, officials said. Mr. Kohberger has said through a public defender that he looks forward to being exonerated.

Mr. Kohberger had just completed his first semester at Washington State, which is about a 15-minute drive from the crime scene in Moscow. Classmates said he had shown an interest in the psychology of criminals as well as in forensics.

The murders of the four University of Idaho student victims — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — and the arrest of Mr. Kohberger have rattled the neighboring college towns of Moscow and Pullman.

The stabbing took place in the early morning hours at a home along a dead-end street a five-minute walk from campus. The police have said that the victims were most likely asleep when they were attacked, and two more roommates were in the home but apparently slept through the killings.

Friends and relatives of the victims are searching for any connection between the victims and Mr. Kohberger, but so far none has been disclosed.

The police have said that the surviving roommates realized something was wrong only late in the morning and believed that one of their roommates had passed out. They called friends to the home and then someone called 911, after which police officers discovered the grisly scene.