
(UnitedVoice.com) – Oftentimes where there is a violent crime in an area, law enforcement tries to find out if there are related ones in the same area. It gives police an opportunity to close cold cases that might be connected to their suspect. That is reportedly happening in the case of the University of Idaho murders. Pennsylvania detectives are looking into open cases to see if suspect Bryan Kohberger might have been responsible for any of them.
Police Probing Cold Cases
Investigators in Pennsylvania towns where Kohberger used to live are reportedly looking into whether any of their cold cases in the area might be linked to him. Terence Houck, the district attorney of Northampton County, told King 5 he ordered his staff to start checking to ensure the suspect wasn’t related to any unsolved cases in his area. He explained he wanted to know, “Is [Kohberger’s] name out there? Did he do anything here in (my) county?” So far, the alleged murderer has not been linked to any of the unsolved cases in Northampton.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin told the local news the first thing he did when Kohberger was taken into custody was to call the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center to see if they’d had any contact with him. The only thing that came up was a 911 call from the Idaho suspect when his car was locked behind a parking gate at a local park.
The FBI is undoubtedly trying to find out if the Idaho crime matched any similar crimes, as well.
Idaho Murders
Four University of Idaho students were murdered in an off-campus home in the early morning of November 13. The three young women and young man — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin — were stabbed to death with a serrated blade. Crime scene investigators found a sheath for a K-bar knife with a US Marine Corps insignia on it on one of the beds where the victims were found. Law enforcement also identified a Hyundai Elantra speeding through the neighborhood at the time of the murders.
Police were able to trace the car to Kohberger, who attended Washington State University just a few miles away. Local law enforcement and the FBI learned the 28-year-old was studying to receive his Ph.D. in criminology. He’d only moved to the state a few months before to attend school after graduating from DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.
Kohberger’s time in Pennsylvania is now reportedly on authorities’ radar.
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