Idaho: FBI reportedly followed arrested graduate student for days

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Investigators near the University of Idaho (archive image)

Photo: Eduardo Munoz / REUTERS

A criminology graduate student has been arrested as a murder suspect after four students were found dead in the US state of Idaho in November.

He is accused of the intentional killing of three students, reported US media, citing investigative authorities.

The authorities have now announced the first details of the investigation.

The 28-year-old, who is pursuing a doctorate in criminal law and criminology from Washington State University, was arrested at his childhood home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.

DNA technology helped track down the suspect, reports CNN.

By searching for his car, police located the suspect in the district of his parents' home on the opposite end of the United States.

An FBI surveillance team tracked the alleged perpetrator for four days before he was finally arrested, CNN reports.

In the almost seven weeks since the young women and the young man were found stabbed to death in an apartment building off campus, the investigators have conducted more than 300 interviews and evaluated around 20,000 clues to the suspect.

300 interviews, 20,000 tips

The alleged perpetrator himself is said to have lived in Pullman, Washington state.

According to CNN information, only about 14 kilometers from the crime scene.

His home and office on the Washington State University campus in Pullman were searched by law enforcement on Friday morning, the university confirmed in a statement.

The suspect's college is located in the Northwest of the United States, near the border between the states of Washington and Idaho, just a few kilometers from the small town of Moscow.

There the students were found dead in an apartment on November 13th.

The four victims, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20, all knew each other.

According to autopsy findings, the four were probably asleep when they were attacked.

They had defensive wounds and were each killed with multiple stabs.

According to the police, there were no signs of sexual assault.

It is currently unclear whether the perpetrator and the victim knew each other.

The police have not yet announced any further background – such as answers to the question of the relationship between the arrested person and the victims.

The suspect charged with the Idaho murder is being held in Pennsylvania, according to the New York Times.

A hearing on his extradition is scheduled for Tuesday.

flg/dpa