Idaho Murders Update: Suspect Had Heroin Addiction, Drove A White Hyundai Elantra

New information about the suspect in the killing of four University of Idaho students revealed that the accused suffered from heroin addiction in the past and owned a white Hyundai Elantra, the same model of car that was spotted by police near the crime scene.

On Friday, 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student in the criminal justice department at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, was apprehended by authorities in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, and stabbing to death university students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, on Nov. 13.

Friends of Kohberger told the New York Times that during their high school years at the Pleasant Valley High School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, the suspect had struggled with heroin addiction.

His drug addiction continued into college, Kohberger's former classmate at Northampton Community College told Fox News.

Kohberger's classmate, who did not want to be named, said they would talk "for hours" about his addiction and weight loss.

Dominique Clark, a schoolmate of the suspect in their elementary and high school days, said Kohberger became "more aggressive" and "more of an outcast" after losing 80 pounds during his senior year.

"I remember seeing him and thinking it was a new student. He was so heavy and he lost so much weight, he almost looked sickly or like it was an obsession," Clark told The New York Post. "Around the same time, he became more aggressive and I think he became more of an outcast at that point. He became more withdrawn."

Clark said Kohberger was smart but socially awkward around girls, leading to some people labeling him as a "creep."

Sarah Healey, another classmate of Kohberger, told Fox that the suspect was bullied by high school girls who even threw things at him.

"It was bad," Healey said. "There was definitely something off about him, like we couldn't tell exactly what it was."

Healey believed that Kohberger allegedly committed the crime because "he didn't get the proper help."

Jack Baylis, a school friend of Kohberger in the eighth grade, told the New York Times the suspect had seemed to enjoy his work as a security guard for the Pleasant Valley School District and was fascinated with why people acted the way they did.

In 2021, during the last time they had met to play airsoft guns together, Baylis spotted Kohberger driving a white Hyundai Elantra, the same car model that authorities had spotted near the murder victims' home on the night of the attacks.

At the height of the investigation, authorities said they had begun tracking Kohberger's vehicle before Christmas, during his trip from Idaho.

CNN reported that a surveillance team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tracked him for four days.

Genetic genealogy helped investigators identify the suspect, an unnamed source with knowledge of the case told the outlet.

No motive for the crime has been revealed, and any connection between Kohberger and the Idaho students remains unclear.

Kohberger is being held in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where his next court date is on Tuesday in the Court of Common Pleas.