Brian Koberger, accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death, was transferred Sunday from rural Latah County to Ada County, where his future trial will take place after a judge granted his defense team a change of venue.
Koberger was seen arriving on a small plane and getting into a black SUV while wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs in Boise, where his new murder trial will take place, about 300 miles from the scene of the murder.
Koberger had been held at the Moscow, Idaho, jail since January 2023, according to online jail records, but is currently in the custody of the Ada County Sheriff's Office.
Latah County District Judge John Judge earlier this month granted the defense's request for a change of venue, citing several factors that, overall, favor moving the trial to a larger courthouse further from the crime scene.
Idaho judge denies Brian Koberger's change of venue motion in student murder trial
Brian Koberger is led into an Ada County sheriff's vehicle waiting at Boise Airport, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Boise, Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Koberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus rental home around 4 a.m. that day and stabbing to death 21-year-olds Madison Morgen and Kaylee Gonsalves, and 20-year-olds Zana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The trial of Koberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, has been moved from Latah County to Ada County. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Police arrested Koberger six weeks after the murders occurred at his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was spending winter break.
Brian Koberger is currently in the custody of the Ada County Sheriff's Office, according to online jail records. (Ada County Sheriff's Office)
Idaho murder suspect Brian Koberger gets new judge after change of venue in student stabbing trial
Authorities say cell phone data and surveillance footage showed that Koberger had visited the victim's neighborhood at least 12 times before the murder, that he had traveled through the area the night of the murder before making a circuitous route back to Pullman, Washington, and that Koberger's DNA was found at the crime scene.
Madison Morgen (top left) leans on her best friend Kaylee Gonsalves' shoulder and smiles with Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodle and two other housemates in Gonsalves' final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
His lawyers said in court documents that the defendants had simply gone out for a drive that night, “as they often do to go hiking, jogging and look at the moon and stars.”
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Koberger, who was a doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University just 10 miles across the state line at the time of the murders, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Fox News reporter Michael Lewis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
