The suspect in the killing of four Idaho college students was indicted by a grand jury. Bryan Kohberger was arrested in December and his been in jail ever since.

In order to continue to hold Kohberger prosecutors had two choices. They could go through a preliminary hearing where lawyers for both sides would spell out some of the evidence in the case or they could bring and indictment through a grand jury. Kohberger had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing in June but it appears prosecutors decided to take the other path and make the case to a grand jury in secret.

The prosecutors’ decision to impanel a grand jury, however, was not anticipated and allows the state to avoid the week-long preliminary hearing that would have required it to present evidence before a judge as well as permit the defense counsel to cross-examine witnesses.

Since January, lawyers, police and other officials have refrained from making statements after Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall issued a gag order, which is being challenged by a coalition of news organizations…

Kohberger has yet to enter a plea, but is expected to do so at an arraignment Monday.

Kohberger will plead not guilty. He’s potentially facing the death penalty and, possibly because he was a grad student studying criminology, may believe he can beat the system. However, there seems to be significant evidence linking him to the murders. The knife used in the murders has never been found but a sheath for what authorities believe was the murder weapon was left behind at the crime scene.

“The sheath was later processed and had ‘Ka-Bar’ ‘USMC’ and the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia stamped on the outside of it,” Payne wrote. “The Idaho state lab later located a single source of male DNA (suspect Profile) left on the button snap of the knife sheath.”

While police were investigation, Kohberger was driving home to Pennsylvania for winter break. Police got a DNA sample from the trash of the family home.

On Dec. 27, police collected garbage from outside the Kohberger home.

The evidence was sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing and a DNA profile was compared with DNA discovered on the knife sheath.

According to the affidavit, the DNA retrieved from the trash indicated a high probability it is from the biological father of the person who left DNA on the knife sheath at the crime scene in Moscow.

The other major evidence in the case is the cell phone data. It shows that Kohberger had been in the vicinity of the house where the murders took place at least 12 times in the months before the attack. It also showed that on the night of the killing, Kohberger left his home in Washington after midnight headed toward Idaho. Then his phone was switched off during the time of the killings. Then it was switched back on after the killings and showed him driving back from Idaho to Washington. And he made one more trip.

A few hours later, after 9 a.m. on Nov. 13, Kohberger traveled from Pullman to an area close to the crime scene and quickly returned home.

On top of all of that, one of the roommates saw the suspect leaving the house the night of the murders.

D.M. stated she opened her door for the third time after she heard the crying and saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her. D.M. described the figure as 5′ 10″ or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows. The male walked past D.M. as she stood in a “frozen shock phase.” The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male. D.M. did not state that she recognized the male. This leads investigators to believe that the murderer left the scene.

What the case is lacking, at least so far, is any clear motive. It’s still not clear whether Kohberger knew any of the victims or why though we do know that investigators have requested the social media information on the three female victims.

Search warrants recently executed by Idaho authorities demanded TikTok and Google hand over the user history dating back to January 2021 of three of the four victims: Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20…

Retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said the warrants suggest police could be searching for a connection between Kohberger, 28, and his alleged victims that far pre-dates the murders.

We’ll have to wait and see what those searches turned up. If Kohberger is arraigned Monday the judge will likely set his trial date at that time.

Here’s a report on the indictment from ABC News.