Idaho University is granted $1M from state in aftermath of murders

The University of Idaho will receive $1million in state funds to improve security and help heal the community following the brutal murder of four students last year. Governor Brad Little (pictured right), 69, has gifted a $1million transfer from the state fund to the University of Idaho after lawmakers approved it. The funds will be used to cover the Idaho State Police services on campus, as well as to increase security, provide shuttle and counseling services, construct a vigil, and provide media consulting, the Idaho Statesman reported.

University students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 (all pictured), were stabbed to death in their off-campus home on November 13 in a crime that rocked the campus and stunned the nation. Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in December and later charged with four counts of first-degree murder. The four murders caused widespread fear among students who believed there was a killer on campus, which caused a parent to give their child a pistol upon returning to campus, while others barricaded their doors at night.

The school has spent ‘more than $1million and are still incurring expenses’ due to increasing counseling services on campus, according to State Senator Janie Ward-Engelking. The school also offered self-defense and talking awareness classes to students, as well as, gave students the option to learn remotely. ‘It’s something that doesn’t go away in just a few months,’ the senator told the Senate on Tuesday. The state school has already received nearly $100million from the state’s general fund, as well as, a one-time payment of $100,000 from it, as of October 2022, the school’s website said. In addition, Little has already funded $1million to the investigation, which came from the governor’s emergency fund and did not need Legislature approval. Some Republican lawmakers opposed giving the school extra funding, including Senator Dan Foreman, who represents Moscow, where the murder occurred. 

Kohberger (pictured), who attended Washington State University nearby, was arrested in late December at his parent’s home in Pennsylvania by a SWAT team after being followed by the FBI. It has since been revealed that police have issued more than 60 warrants to companies including Doordash, Verizon, Tinder, and Reddit during their investigation. The documents under the gag order ‘contain highly intimate facts or statements…which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person,’ the judge said. The documents are also sealed due to the fact that it ‘might threaten the safety of or endanger the life or safety of individuals.’

In addition, inmates at the Latah County Jail – where Kohberger (pictured) is being held until his trial starts in June – revealed to DailyMail.com that the suspect is obsessed with following his own case from behind bars and has now found God, attending mass every Sunday. ‘He watches himself all the time,’ one inmate told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s really kind of bizarre.’ The accused quadruple murderer, who has been locked up without bail at the Latah County Jail since early January, steps out of his cell around 7pm on Sundays to meet with a local pastor who leads him in prayer. ‘He sits down with the pastor and receives his own private mass,’ a source inside the jail said. ‘It’s just the two of them. And no, I have no idea what they might talk about.’

By all accounts, the 28-year-old has been a model prisoner, a jail official tells DailyMail.com. This despite facing taunts from inmates who sometimes shout at him as he shuffles past their cells. When one inmate named Tyson hollered ‘[Expletive]!’ at the accused murderer during a recent weekday, Kohberger (pictured) barely flinched, turning toward him with a menacing stare without breaking stride as he proceeded down the hall, according to one inmate who watched it happen. ‘He always has the same expression, or non-expression,’ said one inmate, who met with a DailyMail.com reporter in the jail. ‘He just looks straight ahead. I’ve never even seen his eyebrows or mouth move. He never says anything.’

Kohberger (pictured) spends most of his time alone in a private cell, kept apart from other inmates who share cells. He rarely if ever chats with jail mates, who typically only see him when he walks past them. They say he maintains a steely stare when he steps out to meet his lawyers or to visit the library, and that he’s always flanked by several correction officers who escort him wherever he goes. The jail houses a couple dozen inmates in a sprawling basement, directly underneath the Latah County courthouse and sheriff’s office near downtown Moscow.

Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page here and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.