CNN —
An Idaho judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students last fall, during an arraignment in a Latah County Court on Monday.
Judge John Judge read aloud Kohberger’s rights and each of the murder and burglary charges outlined in the indictment. When asked if he understood the charges, Kohberger replied to each, “Yes.”
When asked for his plea to the counts, Kohberger remained silent. His attorney rose and said, “Your honor, we are standing silent,” and the judge then entered not guilty pleas for him.
Kohberger, 28, was indicted last week on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the November 13 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, at a home just outside the university’s main campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The trial was set for October 2 and is expected to last about six weeks. Prosecutors have 60 days from Monday to announce, in writing, whether they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.
Wearing an orange prison outfit, Kohberger smiled and nodded at his attorney upon entering court but otherwise stared straight ahead during the arraignment. Family members of Goncalves also attended the hearing and remained focused on Kohberger as he was arraigned, according to Jordan Smith, a reporter for CNN affiliate KXLY who had a vantage point of the family in court.
The hearing offered few details on a grisly case that remains shrouded in mystery. Authorities say Kohberger, a graduate student in the Department of Criminology at nearby Washington State University, broke into the students’ home and repeatedly stabbed the victims before fleeing the scene. Police have not released a potential motive in the case, and due to a wide-ranging gag order, few details have trickled out so far.
The killings and lengthy investigation rattled the community of Moscow, a city of 25,000 people that hadn’t recorded a murder since 2015. After weeks with little information and heightened anxieties, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania in late December and identified as the alleged killer.
He has been in police custody since then and is being held without bail.
How police narrowed in on Kohberger
In the days after the discovery of the grisly crime scene, investigators narrowed in on Kohberger after focusing on a white Hyundai Elantra seen in surveillance footage near the crime scene, according to a probable cause affidavit released in January.
By November 25, area law enforcement officers were notified to look out for the vehicle, the affidavit read. Within days, police at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington, identified a vehicle and found it registered to Kohberger.