A criminology graduate has been arrested in the mysterious killings of four university students in the state of Idaho last month, police say.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was detained in Pennsylvania, over 2,500 miles (4,020km) from the crime scene.
The University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in their beds in a rental home near the campus on 13 November.
Police say the suspect lived in a town near where the murders occurred.
Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were discovered dead from multiple stab wounds in the home in the small college city of Moscow, northern Idaho.
Some of the students, who were all 20 or 21 years old, had defensive injuries.
A post-mortem examination found the four were probably asleep when they were attacked. There was no evidence of sexual assault, police say.
Mr Kohberger was arrested near the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Friday by state police and FBI agents. He was traced to his parents’ home in Albrightsville, officials told CBS, the BBC’s US partner.
Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson told a news conference the accused faces four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary.
The suspect, who is expected to be extradited to Idaho, has already appeared before a judge, and was remanded in custody without bail.
Officials confirmed at the same news conference that the suspect was a PhD student in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University.
Its campus in the town of Pullman, Washington – where the suspect was living – is a 10-mile drive across the border to Moscow.
“This was a complex and extensive case,” said an emotional Moscow police chief James Fry.
“These murders have shaken this community and no arrest will ever bring back these young students,” he told reporters. (BBC)