A newly released image of convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger captures the instant he realized he was caught for the brutal killings of four innocent Idaho college students.

The 30-year-old criminology Ph.D. student committed the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, on November 13, 2022, after breaking into their residence in Moscow.

For about a month, police searched for the person responsible – until December 30 when they nabbed Kohberger. 

The picture, which captures the killer with a blank expression aimed at an arresting officer, was taken following a raid by authorities on his parents’ residence in Pennsylvania.

He looked directly at the camera as he sat down, wearing a black hoodie and black shorts with his hands restrained behind his back. 

‘I’ll never forget – my phone dinged and I looked at it and it said, “We got him,”‘ Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger told ABC News.   

‘The next thing on, there was a picture of him in handcuffs from the scene.’ 

Dahlinger mentioned the ‘relief’ he experienced at that moment, stating that sharing the news with the community likely brought similar feelings to many who learned they had apprehended him.

Prior to his arrest, Kohberger appeared to be ‘sorting through garbage with gloves on,’ as noted by Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson, a lead investigator in the high-profile case, when speaking to the outlet.

He was among those who interviewed Kohberger the day of his arrest, as he recalled the murderer being ‘expressionless.’ 

Despite his demeanor, which has been on full display since the tragedy made headlines three years ago, Gilbertson said he noticed Kohberger still liked to ‘speak to you and teach and enlighten you’ during his interview. 

‘We started with just very general questions about Pullman, about WSU … he spoke at length about that with us,’ the detective recollected. 

The murderer went on to ask Gilbertson why he was being interviewed, but when he found it was related to the fatal stabbings in Moscow, he stopped talking. 

‘As soon as we mentioned that, then he stopped, and he said, “I don’t want to talk anymore”,’ Gilbertson said. 

‘We asked if he was familiar with it, if he knew anything about Moscow, and he said, no … and stopped right then and said he wanted an attorney.’ 

Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison on July 23 as the victims’ families spoke directly to him with their emotional and powerful impact statements. 

He was handed four life sentences for each death plus 10 more years for the burglary charge related to the murders. 

He was supposed to stand trial for the deaths that would have seen him possibly get the death penalty, but just weeks before his sentencing Kohberger entered a plea deal. 

Instead of getting the death penalty, he will now remain locked behind bars for the rest of his life. 

He is being held in the ‘J’ block of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution near Boise – the most restricted prisons in the area. 

Following his sentencing, a trove of investigation documents were released by the Moscow Police Department. 

Within the lengthy documents, it was sadly revealed how one of the victim’s, Goncalves, was so badly injured by Kohberger’s knife that she looked ‘unrecognizable’ by the time he claimed her life. 

‘I was unable to comprehend exactly what I was looking at while trying to discern the nature of the injuries,’ a cop wrote in the files. 

Goncalves was stabbed a total of 34 times, with many of those wounds left on her face at the student home. 

Unlike Kohberger’s other three victims, who only had stab wounds, Golcalves also suffered blunt force injuries. 

Another officer on the scene described seeing Kernodle’s body in her bedroom covered in blood, with defensive wounds to her hands, including a deep gash between her finger and thumb. She was stabbed more than 50 times.

‘It was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,’ the officer wrote. ‘There was blood smeared on various items in the room and all over the floor.’

Kernodle’s boyfriend Chapin was found partially covered with a blanket in her bed, with his jugular severed, the police files said.

On the floor above, officers found the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves. Mogen had wounds to her forearm, hands and a gash from her right eye to her nose.

Both were covered in blood, which had soaked the pink blanket they were sharing. 

Kohberger left behind a Ka-Bar leather knife sheath next to Mogen’s body. DNA on the clasp was traced back to the killer using Investigative Genetic Genealogy.