Bryan Kohberger.Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
Legal experts who are not involved in the case are weighing in on the evidence against 28-year-oldBryan Kohbergerwho has been accused of brutally murdering fourUniversity of Idaho studentsin November of 2022.
Nearly seven weeks after Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, andEthan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho,Kohberger was arrestedin his home state of Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary.
Yesterday, anewly unsealed search warrantshed light on what items investigators took from Kohberger’s Pullman, Wash., residence shortly after his Dec. 30 arrest.
Although no clear connections were made early on in the investigation between Kohberger and the victims, an investigator familiar with the casepreviously told PEOPLEthat in late October, an Instagram account that authorities believe belonged to Kohberger repeatedly messaged one of the victims, but he never received a reply.
If that is the case, “we finally have some clear evidence of motive and a digital connection between Kohberger and the victims,” Trial lawyer and former federal prosecutorNeama Rahmanitold PEOPLE in a statement. “We have hairs, and if they are from either the victims or the dog, and they were found in Kohberger’s apartment, that puts him at the scene of the murders.”
Goncalves' dog Murphy was at the King Road residence in Moscow at the time of the slayings, but was found in a separate room away from where the victims were killed.
Rahmani said that if the hairs taken from Kohberger’s apartment match Murphy or any of the victims, this is stronger evidence than the DNA that was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene, which is what helped link Kohberger to the crime, according to theprobable cause affidavit.
One of thesurviving roommates also said she saw the suspected killeras he left the crime scene, the affidavit states, making her an eye witness who could be asked to testify at a trial. According to the affidavit, a latent shoe print, described as “a diamond-shaped pattern (similar to the pattern of a Vans type shoe sole)” was found outside of her bedroom door during the investigation.
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“There is also other potential evidence that may tie him to the scene like the diamond-pattern shoe prints,” Rahmani said. “The computer they seized could contain a treasure trove of digital evidence. If the computer contains information about the victims that was inputted before the murders, then it shows premeditation.”
Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.
“Motive isn’t an element of the crime, but jurors are going to want to know why someone would kill four people,” Rahmani continued. “Connecting Kohberger to at least one of the victims through the DM he sent will help prosecutors have an explanation for that.”
Limited information is being shared about the case due to a sweeping gag order that hinders officials involved with the case from talking to the public or media.
Criminal defense attorney and co-founder of Zweiback, Fiset & Zalduendo LLP,Rachel Fiset, told PEOPLE in a statement that she believes the defense could still have a strong case, depending on the test results from the items seized at Kohberger’s home.
“The prosecution has still only presented a circumstantial case and we don’t know the test results of everything that investigators have taken,” she said. “Those test results on stains and animal fibers may add up to a big nothing.”
According to the affidavit, in addition to the DNA evidence found on the knife sheath, authorities also discovered that Kohberger’s cellphone pinged in the area of the 1122 King Road home where the slayings took place on at least twelve occasions prior to November 13, 2022.
The Idaho home where four students were killed on Nov. 13, 2022.Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” the affidavit reads.
Kohberger is due back in court on June 26 afterwaiving his right to a speedy preliminary hearing.He is currently being held without bail and has not yet entered a plea to the charges against him.
source: people.com
