Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger was identified as a suspect in the gruesome murders after he left DNA on a knife sheath found by cops at the crime scene, it was revealed Thursday.
As he made his first appearance in a Moscow, Idaho, court, cops released paperwork detailing what led them to suspect Kohberger of killing four University of Idaho students as they slept on Nov. 13.
The affidavit describes how officers discovered a bloody scene over two floors and a leather knife sheath in one room where two victims were discovered in a single bed.
Bryan Kohberger allegedly left a knife sheath at the scene of the murders. Latah County Jail“I later noticed what appeared to be a tan leather knife sheath laying on the bed next to Mogen’s right side,” officer Brett Payne wrote in the affidavit released Thursday, adding the sheath had “Ka-Bar,” “USMC” and “the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia.”
Here’s the latest coverage on the brutal killings of four college friends:
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- Byran Kohberger’s former criminology professor fears her serial-killer courses inspired him
- Prosecutors offered Bryan Kohberger a plea deal despite a mountain of damning evidence — here’s what they had
- Deluded Bryan Kohberger fans known as ‘probergers’ insist he’s innocent – despite guilty plea deal: ‘Reeks of a coverup’
- Families of slaughtered Idaho students vow to fight Bryan Kohberger plea deal: ‘Idaho has failed’
“The Idaho state lab later located a single source of male DNA (suspect Profile) left on the button snap of the knife sheath.”
Madison Mogen (top left), 21, Kaylee Goncalves (bottom left), 21, Ethan Chapin (center), 20, and Xana Kernodle (right), 20, were allegedly murdered by Kohberger. Instagram
Bryan Kohberger was identified as a suspect in the gruesome Idaho murders. James KeivomThe affidavit details how investigators used surveillance camera footage, cellphone data, and FBI analyses to link Kohberger to the crime scene at the time of the killings.
Investigators identified a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen traveling near the students’ house in Moscow, Idaho, between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m., the estimated time of the murder.
The car circled the area three times and then entered it a fourth time at 4:04 a.m. The vehicle, which matches the description of one owned by Kohberger, was seen departing the area around 4:20 a.m. at “a high rate of speed,” investigators wrote.
After putting out a query on white Hyundai Elantras to the public on Nov. 25, police officers at Washington State University Pullman, where Kohberger was a Ph.D. student, alerted investigators they found one in the parking lot of student housing on Nov. 29.
Kohberger had been pulled over while driving the Hyundai in a traffic stop in August, which helped further the case.
During the stop, the alleged suspect provided police with his phone number, which they were then able to link to cell tower data to find his location.
Police said Kohberger’s phone pinged around 2:47 a.m. the night of the murder in Pullman, WA, where he lived. It then went quiet until approximately 4:48 a.m., when it showed him traveling on the highway south of Moscow, Idaho, near the murder scene.
His phone pinged a few more times before he headed to Pullman around 5:30 a.m. which led investigators to believe he took a purposefully circuitous route home. “The route of travel…is consistent with Kohberger attempting to conceal his location during the quadruple homicide,” the affidavit said
Phone records dating back to June also revealed that Kohberger could have stalked the victims before the murder. His phone pinged in the coverage area of the student house “on at least twelve occasions prior to November 13, 2022. All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
