Male DNA left on a knife sheath button was used to link a Washington state doctoral student to the November murders of four University of Idaho students, and a surviving roommate was found basically face to face with him the night of the murder. murders, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.
A probable cause affidavit prepared by Moscow, Idaho police officer Brett Payne explains how investigators used video surveillance in the area to connect the quadruple homicide to a white Hyundai Elantra driven by 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger.
Arriving at the off-campus apartment house on November 13, Payne wrote that he noticed a brown leather knife sheath on the bed next to one of the victims, Madison Mogen.
«The scabbard was later processed and had ‘Ka-Bar’ ‘USMC’ and the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia stamped on the outside,» Payne wrote. «The Idaho State Laboratory then located a single source of male DNA (suspicious profile) that was left on the press stud on the knife sheath.»
Investigators said they tracked Kohberger’s movements through his cellphone and also collected trash from his family’s Pennsylvania residence. DNA obtained from the trash and the pod showed a connection, according to the affidavit.
Payne also said that one of the other two housemates who were inside the house at the time of the murders came into contact with the suspect, described as a «figure dressed in black and a mask covering the mouth and nose of the person who was walking towards her».
The roommate said she didn’t recognize him and went into «frozen shock phase» as he walked to the rear sliding glass door.
Kohberger was arrested Friday at his family home and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and robbery after allegedly breaking into the students’ home with the intent to commit a felony.
The arrest of a suspect about seven weeks after the murders of the students: Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, capped a period of fear and frustration in the Moscow university community.
The murder weapon, believed to be a large fixed-blade knife, has yet to be recovered, Moscow police said.
Kohberger, who was a doctoral student in the department of criminal justice and criminology at nearby Washington State University at the time of his arrest, was not immediately known to have a connection to the victims.
The newly released court documents also do not suggest a motive for the attack, which Moscow police have said from the outset appeared to be «targeted», though they did not know whether it was a particular occupant or the house itself. killer approach.
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