the police seized face masks, A .40-caliber Glock 22 pistol, popular with law enforcement, and a knife from the family home of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger, court documents were unsealed Thursday.
When police arrested Kohberger in Pennsylvania, investigators took «black masks,» the gun, three empty Glock clips and a Smith & Wesson knife, according to newly unsealed search warrant documents.
When four University of Idaho students were killed on November 13, a witness said he was in a «frozen shock phase» and described the suspect as «a figure dressed in black and a mask covering the mouth and nose of the person walking towards her,» according to court documents.
The suspect’s attorney in Idaho could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday morning.
Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in the early morning hours of November 13. The four victims, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21, were fatally stabbed.
Although no firearm was used in the Idaho murders, John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Michael Alcazar said there is still potential evidential value in the seized gun.
The suspect could have had it with him the night of the murder and have the DNA of the victims and the police will surely test the weapon for connections to unsolved crimes, according to Alcazar.
“Maybe he had the gun on his person when he committed these crimes. He could take blood, saliva, sweat from the victims and transfer it to the gun,” said Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective who teaches introductory criminal investigations.
«There may be some unsolved shootings or homicides that we can link to this weapon, I would absolutely test that weapon for that.»
He glock 22 is promoted by its manufacturer as one of its most popular police service weapons.
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was a doctoral student studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, a short drive from Moscow across the state line. A WSU official has said that Kohberger is no longer enrolled.
The suspect’s and victims’ two universities are only 10 miles apart, and residents of the two college towns, Pullman, Washington, and Moscow, Idaho, regularly travel the short distance to each location.
Brittany Kubicko contributed.