Another update on the Moscow murders.
The Moscow Police Department has gathered extensive evidence against the man who is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students.
28-year-old former Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger is charged with four counts of 1st degree murder in Latah County Second District Court. Kohberger could be executed if he is convicted of stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle. The students were found dead inside an apartment near campus shortly before noon on Sunday November 13th.
Kohberger made his first appearance in Latah County Second District Court on Thursday morning. That appearance allowed the charging documents to be unsealed providing the first opportunity for the public to see the evidence that supports the allegations.
According to the documents one of the surviving roommates woke up around 4:00 in the morning on the night of the murders and heard someone say “there’s someone here.” The roommate then heard a male voice say “it’s ok, I’m going to help you.” The witness then saw a male about 5’10” with a slim athletic build and bushy eyebrows dressed in black and wearing a mask. The man walked past the roommate as she stood in a “frozen shock phase” before he walked out a back door. The roommate then locked herself in her room.
The charging document shows that at 4:17 a.m. a security camera near the apartment records distorted audio of what sounds like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud. A dog is then heard barking at 4:17.
Investigators found a knife sheath at the murder scene with a single source of male DNA. A latent shoe print was found just outside of the door where the suspect left the apartment.
The first connections to identifying Kohberger as the suspect began through security camera video footage from the neighborhood. Multiple videos near the apartment caught a white Hyundai Elantra in the area when the students were killed. The car is seen passing the residence three times. The vehicle is then caught on camera leaving the area at a high rate of speed at 4:20 in the morning. The vehicle is then spotted on cameras in Pullman and on the WSU campus about an hour later.
On November 25th, 12 days after the murders, Moscow Police asked area law enforcement to be on the lookout for white Hyundai Elantras. A WSU Police Officer located that type of vehicle at a campus apartment four days later. Investigators then learned that Kohberger owned the vehicle and fit the description that was provided by the surviving roommate who saw the suspect.
Moscow Police Detectives then got Kohberger’s cell phone number from an August 21st traffic stop. He was pulled over in Moscow in a white Hyundai Elantra and gave the officer his number. Investigators then learned that Kohberger changed his vehicle registration and license plate from his home state of Pennsylvania to Washington five days after the murders. The video footage of the suspect vehicle near the murders showed the car did not have a front license plate. Pennsylvania does not require cars to have a front license plate.
The court document shows that Moscow Detectives then obtained a search warrant to track Kohberger’s cell phone. The phone leaves the area of Kohberger’s apartment around 3:00 in the morning on the night of the murders. The phone then stops reporting to the network indicating that it was turned off. The phone reports back to the network just South of Moscow shortly before 5:00 in the morning and travels through Genesee and Uniontown before returning to the Kohberger apartment. The phone then returns to the area of the murders around 9:00 that morning a few hours before the students were found dead. Records also show that Kohberger’s phone was near the apartment where the students were killed at least a dozen times prior to the murders. Nearly all of those occurrences were in the late evenings or early morning hours. One of the occasions was during the evening of August 21st when Kohberger was pulled over for a traffic violation in Moscow.
On December 27th police in Pennsylvania took trash from Kohberger’s parents’ house. The next day the Idaho State Crime Lab matched DNA from the trash as being the father of the murder suspect who left DNA on the knife sheath.
Kohgberger was arrested at his parents’ home two days later and was extradited back to Moscow yesterday. During his first court appearance he was kept in custody without bond. Kohberger is scheduled to have a status conference on January 12th.
Kohberger was studying for his doctorate in criminology at WSU. He finished his first semester in Pullman on December 16th. The court documents show that he applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department last fall. Kohberger wrote an essay as part of the application about having an interest in assisting rural law enforcement on how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations. Kohberger also posted a survey online asking for information to “understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime.”
You can read the probable cause affidavit for the charges against Kohberger here: https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/bigcountrynewsconnection.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/6f/c6f0c828-8d21-11ed-a468-cb803488c232/63b70e9ed5b4d.pdf.pdf