On the November night that four University of Idaho students were murdered in a house near campus, another student who shared the residence with them woke up hearing a noise that she thought was her friend playing with the dog. Then she heard someone crying and a man saying something like “it’s okay, I’ll help you”.
The student later told investigators that when she peeked out of her room at 4am, she was shocked to see a man in black clothing and a mask walk past her, heading towards the back door. She didn’t recognize him, but said she noticed the bushy eyebrows.
Only many hours later would the extent of what had happened on the first floor and in the hallway become clear: four students had been stabbed to death—two others were left alive, in addition to the dog that barked so loudly that it had been heard outside the house.
On Thursday (5), police officers ended nearly two months of silence on the details of the investigation and revealed a series of evidence that left little doubt as to the identity of the killer: Bryan Kohberger, 28, a doctoral student in criminology at a nearby university.
Arrested Dec. 30 at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, Kohberger appeared the same Thursday in an Idaho courtroom for the first time, to be criminally charged with felony murder and criminal larceny.
In the crowded courtroom, with the father of one of the victims in the front row, he said little — except to say that he understood that the maximum penalty for each murder charge was life imprisonment or the death penalty. His public defender, Anne Taylor, told the court that Kohberger “has a very supportive family,” while he himself said through another lawyer that he hopes to be cleared.
Authorities have yet to detail the motive for the crime or why the two other young women, who are also students at the University of Idaho, only called 911. [da emergência] shortly before noon the following day.
But in a small college town where there hasn’t been a homicide in seven years, the court documents now unearthed offer a detailed account of how police, aided by FBI agents, methodically triangulated leads. Among the clues are DNA samples found in a knife sheath left at the crime scene, surveillance cameras, data from cell phone towers and DNA from the suspect’s father collected from the family’s trash. All of this data pointed to Kohberger.
Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Gonçalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed in the attack, at a house on a cul-de-sac, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. . Kernodle and Chapin, who were dating, had gone to a party; Gonçalves and Mogen, to a bar. Everyone returned home before 2 am, as did the other two colleagues.
The new documents suggest Kernodle was awake around the time the crimes were committed. She received a food delivery around 4am and reportedly used TikTok 12 minutes later. Police say the homicides likely took place before 4:25 am.
Footage from security cameras in the neighborhood gave investigators some clues, showing that shortly before the crimes a white Hyundai Elantra had driven down the cul-de-sac three times. The car returned a fourth time, at 4:04 am – more or less the time the survivor said she woke up.
The vehicle was seen 16 minutes later leaving the neighborhood at high speed, according to a statement signed by Corporal Brett Payne of the Moscow police.
Investigators began to comb the region. In late November, a police officer on the Washington State campus, 15 minutes from the University of Idaho and the crime scene, discovered that an Elantra belonging to Kohberger was registered with the institution. Thanks to the driver’s license, it turned out that he matched the description of the masked man, including the bushy eyebrows.
In December, Kohberger drove back to Pennsylvania with his father for the family’s end-of-year vacation while police continued their investigation. Two days before Christmas, police obtained cell tower records showing that on the night of the crime Kohberger’s phone stopped connecting to those near his apartment in Pullman at 2:47 am, reconnecting south of Moscow at 4:48 am —which suggested the device had either moved out of coverage or had been turned off.
The phone had been in the area of ​​the house 12 times in the months prior to the crime.
Kohberger would also have returned near the property hours after the murders, but before the victims were found, according to the testimony.
The police had other important evidence: the DNA sample found on the press stud of a leather knife sheath. She had been left on a bed next to the bodies of Goncalves and Mogen.
In December, investigators tracked Kohberger to his parents’ home in Pennsylvania. On December 27th, the police were able to collect some rubbish from the house and sent what appears to be a DNA sample from his father to be tested. The results indicated a strong probability that Kohberger Sr. was indeed the father of the one who left the DNA on the knife sheath.
In a police raid in the early hours of December 30, agents broke down the doors and windows of the family home and arrested Kohberger son. Immediately afterwards they searched his apartment in Pullman and the white Hyundai Elantra. They also obtained a warrant to take a DNA sample directly from the suspect.
Friends of the victims have been looking into possible links between them and the now accused, but have found none so far; Colleagues at Washington State also examined recollections to try to identify possible clues. Some said he spent time studying exactly the kind of techniques police used in recent weeks to identify him and that he had a deep interest in criminal psychology and crime scenes.
Colleague Benjamin T. Roberts said Kohberger was interested in areas such as psychology and rational choice theory, which suggest that criminals often seek to weigh the potential costs and benefits of committing a crime.
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