BOISE, ID – The defense team for the man accused of stabbing and killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022 were handed a blow yesterday after a judge denied their motion to exclude crucial DNA evidence. Bryan Kohberger could face the death penalty if found guilty of four counts of murder in the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
Investigators reportedly found genetic material on a button snap on a knife sheath they say was left at the residence where the students were killed. They say using family tree databases and DNA collected from trash at his family’s home in Pennsylvania in late December 2022, they were able to link Kohberger to the murders. Those items were obtained without a warrant. However, Judge Steven Hippler ruled that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for evidence collected at a crime scene.
Had the judge ruled in favor of the defense, all evidence gathered after identifying Kohberger through DNA, including cell phone data placing him near the victims’ off-campus home and security footage of a vehicle matching his, would have been dismissed.
While law enforcement officers monitored Kohberger’s family home at 12:33 a.m. the day of his arrest, they reportedly “observed a kitchen light turn on and saw a taller, young, white male wearing a black hoodie standing near the glass sliding door leading out to the deck.” About 20 minutes later, the light came on in the garage, and “lights flashed in the garage as if the vehicle was being locked or unlocked by a key fob,” the judge’s ruling says.
A few minutes later, Kohberger “was seen in the kitchen of the home, this time wearing rubber gloves and handling a plastic baggie,” the judge wrote, adding that “It was 1:09 a.m. in the morning, a time when most people would not be removing items from their car with rubber gloves.”
Kohberger’s jury trial is scheduled to begin in August. Prosecutors have stated they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
