MOSCOW, Idaho — A knife sheath that yielded key DNA evidence, as well as cellphone and vehicle records, were instrumental in leading investigators to the suspect in the killing of four University of Idaho students, according to a court document released Thursday morning.
The 19-page probable cause affidavit lays out the Moscow Police Department’s investigation and sheds new light on what led police to arrest Bryan C. Kohberger in the fatal stabbings of seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
The affidavit was released shortly before Kohberger’s first Idaho court appearance Thursday.
Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne wrote in the affidavit that through the DNA evidence and other records, police were able to zero in on the 28-year-old graduate student at Washington State University. Kohberger was arrested last Friday at his family’s home in eastern Pennsylvania, not long after DNA samples collected there “identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of Suspect Profile.”
The key piece of evidence collected from the scene, the knife sheath, was found on a bed next to Mogen’s body, according to the affidavit.
Both Kernodle and Chapin were found on the second floor of the King Road house, and Mogen and Goncalves were found together in Mogen’s room on the third floor, the affidavit said. Police previously had not indicated where the victims were, other than to say the top two floors.
Payne said investigators found a “tan leather knife sheath” at the scene that was processed, and investigators were able to find DNA on it. Since Kohberger’s arrest, national media outlets had reported — through anonymous law enforcement sources — that DNA evidence was used to identify Kohberger and that investigators used molecular forensic genetic genealogy, or the use of genealogy databases to compare DNA.
Pennsylvania authorities obtained the DNA evidence that they say belongs to a close relative of Kohberger’s, and were able to link it to the DNA from the knife sheath.
Nearly two weeks after the killings, law enforcement started looking for white Hyundai Elantras and notified the public of their interest in the vehicles, based on surveillance video showing such a car near the house on Nov. 13. A Washington State University police officer on Nov. 29 searched for white Elantras registered at the school, which turned up a record of a 2015 Hyundai Elantra registered to Kohberger, with a Pennsylvania license plate, the affidavit said.
Police issued search warrants for cellphone records in the area of the King Road home between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Nov. 13 as part of their initial investigation, but Kohberger’s cellphone did not utilize any cell towers in the area during that time.
Still, police submitted a search warrant for Kohberger’s cellphone data on the days preceding and after the killings. Officials said in the affidavit that it’s not unusual for people to leave a cellphone behind, turn it off or put it in airplane mode to avoid being associated with a location in the commission of a crime.
According to the court document, police said the missing cellular data was “consistent with Kohberger attempting to conceal his location during the quadruple homicide that occurred at the King Road residence.”
Police said photo and video evidence of the white Hyundai Elantra was consistent with the locations where Kohberger’s cellphone used tower resources.
Through the use of multiple surveillance cameras, police had said they were able to locate a white sedan — later determined as a Hyundai Elantra — in the King Road neighborhood. Payne said the vehicle passed by the King Road home four times between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. the morning of the killings.
The two surviving roommates — Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke — told authorities during interviews that everyone was back at the off-campus home by about 2 a.m. Pacific time and asleep by about 4 a.m.
At around 4 a.m., Mortensen said during her interview with law enforcement, she woke up to the sound of what she thought was Goncalves playing with her dog upstairs. Mortensen then either heard Goncalves or Kernodle say something like “there’s someone here,” according to the affidavit.
Mortensen looked outside her second-floor room twice, and the second time heard someone crying, and then a male voice say something along the lines of, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you,” police said in the affidavit. At 4:17 a.m. Pacific time, a security camera at a home next door picked up the sound of either voices or a whimper, and then a “loud thud.”
Mortensen told police that she opened her door again and saw a man in black, wearing a mask over his face, “walking toward her.” She said she did not recognize the man but described him as at least 5 feet 10 inches tall, not very muscular, and with bushy eyebrows, the affidavit stated.
Mortensen said she was in a “frozen shock phase” as the man walked past her and out the sliding glass door on the second floor of the home. She said she locked herself in her room after seeing the man.