(Trends Wide) — One of two housemates who survived the fatal November stabbings of four University of Idaho students told investigators she saw a masked man dressed in black in the home on the morning of the attack, according to an affidavit from probable cause released Thursday in prosecutors’ case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.
The woman, identified in the document as DM, said she “heard crying” in the house the morning of the murders and heard a male voice saying, “Calm down, I’m going to help you.” DM said that she then saw a “figure dressed in black clothing and a mask covering the mouth and nose of the person walking towards her,” the affidavit says.
“DM described the figure as a male 5’7″ or taller, not heavily muscled, but with an athletic build and bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit reads. “The man walked past DM while she was in ‘frozen shock phase’.”
“The man walked to the rear sliding glass door. DM locked himself in his room after seeing the man,” the document says, adding that the woman did not recognize the man.
The release of the affidavit — which also says that a DNA profile obtained from trash at the Kohberger family’s Pennsylvania home matches DNA from a leather knife sheath found at the scene of the murders — It came as the 28-year-old suspect made his first court appearance in Idaho, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery.
Kohberger smiled at his public defender as he entered the courtroom and did not appear to make eye contact with anyone else throughout the proceedings, including the families of the victims, who wept in the front row and stared at the suspect throughout the hearing.
The judge on Thursday upheld both the prosecutors’ request for a two-year no-contact order for the victims’ relatives and surviving housemates, as well as their request that Kohberger not be granted bail. The suspect must appear in court again on January 12 for a status hearing that will precede the preliminary hearing.
Bryan Kohberger appeared in court in Idaho on Thursday.
Kohberger booked into the Latah County, Idaho, jail Wednesday night after being extradited from his home state of Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last Friday, nearly seven weeks after 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home in the college town of Moscow, Idaho.
The affidavit addresses some questions authorities have so far left unanswered, namely some of the steps used to identify Kohberger as a suspect.
Authorities had been looking for a white Hyundai Elantra seen in the area of the murders, the affidavit said, and shortly thereafter notified area law enforcement to search for the vehicle.
Several days later, agents at nearby Washington State University, where the suspect was a doctoral student in the criminal justice program, identified a white Elantra and later discovered it was registered to Kohberger.
The information on Kohberger’s driver’s license matched the description the surviving female saw in the home at the time of the attack, according to the affidavit, which specified her height and weight, 6’2″ and 180 pounds. and the fact that he had bushy eyebrows.
Kohberger received a new license plate for his Elantra five days after the murders, the affidavit says, citing Washington State Department of Licensing records.
At the time of his arrest last week, a white Elantra was found at Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who said Kohberger had gone home to the holidays.
In addition, trash recovered from the Kohberger family home late last month was sent for DNA testing to the Idaho State Laboratory, the affidavit says. The lab “reported that the DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched the brown leather sheath of a knife found “on the bed” of one of the victims.
Phone records also indicate that Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times between June 2022 and the present, the document says. “All but one of these occasions occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”
A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referring to the public records of the case.
— Stephanie Becker, Jason Kravarik, Kevin Flower and Lauren del Valle contributed reporting.
(Trends Wide) — One of two housemates who survived the fatal November stabbings of four University of Idaho students told investigators she saw a masked man dressed in black in the home on the morning of the attack, according to an affidavit from probable cause released Thursday in prosecutors’ case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.
The woman, identified in the document as DM, said she “heard crying” in the house the morning of the murders and heard a male voice saying, “Calm down, I’m going to help you.” DM said that she then saw a “figure dressed in black clothing and a mask covering the mouth and nose of the person walking towards her,” the affidavit says.
“DM described the figure as a male 5’7″ or taller, not heavily muscled, but with an athletic build and bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit reads. “The man walked past DM while she was in ‘frozen shock phase’.”
“The man walked to the rear sliding glass door. DM locked himself in his room after seeing the man,” the document says, adding that the woman did not recognize the man.
The release of the affidavit — which also says that a DNA profile obtained from trash at the Kohberger family’s Pennsylvania home matches DNA from a leather knife sheath found at the scene of the murders — It came as the 28-year-old suspect made his first court appearance in Idaho, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery.
Kohberger smiled at his public defender as he entered the courtroom and did not appear to make eye contact with anyone else throughout the proceedings, including the families of the victims, who wept in the front row and stared at the suspect throughout the hearing.
The judge on Thursday upheld both the prosecutors’ request for a two-year no-contact order for the victims’ relatives and surviving housemates, as well as their request that Kohberger not be granted bail. The suspect must appear in court again on January 12 for a status hearing that will precede the preliminary hearing.
Bryan Kohberger appeared in court in Idaho on Thursday.
Kohberger booked into the Latah County, Idaho, jail Wednesday night after being extradited from his home state of Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last Friday, nearly seven weeks after 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home in the college town of Moscow, Idaho.
The affidavit addresses some questions authorities have so far left unanswered, namely some of the steps used to identify Kohberger as a suspect.
Authorities had been looking for a white Hyundai Elantra seen in the area of the murders, the affidavit said, and shortly thereafter notified area law enforcement to search for the vehicle.
Several days later, agents at nearby Washington State University, where the suspect was a doctoral student in the criminal justice program, identified a white Elantra and later discovered it was registered to Kohberger.
The information on Kohberger’s driver’s license matched the description the surviving female saw in the home at the time of the attack, according to the affidavit, which specified her height and weight, 6’2″ and 180 pounds. and the fact that he had bushy eyebrows.
Kohberger received a new license plate for his Elantra five days after the murders, the affidavit says, citing Washington State Department of Licensing records.
At the time of his arrest last week, a white Elantra was found at Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who said Kohberger had gone home to the holidays.
In addition, trash recovered from the Kohberger family home late last month was sent for DNA testing to the Idaho State Laboratory, the affidavit says. The lab “reported that the DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched the brown leather sheath of a knife found “on the bed” of one of the victims.
Phone records also indicate that Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times between June 2022 and the present, the document says. “All but one of these occasions occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”
A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referring to the public records of the case.
— Stephanie Becker, Jason Kravarik, Kevin Flower and Lauren del Valle contributed reporting.
