Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger returned to the crime scene after killing the four students on November 13 and likely stalked the victims a dozen times before the attack, according to the police affidavit unsealed on Thursday. Also, Kohberger's DNA evidence was found at the crime scene.
Idaho police pieced together DNA evidence, cellphone data, and surveillance footage to charge Kohberger with the murders of the four University of Idaho undergraduate students. According to the affidavit, DNA matching that of Kohberger, a criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, just a short drive across the state border, was found on a knife sheath retrieved at the crime site.
Planned Murder
According to the probable cause affidavit, Kohberger's cell phone pinged its location near the student residence at 1122 King Street in Moscow at around 9 am on November 13, just five hours after he allegedly stormed into the building and killed the four students in cold blood.
Police believe, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were murdered in a planned manner, which also involved stalking the victims.
According to cellphone records gathered by the Moscow Police Department, Kohberger left his apartment in Pullman, Washington at 9 am and arrived in the neighborhood of the house between 9:12 and 9:21 a.m. that day.
"Further review indicated that the 8458 Phone utilized cellular resources on November 13, 2022, that are consistent with the 8458 Phone leaving the area of the Kohberger Residence at approximately [9] a.m. and traveling to Moscow, ID," the affidavit states.
"Specifically, the 8458 Phone utilized cellular resources that would provide coverage to the King Road Residence between 9.12 am and 9.21 am."
Police were able to identify his 8458 number after Kohberger identified the phone as his own, during a police stop on August 21 in Moscow, Idaho. Fox claims that on December 23, cops obtained a search order for the phone.
According to authorities, the creepy criminology student also allegedly turned off his phone the night of the killings in an effort to hide his tracks.
"The lack of [the phone] reporting to AT&T between 2:47 am and 4:48 am is consistent with Kohberger attempting to conceal his location during the quadruple homicide," the document states.
Stalking His Victims
Kohberger not only visited the crime scene but also stalked his victims before killing them mercilessly. Investigators' access to his phone data also revealed that his phone was able to be traced to a location close to the three-story off-campus party home where the students resided at least 12 times in the months leading up to the massacre.
"On at least twelve occasions prior to November 13, 2022. All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days," the affidavit states.
Moreover, after going through the surveillance footage also was confirm that the white Hyundai Elantra belonged to the killer.
"I believe that Kohberger, the user of the 8458 Phone, was likely the driver of the white Elantra that is observed departing Pullman, WA and that this vehicle is likely Suspect Vehicle 1," Moscow police officer Brett Payne wrote in the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, when a Moscow Police Department detective entered the house during the investigation, they discovered Goncalves and Mogen dead in Mogen's bed.
On the bed next to them was a tan leather "Ka-Bar" knife sheath with the logo of the United States Marines. According to the affidavit, an investigator found a puppy that Goncalves shared with her ex-boyfriend Jack Ducoeur in her bedroom.
Their roommate, Dylan Mortensen, also told investigators she was awoken at 4 a.m. by what she thought was the sound of Goncalves playing with her dog.
Mortensen said she was sleeping and heard a little noise and opened her bedroom door around 4 am. Mortensen, however, saw nothing when she peered out of her bedroom window. Shortly after, she heard crying coming from her other roommate, Xana Kernodle's, bedroom, so she took another look outside her door.
"It's OK, I'm going to help you," Mortensen told authorities she heard a male voice say.
The third time Mortensen opened her bedroom door to a far more terrifying sight. This time, she saw the killer. "[Mortensen] saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person's mouth and nose walking towards her," a police affidavit reads.
"Mortensen described the figure as 5′ 10″ or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows. The male walked past [her] as she stood in a 'frozen shock phase.'
"The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. Mortensen locked herself in her room after seeing the male."
After investigating the disturbances, Mortensen, who still wasn't aware that the murders had taken place, was confronted by the suspect, according to the recently disclosed document, which refers to Mortensen as DM.
Moments earlier, the mysterious killer, who police suspect to be Kohberger, had allegedly stabbed to death Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. Bethany Funke, a 21-year-old roommate, was unharmed in the November 13 attack.
Kohberger has been charged with four counts of murder and one act of burglary and was held without bond on Thursday for murdering Idaho students Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Ethan Chapin.
