A Q-TIP and spotless car are the main evidence of murdering Bryan Kohberger with 4 Idaho students

BOYSIE, Idaho (AP) – The chief prosecutor is tasked with presenting key evidence for the University of Idaho students killed by four four students stabbed four years ago at a court hearing Wednesday for Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty earlier this week to avoid the death penalty.

An abstract of evidence recited by Chief Prosecutor Bill Thompson before Kohberger enters his request – spinning a dramatic story that includes a DNA-filled Q-tip pulled out of the garbage of night’s death, a runaway car is stripped of evidence so clean that the command “basically a fate within the inside” is a command of a command.

These details provide new insights into how the criminal approach will be committed on November 13, 2022, and how investigators can use surveillance video, cell phone tracking and DNA matching to finally resolve the case. But the summary leaves behind key questions that might be answered at the trial, including the motivation for the stabbing, and why Koberg chose that house, and those victims, all of which are clearly strangers to him.

Moscow’s small agricultural community is located in Panhandle, northern Idaho, and for about five years, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana kernodle and Madison Mogen have been found dead in a rental home near campus.

Kohberger, 30, has started earning his PhD in criminal justice from a nearby state university at Washington State University (Moscow, Idaho) just months before the crime.

“The defendant studied the crime,” Thompson said. The victim’s family burst into tears. “In fact, he gave a detailed paper on crime scene handling while pursuing his PhD and had that kind of knowledge and skills.”

What we learned from the hearing

Thompson said Koberg’s cell phone began to connect to the cell phone tower in the crime area and stabbed for more than four months.

A compilation of surveillance videos by neighbors and businesses is also placed in the work of Kohberger vehicles in the area (due to regular traffic stops by police in August).

Thompson said on the night of the murder, Koberg parked behind the house and entered the kitchen through the sliding door of the kitchen shortly after 4 a.m. He moved to the third floor where Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves sleep.

After killing both of them with a knife, Koberg left a scabbard beside Morgan’s body. Blood from the two victims was then found on the sheath, as well as DNA from a male, eventually helping investigators designate Kohberger as the sole suspect.

On the floor below, another student was still awake. Thompson said Xana Kernodle had ordered the door dash not long ago and when Kohberger left, he crossed the path with her and killed her with a big knife. He then killed her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who slept in the kernel’s bedroom.

Kohberger is still alive in the house, including a roommate who is expected to testify at the trial, where she saw an invader with “burned eyebrows” wearing black clothes and ski masks.

After about five minutes, the car can be seen on the surveillance camera of the next door neighbor. Thompson said, so fast. “The car is almost out of control because it makes the corner,” Thompson said.

What did Kohberger do next?

Thompson said his cover was elaborate after Koberg escaped the scene.

Prosecutors believe he drove to the apartment in Pullman, Washington to avoid surveillance cameras on the main roads, and did not turn on his phone until 4:48 a.m. to 4:48 a.m., and he returned to Pullman, who returned to Pullman.

Later, Koberg changed his car registration from Pennsylvania to Washington state – it was important for investigators who were combing through surveillance camera recordings, because Pennsylvania law does not require a former license plate, making it difficult to identify vehicles.

Investigators did catch up with him a few weeks later, and his apartment and office were cleaned near Pullman.

Thompson said of Koberg’s apartment: “The Spartans will be a good character.

He added that the car also “basically has been removed.” “That was spotless. The defendant’s car was carefully cleaned inside.”

Break the Q-problem in the case

Investigators honed Kohberger, but they needed to prove that he was their suspect.

In a mysterious male DNA on the scabbard, they worked with the FBI and local health departments to secretly evacuate garbage from their Pennsylvania homes in Pennsylvania, seeking DNA matches from the suspects.

“They did what was called a garbage pull at night,” Thompson said.

He said a pile of garbage produced the investigation gold: a Q-TIP containing DNA “from the father of DNA found in the scabbard found by Madison Mogen in his bed.”

So Koberg was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, who went on vacation and was eventually extradited to Idaho for prosecution.

The mystery that still exists

Even though the prosecutor detailed a key question that night: Why did Koberg target that house and those victims? Does he know them? What is his motivation?

“We have no evidence that the defendant had direct contact with 1122 or residents in 1122, but we could put his phone in the area in that era,” Thompson said.

Some of this evidence may appear at trial and may still be contained in documents related to the court-sealed case until the sentencing hearing on July 23. All lawyers’ orders to call the department in this case are still valid.

These documents include a list of witnesses, an exhibition list, an analysis of the evidence, a requirement for other discovery, documents on mitigation factors, and various failed defense motions that attempt to introduce other suspects, among other things.

Victim’s family splits on plea agreement

In the case of resolution, families remain divided on their resolutions.

The deal stipulates that Kohberger will be exempted from execution in exchange for four consecutive life sentences. He also waived his right to appeal and challenge judgments.

Chapin and Mogen’s family supported the deal.

“We are now on a new path. We are on a path of hope and recovery,” Mogan’s family said in a statement.

Kaylee Goncalves’ family publicly condemned the plea deal ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, and her father refused to participate in the lawsuit.

“Faced with life in prison means he can still speak, build relationships and interact with the world,” Goncalves’s 18-year-old sister Aubrie Goncalves said in a Facebook post.

“At the same time, our loved ones remain silent forever,” she wrote.