DNA from trash at Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania linked him to crime
The FBI collected trash from the family home of accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger in order to link him to the gruesome quadruple murder, court documents revealed Thursday.
The DNA profile recovered on Dec. 27 from the garbage at Kohberger’s parents’ house in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, matched that of a knife sheath left at the crime scene, according to the police’s probable cause affidavit.
DNA analysis, which was conducted the following day in the Idaho State Lab, showed a sample from the trash belonged to Kohberger’s father, Michael, with more than 99% accuracy.
“At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” the document read.
The DNA appeared to be the final link needed to allow authorities to confidently conduct an early morning raid of the Kohberger residence on Dec. 30 and arrest Bryan on charges of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students.
Elsewhere in the affidavit, cops revealed they found the knife sheath with the incriminating DNA evidence in the Moscow, Idaho, home where the bodies of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were discovered.
“I later noticed what appeared to be a tan leather knife sheath laying on the bed next to Mogen’s right side,” officer Brett Payne wrote, saying the sheath had “Ka-Bar,” “USMC” and “the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia” on it.
The four murdered students had been partying at different locations in Moscow before returning home in the early hours of Nov. 13. The murderer had then slipped into the house and stabbed all of them to death in their beds while they slept. Mogen and Goncalves were discovered in the same bed, while Chapin and Kernodle were found in a room together on the floor below, in a case which shocked and baffled the nation.
The crucial piece of evidence on the sheath seemed to be the only DNA connection authorities had to Kohberger, whom they were also able to target through surveillance camera footage and cellphone pings.
Kohberger appeared in Idaho court for the first time Thursday, which allowed authorities to release the probable cause affidavit.
It details chilling and previously unknown facts about the case, including that one of two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen, came face to face with the killer the night of the murders. The document did not explain why Mortensen waited seven hours to call the police.
