New surveillance footage may show a suspect’s car circling the home where four University of Idaho students were murdered in 2022.
As per NBC, a white vehicle was observed repeatedly driving around the same area near the off-campus home in Moscow during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. This car was also reportedly seen approaching the house and rapidly departing just 13 minutes later.
Footage featuring this vehicle was obtained by NBC’s “Dateline” and could be presented as evidence at Bryan Kohberger’s forthcoming trial. Viewers can catch the episode detailing this case on “Dateline” airing Friday, May 9 at 9 p.m. (ET).
NBC reported that an FBI mobile phone expert stated Kohberger’s phone was detected by a cell tower that offers coverage within 100 meters of the residence where the quadruple murder occurred. The phone is said to have connected to this tower 23 times over a four-month period, including once six days before the killings.
Kohberger is set to stand trial on August 11 for killing University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves on November 13, 2022, at the women’s off-campus home.
Kohberger’s attorneys have claimed Kohberger was not at the crime scene and was driving around alone the night the four students were fatally stabbed at the women’s off-campus home.
Mogen was found dead in bed next to Goncalves, and a knife sheath was reportedly discovered near their bodies. Downstairs, on the second floor, Kernodle was found slain next to Chapin, her boyfriend. Two surviving roommates discovered the bodies and called the cops.
Police claimed Kohberger visited the area 12 times before the slayings and that he turned off his phone on the night in question.
Prosecutors said Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath located near Mogen and Goncalves’ bodies. The murder weapon has not been found.
Defense attorneys claimed that prosecutors withheld evidence about unidentified DNA samples — including DNA on a glove outside the home which also remains unidentified.
Investigators tested DNA from a trash can outside Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania against DNA found on the sheath at the crime scene. Testing determined that “at least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”
At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was working on his Ph.D. in criminology from Washington State University, which is located 10 miles from the crime scene. He was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022, after taking a cross-country road trip with his father from Washington to Pennsylvania for the holidays.
In September, Kohberger’s trial was moved from Latah County to Boise, in Ada County. The trial’s venue was changed after the state supreme court upheld a ruling identifying publicity and media attention concerns that could jeopardize Kohberger’s right to a fair trial. Further, the courts noted that the Latah County courthouse lacked space and local police did not have enough deputies to provide adequate security.
Latah County will cover financial costs related to the high-profile trial even though it will take place in Ada County.
[Feature Photo: Kai Eiselein/New York Post via AP, Pool]
