Bryan Kohberger is led into a Latah County courtroom
Several weapons, including two knives, a handgun, and several empty magazines, were seized from the Pennsylvania family home of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students late last year, according to newly unsealed court documents in the case.
Documents say state police collected a knife, a “Glock 22 Gen5 .40 caliber” gun, three Glock .40 caliber magazines, a Smith & Wesson pocket knife, a laptop, two black face masks, black gloves, and a “green leafy substance” that was found in both a green container as well as in a plastic bag. Additionally, authorities say they searched Kohberger’s 2015 Hyundai Elantra and recovered swabs, gloves, boots, a shovel, and a pair of goggles.
Investigators also detailed some of the items they hoped to find during the search, which included bodily fluids, weapons or “instrumentalities of injury or death,” and any property belonging to the four victims.
The documents were released on Thursday morning, two days after Pennsylvania authorities unsealed new details of evidence in the case.
The home of Kohberger’s parents in eastern Pennsylvania is where the suspect was arrested in December. Investigators have revealed they recovered two pairs of medical-style gloves, a black sweatshirt, socks, shorts, sneakers, and a buccal DNA swab from the parents’ house.
Kohberger faces first-degree murder charges in the November 2022 deaths of four students: Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21. Each of the four were stabbed to death at off-campus house located on King Road in the early morning hours of Nov. 13. Some, but not all, of the victims were murdered as they slept, according to the Latah County Coroner.
A motive in the case has not been revealed.
Before his arrest, Kohberger had been pursuing a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, about 10 miles away from the Idaho crime scene. He has not yet entered a plea on the quadruple murder charges and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in the case in June.
Idaho Murders: 5 People Who Knew Accused Killer Bryan Kohberger
The court documents unsealed this week come after authorities in January released the warrant return from the search of Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman, Washington, approximately 10 miles away from the University of Idaho.
Police seized several items, including a black nitrite-type glove, the dust container from a vacuum cleaner, 13 possible hair strands (one of which may belong to an animal), a “Fire TV” stick, a pillow with a “reddish/brownish stain” and a computer tower. Notably, police said that no weapons were recovered from inside of the home.
The warrant further revealed detectives’ observations from inside the home where the students died and how those observations affected the direction of the investigation, including looking for evidence of a dog owned by Goncalves when they were searching Kohberger’s home.
Two roommates who were in the house on the night of the murder were not attacked. One of the roommates, Dylan Mortensen, told authorities that she went to sleep in her bedroom on the second floor and was awoken at 4 a.m. by what she said sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog in one of the upstairs bedrooms on the third floor, according to an affidavit.
A short time later, the roommate said she heard a person she thought was Goncalves saying something to the effect of “there’s someone here.” She said she looked out of her bedroom but did not see anything. Mortensen stated she opened her door a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle’s room.
She then said she heard a male voice say, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you,” according to documents.
At 4:17 a.m., a security camera picked up distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud. Starting at 4:17 a.m, a dog could be heard barking numerous times, documents said.
Mortensen said she opened her door for the third time after she heard the crying and saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the mouth and nose of the person walking toward her.
She described the man she didn’t recognize as as 5-foot-10 or taller, male, not very muscular, and athletically built with bushy eyebrows. The suspect walked past Mortensen and toward the back sliding glass door as she stood in a “frozen shock phase,” according to the court documents. Mortensen then locked herself in her room.
You can read the warrants, at length, here, here, and here.
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