From cell phone ping to CCTV clip: A look at how cops linked Bryan Kohberger to grisly Idaho murders
This article is based on sources and we have been unable to verify this information independently
MOSCOW, IDAHO: It's been 47 days since four University of Idaho students were tragically killed in the middle of the night and the hints leading to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger have now been revealed. Authorities tracked Kohberger's AT&T cell phone and meticulously linked it with his suspicious actions on November 13, while the local area and the rest of the nation anxiously awaited police to apprehend the murderer.
Kohberger "stalked" the off-campus home twelve times before the murders and even returned to the crime scene five hours later, according to evidence from a recently disclosed affidavit that now demonstrates how police were able to link him to the incident. The white Hyundai Elantra that police were trying to track belonged to PhD student, Kohberger, 28, who lived eight miles away from the crime site in Moscow, Idaho.
READ MORE
Idaho police were also able to track down the suspect and accuse him of the triple murder with the help of genetic genealogy, cell phone data, CCTV footage, and evidence left at the crime site, as per Daily Mail. The affidavit describes how Moscow police officer, Brett Payne, arrived at the Kings Street residence to discover the four college students gruesomely murdered. If found guilty, Kohberger would be executed for the killings of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20.
Police have only provided information on one instance in which although Kohberger is only known to have visited the murder house once, mobile data from his phone number, which reportedly ends in 8458, reveals that he visited the area a total of 12 times before the killings. The only time they confirmed he was in the vicinity was 84 days before the four students were killed. Between 10.34 and 11.35 pm on August 21, 2022, Kohberger's cell phone was detected as being close to the murder residence. The dates, times, and specifics of the additional 11 occasions when police believe Kohberger stalked the Idaho students and their college house have not been disclosed.
The murderer left a tan leather knife sheath
A cell tower close to Kohberger's residence at 1630 Northeast Valley Road in Pullman, Washington, picked up his phone location at 2.42 am on November 13. Then, at 2:47 am, his phone pinged again, signaling that it had started to move through Pullman to the south. However, a short while later, the phone ceased pinging, indicating that it had either been switched off, put in airplane mode, or disconnected from the network. It's thought he may have shut off the phone to avoid being seen. According to Idaho Police, the murderer left a tan leather knife sheath at the crime scene. It was discovered on the bed at the residence adjacent to the bodies of Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Footage captured faint cries and dog howling
Male DNA was still present on the snap button of the knife cover, which was inscribed with the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor emblem. The FBI did not match the DNA to Kohberger until December 27, after finding trash at his family's home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. A neighboring home's CCTV camera captured faint "cries" and a dog howling around 4.17 am. The puppy, which Kaylee Goncalves and her ex-boyfriend shared, was discovered the following day unhurt.
The masked man and diamond pattern shoe print
Dylan Mortensen, a surviving roommate, said she spotted a man wearing a black mask inside the house while she was awake at the time of the deaths, which occurred at around 4.20 am. He had thick eyebrows, according to her description. A shoe print was discovered outside Mortensen's bedroom door by police during the second sweep of the crime scene. They claimed it had a "diamond pattern," which is similar to the sole of a Vans shoe, and the direction of movement was in line with Mortensen's statement as a witness.
White Sedan zooming past residence four times
A white Hyundai Elantra was seen on security cameras leaving the crime scene at this time, after 4.20 am, but the lack of a front license plate made it difficult for authorities to identify its owner. Police claim that in the early morning hours, "a very limited number of vehicles" typically enter and leave this residential area. But one of them was the white sedan, which was observed passing the residence four times. They stated it was traveling at "high speed," Daily Mail reported.
Elantra is seen on camera traveling north on Stadium Drive
Kohberger's phone turns back on after being off for two hours at 4.48 am, or around 28 minutes after the killings are thought to have ended. It pings once again on State Route 95 in Idaho, south of Moscow. His phone pinging in the next 30 minutes showed it heading south on ID95 to Genessee, Idaho, then west towards Uniontown, Idaho, and then back north into Pullman, Washington. One hour after the Moscow students were killed, at 5.30 am, Kohberger's phone pings at 1630 Northeast Valley Road again, this time to say that he has returned home. The Elantra is seen on camera traveling north on Stadium Drive at 5.27 am in the morning, which allowed police to confirm the information from the cell phone.
On November 13, Kohberger arrives home at 5:30 am, but his phone pings at 9 am, indicating he is moving around again. The evidence revealing that he returned to the scene of the triple murder the following morning, as revealed by cell phone pings, may be the most stunning. Police and FBI were coy about the evidence they gathered for weeks after the deaths. However, after his detention and subsequent court appearance, police disclosed the procedures they followed to find the suspect. Kohberger and his father, Michael, traveled 2,500 miles in a white Hyundai Elantra from Idaho to Pennsylvania following the murders on November 13. On November 29, police in Pullman, Washington State, which is about 10 miles from the murder site, were able to collect video footage from Kohberger's apartment building's parking lot.
Due to the fact that the car matched the description of the one they saw in the security footage from the night, the students were killed, Moscow Police officers went to the parking lot to get the license plate for it. They conducted a search and discovered numerous instances in which the car and its driver, Bryan Kohberger, had been stopped repeatedly in the past.
Kohberger was stopped twice on December 15
When Kohberger's name came up, investigators focused their attention on him and looked back at several months' worth of phone data and surveillance footage. He was stopped twice on December 15 as he traveled through Indiana after their first suspicions were confirmed—once for speeding and once for following a vehicle in front of him too closely. He was reportedly stopped at the request of an FBI surveillance team that was following him to check for signs of hand injuries following violent killings. On December 30, the Pennsylvania State Police detained Kohberger, 28, at a residence in Albrightsville, a small community in the Pocono Mountains, more than 2,000 miles from the scene of the horrifying murders.