Idaho murders: Suspect Bryan Kohberger could face death penalty if victims’ DNA is found in his car, experts say
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Experts believe DNA evidence including traces of victims' blood and skin in Bryan Kohberger's Hyundai Elantra would be enough to put the quadruple murder suspect on death row. Investigators honed in on the alleged killer through a white sedan spotted near the crime scene.
The University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, both 20, were found stabbed to death in a rental off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13. The vehicle seen speeding away from the scene in the early hours of that fateful morning was narrowed down to a 2011-2016 white Hyundai Elantra. Shortly after, an officer at Washington State University found a 2015 Hyundai Elantra registered to Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student in criminology at the university.
RELATED ARTICLES
Who is Bae Hyung? Bryan Kohberger's NEW admirer says she is being attacked for loving him
What's the rent of Idaho murder house? Web sleuth claims victims sublet apartment during summer
DNA evidence at the crime scene
FBI and other law enforcement agencies tracked the suspect as he made a cross-country trip to his parents' home in Pennsylvania for the Christmas holidays. Kohberger was taken into custody there on December 30 after DNA recovered from the trash at the murder house was linked to the DNA found on a knife sheath at the crime scene. The quadruple murder suspect has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. While he has not entered a plea at this time, a lawyer representing him previously said he was "eager to be exonerated," as reported by Newsweek. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson will seek to convince a magistrate judge there is sufficient evidence to support charges against Kohberger at the preliminary hearing that is scheduled to commence on June 26.
Bryan Kohberger's 'vehicle will take center stage'
A number of experts weighed in on how important Kohberger's Hyundai Elantra could be in the case against him. "The vehicle will take center stage," Joseph Giacalone, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Newsweek. He said it "would be huge" if investigators had identified blood or any other trace evidence of the victims in the suspect's vehicle. "If they can uncover evidence of trying to get rid of evidence, such as bleach, that will also be damaging for the defense," Giacalone added. "Kohberger's car is a critical piece of evidence because he allegedly changed the title and license plate to the car five days after the murders, and it was seen on video driving around the area of the house where the murders took place," Duncan Levin, managing partner of Levin & Associates, told the outlet, adding, "It may also be used if law enforcement is able to find any forensic evidence in the car, like blood. Given today's forensic technology, you can't clean your car well enough to cover up what law enforcement can find."
'Damning' evidence
Joseph Scott Morgan, a professor of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, told Newsweek that prosecutors will try to constitute evidence that Kohberger's vehicle was used to follow the victims, purchase items that were used in the crimes, arrive at and flee from the crime scene, as well as travel across the country to avoid prosecution. According to Morgan, anything found in the vehicle, especially the victims' DNA, "would be damning" evidence in the case. "The key is, what is the source of the sample? Skin, blood, something else?" he said. The professor said skin is "much easier to explain away," as opposed to blood, which would be very difficult to explain. "This car will have been taken apart down to its base elements... seat cushions, armrests, dashboard, subflooring.... this car will make an appearance in court piece by piece," Morgan added.
'Smoking gun'
Meanwhile, Neama Rahmani, president and co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, stated that the vehicle would be "better evidence" if surveillance cameras had captured the license plate, as reported by Newsweek. "The Hyundai Elantra would be better evidence if the prosecution had a license plate, or if they could at least narrow down the year of the vehicle," he explained. "For now, it's more of an investigative tool or weak circumstantial evidence that won't be the focus of the state's case-in-chief." Rahmani added, "Of course, we still don't know what the search warrant of the car revealed. If criminalists found the victims' blood, that's smoking gun evidence that will put Kohberger on death row."