Idaho murders: Internet wonders if cops ‘unofficially’ used ancestry test to match Bryan Kohberger's DNA
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, who has been charged with the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, was arrested on December 30 at his parents' home in eastern Pennsylvania, more than 2,500 miles away from the town of Moscow. The probable cause affidavit, released on January 5, revealed some key details of the case, linking Kohberger to the killings, such as the phone data pointing out that Kohberger was in the area of the murders at least 12 times before the murders and that the suspect left behind a knife sheath at the crime scene with his DNA on it. Also, the quadruple-murder accused was ‘seen’ by one of the survivors, Dylan Mortensen. Idaho Statesman reported that, Kohberger asked his neighbor, who is not from the US, whether he could identify Kohberger’s ancestral background. Kohberger then stated that he was of German descent. The neighbor also added that Kohberger had 'some sort of DNA test'. This revelation has prompted the internet users to question if law enforcement ‘unofficially’ used Kohberger's ancestry test to match the DNA on the knife sheath.
Four University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were stabbed to death on November 13 in their off-campus rental home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger, a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the neighboring Washington State University, who has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary charges, waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing as he appeared in court on Thursday, January 12.
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A Reddit user questioned if law enforcement could use 'Ancestry or 23 and Me data to find a match for the killer'. "Could law enforcement ‘unofficially’ used Ancestry or 23 and Me to find a match for the killer? By that i mean send a generic sample as a customer and see what sort of match it brings? I suppose the down side of that is that BK and everyone else genetically related to BK would be alerted to a new relative’s DNA being uploaded. And for BK I suppose it would show up as duplicate sample or identical twin," wrote the user.
A user replied by stating that the companies collecting the samples for the ancestry test can fight the law enforcement's warrant asking for the DNA, in court, but added one can upload their private DNA information to a public database. "I worked for one of those 2 companies, and if law enforcement came to us with a warrant for your dna, it would be fought in court. It's pretty rare anyway. But you can take your private dna info and upload it to a public database like gedmatch," wrote the user.
Another user agreed and wrote, "Agreed, he would have had to upload the results to GEDMatch or FamilyTreeDNA for it to be easily accessed by LE. And in my own experience, those services aren't very intuitive, and def not necessary for your average Joe who's just curious about their heritage. I attempted to use GEDMatch a few years ago bc my like, 5th cousin wanted to look at our shared chromosomes or something...it was very clunky and struck me as something only a hardcore genealogist or someone else pretty motivated would proactively work through. Plus from there you'd still have to opt in to let them share your data. So BK doing a DNA test ≠ BK sharing DNA with police. Someone in his family tree prob went through all that, but I doubt it was him."
While a user pointed out that the law enforcement got Kohberger's father's DNA from the trash to match it to the DNA on the sheath. "I don't think that's correct. After they located the car on WSU, they did a search of registered vehicles. His vehicle came back as a hit with his name. Then they got his Father's DNA from the trash and it was confirmed as the father DNA of the DNA on the sheath. I've seen rumors about 23 and me but LE and the PCA didn't mention that. If you read the PCA, it walks you through exactly how they found him and matches the DNA," wrote the user.
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.