How cops nabbed Bryan Kohberger after analyzing ton of DNA evidence from a messy crime scene
The story is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify the information independently.
MOSCOW, IDAHO: After six weeks, 20,000 tips and a 2,500-mile trip across the country, officials were able to arrest a suspect in the quadruple homicide of University of Idaho students thanks in part to DNA evidence. Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested in a dawn raid at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, on Friday, December 30, after driving across the country with his father from Washington state for Christmas. However, police were reportedly on to the pair while they were still on the road.
Police reportedly collected DNA from the site, matched it to a public database, and then used genetic genealogy methods to link the DNA to Kohberger's family members.
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“What most likely happened is that the crime scene was a mess and there was DNA evidence left all over the place,” Pete Yachmetz, a security consultant and former FBI agent, told The New York Post Sunday, January 1. “So what they did was retrieved all the DNA evidence they could and analyzed it.” That process, according to Yachmetz, takes time because officials first identify the victims' DNA and then "start looking for DNA of someone who should not have been there."
DNA samples are frequently run through CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, the federal DNA database managed by the FBI, in cases like the Idaho murder investigation. Yachmetz elucidated. “What I think took a long time was the massive amount of evidence they collected,” he said. “You just don’t put a droplet under a microscope and then you can analyze it.”
Less than 10 miles from Moscow, Idaho, where students lived, the alleged murderer was working for a Ph.D. in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. However, additionally, a source close to one of the case's investigators, told The Daily Mail that Kohberger, 28, was frequently in the same area as students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, who were killed on November 13.
According to two sources, Kohberger was followed by law enforcement during the trip east, and an FBI surveillance team followed him for four days as prosecutors and law enforcement sought an arrest warrant. “Sometime right before Christmas we were zeroing in on him being in or going to Pennsylvania,” an unnamed law enforcement source told CNN.
Police announced on Friday, December 30, that they had not yet found the murder weapon. Although little information has been made public regarding the exact circumstances that led police to the Ph.D. candidate, the probable cause affidavit is still secret until the suspect appears in court in Idaho, as required by state law. Four first-degree crimes were stated on the arrest warrant, and it is likely that more charges will be brought. The defense attorney for Kohberger claims that his client is innocent and that he will willingly permit authorities to extradite him from Pennsylvania to Idaho.
