- Bryan Kohberger, 28, is accused of entering a residence in Moscow and stabbing four University of Idaho students to death.
- Bryan Kohberger, 28, is accused of killing four University of Idaho students.
- During a search of Kohberger’s parents’ house, police discovered ID cards that were inside a glove in a box, according to unsealed court records.
- One of the IDs discovered is said to be linked to someone in the residence where the slayings happened.
- Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, said there was no need to explain why Kohberger possessed the ID.
Authorities allegedly discovered an ID card linked to the murder of four University of Idaho students when they investigated Bryan Kohberger‘s residence.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were fatally stabbed at a rented property near the university campus in Moscow in the early hours of November 13 by Kohberger, 28.
On December 30, Kohberger, a graduate student at Washington State University, was detained at his parents’ house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
He has yet to enter a plea to four charges of first-degree murder and one count of criminal burglary, but a lawyer who represented him in Pennsylvania before his extradition to Idaho said that he was “eager to be exonerated.”
ID cards inside a glove inside a box were among the goods confiscated by police during a search of Kohberger’s parents’ house in Albrightsville, according to court records released last month.
During the search, an ID linked to someone from the residence where the slayings occurred was discovered, according to NewsNation.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said on NewsNation that the ID in issue was discovered hidden inside a glove in a box.
“If you go to the search warrant return, sure enough, there are these IDs that were concealed in a glove in a box,” she said.
“This is rather unique. Most individuals do not conceal their identification in this manner. So it was something that absolutely verified the source information and seemed suspicious from the start.”
According to Coffindaffer, it’s unclear who the ID card belonged to, but if it belonged to one of the murder victims, it may be a smoking gun.
“This is smoking if he had that ID in that glove,” she continued. “There is no other explanation than he was in that house and took that while committing that crime.”
“It’s super strong… especially when combined with the sheath discovered next to Maddie Mogen, which has his DNA on the clasp.” Coffindaffer has been contacted for further information.
A former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek that any materials related to the killings discovered in Kohberger’s parent’s house, which is across the country from the crime site, “would be significant, even damning.”
“Reports that IDs were hidden in a box or a glove compartment may meet that standard, but we need more details.”
The IDs, according to McAuliffe, “were only generally described on the inventory list for the search, so the connection to the murders is unclear.”
However, if the ID belongs to one of the victims, it “matches the importance of the defendant’s DNA evidence being found on the knife sheath next to one of the victims at the scene,” he added. “The potential information is newsworthy, but the gag order prevents it from being confirmed.” The evidence will eventually become public since the prosecution has the burden of proving guilt in open court before a jury.”
The ID card, according to Neama Rahmani, an attorney, and former federal prosecutor, would be “‘smoking gun’ evidence if it belonged to someone else who lived in the Moscow home.”
“Aside from the single source of DNA evidence in the knife sheath at the scene and the cell site evidence showing Kohberger near the home before and after the murders,” Rahmani told Newsweek, “the state hasn’t revealed much evidence that ties Kohberger to the home.”
“The defense team for Kohberger will argue that the DNA was planted or transferred and that the cell site evidence does not place Kohberger at the scene when the murders occurred,” he added. “It will be more difficult for the defense to explain an ID that was transported thousands of miles away and hidden in Kohberger’s parents’ home.”
According to a probable cause affidavit, DNA obtained on a knife sheath linked Kohberger to the crime through DNA from his father recovered from garbage outside the family’s Albrightsville home.
Legal experts told Newsweek that Kohberger’s lawyers may attempt to cast doubt on the DNA evidence when it was revealed that the sheath was transported out of Idaho to be examined by a Texas company.
A court imposed a broad gag order in early January, prohibiting lawyers, law enforcement agencies, and anyone involved in the case from speaking or writing about it.
On June 26, a preliminary hearing on the case is slated to begin.
