Kohberger is accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last November in an off-campus residence
A DNA sample taken from Bryan Kohberger matches DNA found on the sheath of a knife left behind at a scene where four University of Idaho students were murdered in the middle of the night last November, prosecutors claim.
The news of the DNA match was reported by CBS, CNN and local WGAL in Pennsylvania, where Kohberger, 28, was arrested at his family’s home last December after a nearly seven-week manhunt.
Authorities allege Kohberger, a former Ph.D criminology student, murdered Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 by stabbing them to death at an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger, who has pled not guilty, was a student at Washington State University, roughly eight miles away from the scene of the crime.
Investigators previously linked Kogberger to the scene of the crime through his father’s DNA, using genetic genealogy, according to NBC News. His father’s DNA sample was taken from the trash outside the family’s home in Pennsylvania days before Kohberger was arrested.
Those DNA results showed it was highly likely the sample taken from the trash matched the biological father of the DNA sample found at the crime scene. Prosecutors say in their new filing this week that a cheek swab taken from Kohberger has now provided a direct match, according to CBS.
An affidavit previously reviewed by says authorities arrested Kohberger after using that DNA match in addition to surveillance footage and the suspect’s cell phone pings to connect him to the crime. Authorities have not shared a motive for the killings.
Prosecutors claim Kohberger’s white sedan — later recovered at his parent’s home in Pennsylvania — was seen leaving the area of the students’ off-campus residence around 4:20 a.m. at a fast rate of speed and that later in the morning, between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m., the vehicle and phone associated with Kohberger returned to the scene.
While investigating previous cell phone pings, authorities learned the cell phone associated with Kohberger pinged in the area of the 1122 King Road home where the killings took place on at least twelve occasions prior to November 13, 2022, according to the affidavit.
“All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” the affidavit reads.
Two additional roommates were home during the attack but were unharmed. One of the surviving roommates described an eerie face-to-face encounter with the alleged killer, according to the affidavit. The survivor described the suspect as “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask,” who walked past her as he left the crime scene.
Investigators say they found the sheath of the knife left in the bed next to Mogen and Goncalves. After the DNA sample came back without a match in FBI’s genetic database CODIS, prosecutors say the FBI took over and sent the sample to a private genetic genealogy service to “identify possible family members of the suspect based on shared genetic data,” according to NBC.
That led investigators to Kohberger’s parents’ house, where they found a “statistical match” that pointed to the 28-year-old suspect. His upcoming trial is set for Oct. 2.