The 18-page document is from the statement of Cpl. Brett Payne, with the Moscow Police Department.
Payne describes arriving on scene of the murders on King Road on November 13th, 2022.
He describes finding Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin's bodies in the west bedroom on the second floor. The bodies of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were found on the third floor - both on the same bed in Mogen's room. Payne describes arriving on scene of the murders on King Road on November 13th, 2022.
He describes finding Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin's bodies in the west bedroom on the second floor. The bodies of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were found on the third floor - both on the same bed in Mogen's room.
Police also found a tan leather knife sheath laying on the bed next to Mogen. It had "Ka-Bar" and "USMC" and the US Marine Corps insignia stamped on it. The Idaho State Lab later found a single source of male DNA on the button snap of the sheath.
Police interviewed the two surviving roommates, listed in the documents only by initials, who were at home at the time of the murders.
One of the roommates lived on the second floor with Kernodle. Her room was on the southeast side, while Kernodle's was on the west side.
The roommate told police what time she heard her roommates come home and what they did afterward.
Police have also confirmed through phone records that Kernodle received a DoorDash order around 4:00 a.m. and was on TikTok on her phone around 4:12 a.m.
The roommate said she opened her door again to see what was going on and saw a person in black clothing with a mask over his mouth and nose. He was walking toward her. She said she stood there in a "frozen shock phase." She then locked herself in her room.
The roommate did not recognize the man but was able to give police a description including his height, build, and eyebrows. A description that would fit Kohberger.
According to the affidavit, police also found a latent shoe print at the crime scene.
Numerous surveillance videos from surrounding homes and businesses was collected and analyzed. On these videos, police were able to track Kohberger's white Hyundai Elantra coming and going from the house.
It describes seeing the car speeding off toward Pullman, Washington around 4:20 a.m. Police then tracked Kohberger's movements back on the Washington State University campus afterward.
The affidavit states cell phone records show Kohberger was in the area of the home on King Road at least twelve times prior to the night of the murders. All instances were in the late evening or early morning hours.
Documents state that on December 27, 2022, law enforcement in Pennsylvania recovered trash from the Kohberger family home in Albrightsville. It was sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing, which showed a DNA profile with a 99.9998% match. Specifically the report reads, "On December 28, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA profile obtained from the sheath, identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of Suspect Profile. At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect's biological father."
Other information in the affidavits details recent traffic stops involving Kohberger and how he changed his car registration from Pennsylvania to Washington.
It also mentions that Kohberger had undergraduate degrees in psychology and cloud-based forensics. He also applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in the fall of 2022. The full affidavit can be viewed here.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count felony burglary.
He was extradited from Pennsylvania back to Idaho on Wednesday night.
Kohberger made his initial appearance in Idaho court on Thursday. His next court appearance is set for Jan. 12.
Released after long anticipation on Thursday, quadruple-murder suspect Bryan Kohberger‘s probable cause affidavit supporting his charges contains a chilling recollection of voices overheard on the night of the grisly slayings in Moscow, Idaho.
During the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20 Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen, 20, were stabbed to death on the second and third floors of an off-campus house in the small and rural college town. Some, but not all, of them were killed as they slept, according to the Latah County Coroner.
“Whimper Followed by a Loud Thud”
Two roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, whose rooms were on the first and second floors, survived.
Though more than one page is entirely redacted and referring to the survivors by their initials, the affidavit written by Moscow Police Department Corporal Brett Payne alleges that Mortensen not only overheard the sounds of the killing but saw the killer walk right past her.
D.M. stated she originally went to sleep in her bedroom on the southeast side of the second floor. D.M. stated she was awoken at approximately 4:00 a.m. by what she stated sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog in one of the upstairs bedrooms, which were located on the third floor,” the affidavit reads.
After that, the affidavit says, Mortensen locked herself inside her bedroom.
The affidavit cites a contemporaneous recording allegedly obtained by a “security camera” from near the scene of the crime, which picks up what investigators term “distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud” as well as a dog “barking numerous times” beginning at 4:17 a.m.
A law enforcement review of several videos taken adjacent to the residence that night, by various residential and business cameras, resulted in numerous sightings of the killer’s suspected vehicle beginning at 3:29 a.m. – when the white Hyundai Elantra entered the neighborhood and began a series of passes, stops, and turns – and ending around 4:20 a.m. – when the car left the neighborhood.
“A Single Source of Male DNA”
Twelve days after the murders, the MPD put out a call to area law enforcement to be on the lookout for white Hyundai Elantras.
Kohberger was allegedly first tied to the slaughter on Nov. 29, 2022, when Washington State University Police Officer Daniel Tiengo located a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra registered to the defendant.
Later that same day, WSU Officer Curtis Whitman located a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra in the parking lot of the defendant’s apartment complex. The officer ran the tags and they allegedly returned a match for Kohberger.
Payne writes that he went on to review the defendant’s “driver license information and photograph” which “shows that he has bushy eyebrows” and is six-feet tall.
“Kohberger’s physical description is consistent with the description of the male [Mortensen] saw inside the King Road Residence on November 13th,” the affidavit says.
The court document goes on to detail a lengthy review of AT&T phone records associated with Kohberger.
Ultimately, Payne alleges, between 2:47 a.m. and 4:48 a.m. that night, the defendant turned his phone off in an attempt “to conceal his location during the quadruple homicide that occurred at the King Road Residence.”
According to the affidavit, investigators also obtained a search warrant for Kohberger’s “historical” phone records in an effort to determine whether he “stalked any of the victims” before they were killed, “conducted surveillance” on the well-known off-campus housing, or otherwise “was in contact with any of the victims’ associates before or after” the murders.
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