Affidavit reveals new information from scene of Idaho student deaths

(CNN) — One of the two roommates who survived the fatal November stabbings of four University of Idaho students told investigators she saw a masked man dressed in black in the house the morning of the attack, according to a probable cause affidavit released Friday in prosecutors’ case against suspect Bryan Kohberger.

The roommate, identified in the document as D.M., said she “heard crying” in the house the morning of the murders. She heard a male voice say, ‘it’s ok, I’m going to help you.'” D.M. said she then saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” the affidavit says.

“D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10″ or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit says. “The male walked past D.M. as she stood in a ‘frozen shock phase.'”

“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” the document says. Adding the roommate did not recognize the male.

The release of the affidavit — which also says a DNA profile obtained from the trash at the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger’s family matched DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found at the scene of the killings — comes as the 28-year-old suspect makes his first court appearance in Idaho, where faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

Kohberger was booked into the Latah County, Idaho, jail Wednesday night after being extradited from his home state of Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last Friday, almost seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home in the college town of Moscow, Idaho.

Like Idaho quadruple murder case, Utah police have used forensic genealogy

The affidavit addresses some questions authorities have so far left unanswered. Namely some of the steps used to identify Kohberger as a suspect: Per the document, officials zeroed in on the 28-year-old because his driver’s license information and photograph. They are consistent with the surviving roommate’s description of the figure clad in black.

An officer at nearby Washington State University located a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra. Washington State is where Kohberger was a PhD student in the criminal justice program. The Elantra, residing in an apartment complex, was registered to Kohberger.

At the time of his arrest last week, they found a white Elantra at Kohberger’s parents’ house in Pennsylvania. According to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who said Kohberger went home for the holidays.

Additionally, trash was obtained from the home of Kohberger’s family late last month was sent for DNA testing to the Idaho State Lab, the affidavit says. The lab “reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims.

Also, phone records also indicate Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence. The document says at least 12 times between June 2022 to the present day. “All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”

A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

The-CNN-Wire
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