(PJ Media) Until today, the public was completely in the dark about the physical evidence that police had in the quadruple homicide that took the lives of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. The arrest affidavit written by Moscow police was released today before a hearing where suspect Bryan Kohberger was read his rights and was denied bail.
Police recounted in chilling detail the scene of the crime and the evidence that was gathered. One description, the manner of Ethan Chapin’s death, was completely redacted. Some are speculating that the description may have been too graphic to make public.
Mortenson was the only eyewitness mentioned in the report who saw the killer exiting the house wearing a black mask. Previous reporting said the roommates did not witness anything.
Police found a KA-BAR knife sheath laying next to the body of Mogen and were able to pull DNA from the button clasp on the sheath. The FBI, who followed Kohberger for several days before his arrest, pulled DNA samples from the family’s trash bins and matched the DNA at the crime scene to the biological father of the unknown assailant. Earlier reports from Fox News that claimed open source databases were used, like Ancestry.com, were not accurate.
Questions about how police were led to Kohberger in the first place were answered. The white Hyundai Elantra seemed key to finding him. In the days immediately after the murders on November 13, police pulled all the surrounding video footage, called a “video canvass,” to try and find any activity around the time of the murders, which they had deduced from roommate Dylan Mortenson’s eyewitness account to have occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:20 a.m.
Kohberger’s car is a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra, which at the time had Pennsylvania plates. In Pennsylvania, it is not required to have a front license plate. It has been reported that Kohberger changed his plates five days after the murders and had Washington plates with a new number installed. On the night of the murders, the Elantra was seen many times near the home of the victims. “A review of footage from multiple videos obtained from the King Road Neighborhood strowed multiple sightings of Suspect Vehicle I starting at 3:29 a.m. and ending at 4:20 a.m.” Footage revealed the car making three passes by the house before the murders.
