PULLMAN, Wash. — Police found a black glove, a stained pillow and collected some samples of "dark red" spots from the Idaho murder suspect's Pullman, Washington, apartment, search warrants show.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students in an off-campus home, 1122 King Road, in Moscow on Nov. 13.
Police say they matched Kohberger's DNA found at the scene that was discovered on a knife sheath next to the bodies of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were also stabbed to death in the same home, sometime in the early morning hours of that Sunday. Two roommates who were home at the time of the killings survived, unharmed.
The day of his arrest on Dec. 30, police raided Kohberger's Steptoe Village apartment at Washington State University in Pullman, where he was a criminology student and teacher's assistant. Kohberger was taken into custody at his family home in Pennsylvania and later extradited to Idaho.
What they found
According to a newly unsealed search warrant, police found the following of interest in Kohberger's apartment:
- One nitrate type black glove
- One Walmart receipt with a Dickies tag
- Two Marshalls receipts
- Dust container from a vacuum
- Eight possible hair strands
- One Amazon Fire TV Stick with a cord/plug
- One possible animal hair strand, four other possible hair strands
- One computer tower
- One collection of a dark red spot, collected without testing
- Two cuttings from an uncased pillow with reddish brown stains, one stain tested
- Top and bottom of a mattress cover with multiple stains
Police also searched Kohberger's teaching office at WSU in Wilson-Short Hall, but the records show they seized no items from the office he shared with two other people.
In the search warrant, police were told to seize anything with blood or fluids on it, any dark clothing, any masks, any knives or sharp objects, shoes with a "diamond patterned" sole, data compilations that show anything involving searches of the King Road home or the names of the victims or data that shows interest in planning a murder, electronic devices, passwords, bills and trace evidence from people or dogs.
An officer who applied for the warrant says in the documents, "These murders appear to have been planned, rather than a crime that happened in a moment of conflict. I believe it is likely Kohberger planned his actions ahead of time."
A probable cause affidavit showed that Goncalves' dog, Murphy, was home at the time of the attack but found in a different room. One of the surviving roommates, known as D.M, said she heard commotion upstairs multiple times but assumed it was just Goncalves playing with her dog. The affidavit says D.M heard a voice say, "there's someone here" and another voice say, "It's OK, I'm going to help you."
D.M opened the door to peek out for a third time -- that is when she said a man in a mask with bushy eyebrows walked right past her, towards the sliding glass door in the home, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said in addition to DNA, police traced Kohberger's white Hyundai Elantra and his phone near the home before and after the murders. Kohberger's cell phone had been in the area at least 12 times before the stabbings occurred, the affidavit says.
Kohberger has not yet entered a plea, but has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 26 in Latah County, where he is being held on the murder charges.
Watch more coverage of this story
Ongoing coverage of the University of Idaho investigation can be found in our YouTube playlist: