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Prosecutors have built ‘rock solid’ case against Idaho murders suspect Kohberger: Williams
Fox News contributor and former D.C. homicide detective Ted Williams analyzes three legal cases on ‘Fox News Live.’
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Idaho prosecutors have unveiled a college essay from student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger that shows he knows his way around a crime scene, new court filings reveal.
In the missive, written in 2020 during finals for a 300-level criminal justice course, Kohberger described how crime scene investigators use “fiber-free” overalls, gloves and booties to avoid contaminating the location with their own DNA and fingerprints.
At 1122 King Road, where he allegedly killed four University of Idaho undergrads in November 2022, police have revealed little evidence aside from a Ka-Bar knife sheath found under one of the victims that allegedly had Kohberger’s DNA on the snap. Before the FBI identified him as a person of interest through investigative genetic genealogy, his name was unknown to detectives.
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Bryan Kohberger (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
He went into other aspects of a crime scene investigation, but repeatedly referenced measures police should take to protect the location, shared his thoughts about circumstantial evidence, identified domestic partners as potential suspects and warned that crime scenes could be staged.
“Gloves to protect the scene from contamination, this will enable that I avoid leaving my latent fingerprints.”
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“Prosecutors are going to talk about this when they bring up the lack of forensic evidence left by the killer,” said Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD cold case investigator and a criminal justice professor at Penn State-Lehigh Valley.
“They’re going to say, ‘Look how much he knew about this. He talks about fiber-free clothing.’”
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Kohberger mentioned fiber-free overalls, shoe covers, gloves, hair nets and more when talking about protective gear an investigator should wear to avoid contaminating a scene.
“Protective clothing: boot covers, eyewear, fiber-free overalls, face masks, hair nets, gowns, and anything that will prevent me from contaminating the scene with things I bring in with me.”
“This is not helpful for him,” Giacalone said.
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The rear sliding door of the house at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, is shown on Nov. 14, 2022. Four students were killed inside a day earlier. It has since been torn down. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“The same way he talks about this fictitious cop about not leaving evidence behind…we might have a little insight into how, or at least an answer about, the lack of forensic evidence was left behind,” Giacalone told Fox News Digital. “He doesn’t mention it by name, but Locard’s Exchange Principle, the theory of transfer between all evidence, he does talk about transfer of evidence a number of times throughout this.”
But Kohberger also made some mistakes in the piece, Giacalone said.
“Crimes of passion are rooted in emotionality and impulsivity: if this is the case, we can likely count on there being latent fingerprints on the doorknob and all over the knife and victim.”
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“He said staging is common,” Giacalone told Fox News Digital. “It’s not common. You know, most of the things that happen at crime scenes are mistakes or just panic mode.”
He also doesn’t believe that Kohberger, if he committed the crimes as alleged, would have had time to stage the scene after killing four people in roughly 15 minutes, then running into an eyewitness on the way out, who he did not attack.
“Surveillance footage is circumstantial evidence but may lead investigators in the right direction and to the apprehension of the suspect.”
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“I think there’s no way that he didn’t see her,” he said. “So the staging part of this, I don’t find it plausible for him in that scenario.”
Kohberger, who, through his attorneys, has argued there was blood and DNA evidence at the victims’ home that could point to potential alternate perpetrators, wrote in his essay that crime scene investigators don’t have the responsibility of vetting potentially planted evidence.
“Checking into the husband or boyfriend and the location of the children based on the crime-scene evidence is warranted.”
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“Even if there was an item introduced to the scene by an offender to throw off investigators, it is not the job of the criminal investigator processing the crime scene to jump to conclusion,” Kohberger wrote.
Giacalone said if Kohberger turned in the paper for one of his classes, he’d probably give it a B.
“He knows a lot, but you can get this out of any academic book,” Giacalone said. “You can learn about this, but putting it into practice and doing it are two other things.”
Read Bryan Kohberger’s essay
Kohberger graduated from DeSales University with a master’s degree and then went on to Washington State University to pursue a Ph.D. in criminology. The school is just 10 miles away from the University of Idaho, where he is accused of entering a house at 4 a.m. and killing four of the six students inside on Nov. 13, 2022.
“Staging is common.”
The victims were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The three young women were all roommates. Chapin lived nearby and was dating Kernodle.
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Kohberger’s trial on four charges of first-degree murder and another of burglary is set to begin on Aug. 11. Jury selection is scheduled for July 30.
A previous judge entered not-guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at an arraignment in May 2023. He could face the death penalty if convicted.