Bryan Kohberger’s ‘arrogant’ mistakes exposed in evidence from murder case
Bryan Kohberger’s PhD work highlighted his belief that local police were ‘undertrained’ in digital investigations — only for his own digital mistakes to be exposed in the case against him. Kohberger, now 30, was a doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University when he murdered four University of Idaho students in their off-campus apartment in November 2022. The killer attempted, and failed, to hide both the physical and digital footprints that would link him to the crimes, with one expert saying his ‘arrogance’ and assumption he was smarter than those chasing him ultimately led to his downfall. (Picture: EPA)
Idaho State Police have now publicly released hundreds of pages of evidence used in the case to convict Kohberger of killing Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (bottom left); Xana Kernodle, 20 (right); Madison Mogen, 21 (top left); and Ethan Chapin, 20 (middle), for which no motive has ever been established. (Picture: Instagram)
It includes examples of his postgraduate work, with one extract showing he wanted to study ‘the training needs of officers conducting digital forensic examinations’, stating that local officers are ‘undertrained’. The paper shows his professor had highlighted this word and asked ‘Assumption or fact?’ — a question which now appears pointedly prophetic. Despite the PhD student’s attempts to wipe his computer and phone of information, local police worked alongside state, federal and private experts to uncover the vital evidence they contained. (Picture: Idaho State Police)
Heather and Jared Barnhart, who worked on the case with major digital forensics firm Cellebrite, told Fox News that Kohberger had shut off his phone during the murders to hide his movements. However, he turned it off when it was fully charged, removing the excuse that it had simply run out of battery. He also failed to remove traces that he had been scouring news coverage of the case, searched for phrases such as ‘wiretap’, read the latest press releases on the police website, and attempted to find a replacement car after his vehicle was linked to the scene through surveillance footage. (Picture: AP)
The Barnharts told Fox News: ‘If his device was doing normal things and not had a void in data at the exact time when those four precious souls were murdered, his device would have been of little significance in the case. But instead, that void in data screamed “Everybody, look here!” and helped build a solid case.’ They added: ‘It’s interesting to read this proposal specifically calling out digital evidence, knowing what we know now. As we have noted all along, [Kohberger] knew how to prepare and try to prevent a digital footprint. It was evident he researched digital forensics and ironically, even in all his research, he left a damning digital footprint.’ (Picture: AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Having fought the charges for more than two years, Kohberger struck a plea deal weeks before the trial was due to begin to avoid the possibility of the death penalty and he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Had the trial proceeded as planned, the experts from Cellebrite would have been called to testify about the digital evidence they uncovered. (Picture: EPA)
However, one damning piece of physical evidence meant it never got that far. The files released by Idaho State Police revealed images of a brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath that Kohberger had mistakenly left on a bed next to Mogen’s body as he fled the scene. Although no fingerprints were found on the item, forensic testing showed it contained the blood of best friends Mogen and Goncalves (pictured), as well as a DNA profile from a then-unidentified male. (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
Othram’s forensic genetic genealogy lab in Texas used the DNA to build a profile of the suspect, finding that only two families in the US fit the criteria, and that only one man from those families could have been in the area at the time — Bryan Kohberger. Officers tracked him to his parents’ home and posed as garbage collectors to obtain matching DNA samples, linking him to the scene and leading to his arrest. (Picture: Idaho State Police)
Joseph Giacalone, a criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley and retired NYPD sergeant, told Fox News: ‘Arrogance is what got him caught. He thought he was the smartest person in the room and talked a good game. Now, he’ll spend his days thinking about where he went wrong and not about the lives he took of four innocent kids.’ (Picture: REUTERS) Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
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