Search warrant unsealed in Idaho student murders suspect case
By Jean Casarez and Elizabeth Joseph, CNN
A Washington court unsealed search warrant documents used to retrieve evidence from the home and office of Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, according to documents made publicly available by Law & Crime Wednesday.
“These warrants and associated applications were sealed, due to the sensitive nature of the investigation at that time. Since then, an extensive probable cause affidavit has been unsealed in Latah County, Idaho, which has alleviated the need for sealing of the Return of Service here in Washington,” the court documents say.
Read the unsealed search warrants in the Bryan Kohberger investigation
Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The suspect was a graduate student at Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology and lived in Pullman, Washington, at the time of his arrest last month.
Items retrieved from his residence included “a collection of dark red,” cuttings from a pillow of reddish-brown stain, and part of a mattress cover with stains.
Other items listed include a nitrate-type black glove, store receipts and a Dickies tag, several hair strands, dust from a vacuum, a Fire TV stick and a computer tower, among other things.
There is no mention of potential items retrieved from the suspect’s office. It is not yet clear if anything was retrieved, or if information surrounding the execution of that search warrant is still under seal.
The victims were found murdered in an off-campus home November 13, killed with what investigators believe was a knife.
Investigators linked Kohberger to the crime scene after DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found lying next to one of the victims was linked to DNA on trash recovered from Kohberger’s family home, according to the probable-cause affidavit that led to his arrest.
Law enforcement also traced the ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen in the area of the killings to Kohberger, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.
A judge last week scheduled a preliminary probable cause hearing to begin June 26 after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy hearing. He has been held without bail in the Latah County jail in Idaho since his extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested almost seven weeks after the murders.
Kohberger has not yet entered a plea.
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