A judge this week declined to throw out key evidence against the man charged in the killings of four University of Idaho students near the campus two years ago. The decision cleared the way for Bryan Kohberger’s murder trial to begin this summer.
Here’s what you need to know about the case that shocked the nation:
What’s the case?
Kohberger, 30, is charged with four counts of murder in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed in the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.
The criminal justice graduate student was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators were able to match his DNA to genetic material recovered from the sheath of a knife found at the rental home.
When asked to enter a plea last year, Kohberger stood silent, prompting the judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn’t had a homicide in about five years. The trial was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defense expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn’t get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred.
What happened this week?
Judge Steven Hippler on Wednesday rejected arguments by Kohberger’s defense team that law enforcement violated the defendant’s constitutional rights when they used a process called Investigative Genetic Genealogy, or IGG, to identify possible suspects.
Defense attorneys argued that police never sought warrants to analyze the DNA found at the crime scene, nor did they get warrants to analyze the DNA of potential relatives that had been submitted to genealogy databases. She argued the court should suppress the IGG identification and everything that came from it. Hippler declined the defense’s request to toss the evidence.
The decision removed what could have been a major barrier to the prosecution’s case before trial starts.
What is known about the suspect?
Kohberger was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, which is about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) west of the University of Idaho. He graduated from Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania with an associate of arts degree in psychology in 2018. DeSales University in Pennsylvania said that he received a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and completed graduate studies in June 2022.
What’s next?
Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted at the trial set to start in August.
The judge has issued a gag order for everyone involved in the trial and won’t allow cameras in the courtroom.
