Gun, knife, shovel and black masks seized from Bryan Kohberger home, new Idaho murders search warrants reveal
A ‘note to dad from Bryan’ was also among the items seized from Kohberger family home in Pennsylvania
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A gun, knives, shovel and black masks were among a string of items seized from Bryan Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania, newly-unsealed search warrants revealed.
The items were seized during Mr Kohberger’s arrest on 30 December at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township. Documents unsealed on Tuesday previously revealed that a flashlight, medical-style gloves and clothing items were taken when Pennsylvania State Police executed the search.
Two new warrants made public on Thursday and obtained by The Independent also show that investigators collected a Glock .40 caliber gun, empty gun magazines, a knife, a pocket knife, black face masks, black gloves, electronic devices, and more clothing items during the same search. Officers also took four swabs from the home.
Four laptops, two computers, a cell phone and two hard drives were found at the residence. A “note to dad from Bryan” was also among the items seized.
Mr Kohberger is facing murder charges in the brutal stabbings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle on 13 November. He is currently jailed in Latah County, Idaho, and is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on 26 June.
Other items seized on the day of his arrest included a “book with underlying on page 118,” Mr Kohberger’s phone bills, and a “green leafy substance in a plastic bag .”
Authorities also took swabs from Mr Kohberger’s car and seized a shovel, gloves and goggles, a bandage and reflective best that were inside.
Several parts of the car, including the gas pedals, the headrests and the seatbelt, were collected as potential evidence.
A criminal psychology book, Mr Kohberger’s identifying documents and his phone were also found at the home.
Officers who listed the items in the warrant did not note whether the knives found at Mr Kohberger’s family home match the description of the knife used in the murders.
Investigators previously described the murder weapon as a “fixed-blade knife,” but said they had yet to find it.
The search warrant application was filed in Pennsylvania’s Monroe County court on 29 December, the day before Mr Kohberger’s arrest.
It approved a search of the family residence, the adjacent garage and the suspect’s car. It also allowed investigators to collect “blood, or other bodily fluid or materials and items with blood” - but the list of seizures does not mention any such items.
Mr Kohberger’s Pennsylvania home was raided on the same day as another search at Mr Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he was studying criminology at Washington State University. His apartment was a 15-minute drive from the crime scene in Moscow.
The warrant from the Washington search was made public last month, revealing investigators seized a “collection of dark red” spotting and a pillow with a “reddish/brown stain” at Mr Kohberger’s Pullman apartment. A Fire TV stick and possible animal hair strands were also taken by law enforcement.
Mr Kohberger had travelled 2,500 miles from WSU’s Pullman campus to Monroe County to spend the holidays with his family weeks after the murders. During the cross-country trip with his father, the suspect was under police surveillance.
He was pulled over twice by Indiana police for driving too close to the vehicle in front. Mr Kohberger finally arrived in Pennsylvania on 16 December.
Authorities continued physical surveillance on Mr Kohberger at his parents’ residence in the Indian Mountain Lakes community.
DNA was taken from the Kohbergers’ trash and sent to be compared to DNA on a knife sheath left at the crime scene.
After obtaining a match on 28 December, the Moscow Police Department and the FBI requested assistance from Pennsylvania authorities on the arrest and search warrants were secured.
In addition to the DNA found at the scene, Mr Kohberger was linked to the murders through cellphone data and surveillance video of what prosecutors believe to be his white Hyundai Elantra leaving the scene after the slayings, according to the affidavit for his arrest.
One of the victims’ surviving roommates was also able to partially describe the killer to investigators after she came face to face with him in the aftermath of the murders.
Mr Kohberger is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on 26 June