How Investigators Tied Bryan Kohberger to the Moscow Murders

The first thread was a car. Cameras around 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, recorded a white Hyundai Elantra passing the house several times in the early hours of November 13, 2022, then leaving the area at 4:20 a.m. Within seven weeks, investigators had tied that kind of car, a phone that went quiet for two hours and DNA on a knife sheath to one man: Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology doctoral student at Washington State University. He pleaded guilty in 2025. This post follows how the case against him was built.

Four University of Idaho students were killed that night. Madison Mogen, 21, was a senior studying marketing. Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was a senior in general studies. Xana Kernodle, 20, was a junior studying marketing. Ethan Chapin, 20, was a freshman in recreation, sport and tourism management and a member of Sigma Chi. In May 2023 the university awarded posthumous degrees to Mogen and Goncalves and certificates to Kernodle and Chapin.

The House on King Road

Five women rented the three-story house at 1122 King Road for the fall 2022 semester. Mogen and Goncalves had rooms on the third floor. Kernodle and Dylan Mortensen lived on the second floor, and Bethany Funke lived on the first. Chapin, Kernodle's boyfriend, was staying over.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Chapin and Kernodle came home from a party at the Sigma Chi house around 1:45 a.m. Mogen and Goncalves got back at about 1:56 a.m. after a night out downtown. Kernodle was still awake after 4 a.m. She received a DoorDash delivery around then, and her phone showed her on TikTok minutes later.

What the Surviving Roommate Described

Mortensen told police she was woken by sounds she first took for Goncalves playing with her dog upstairs. She heard someone she believed was Goncalves say something to the effect of "there's someone here." The affidavit notes that the voice may have been Kernodle's. Later she heard crying and a male voice say something like "it's ok, I'm going to help you." At 4:17 a.m., a nearby security camera picked up what the affidavit called "distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud."

When Mortensen opened her door again, she saw a figure in black clothing, with a mask covering the mouth and nose, walk toward the sliding glass back door. She described a man at least 5 feet 10 inches tall, "not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows." She said she stood in a "frozen shock phase" and then locked herself in her room. Between 4:22 and 4:24 a.m., she and Funke traded worried texts.

No one called police that night. A 911 call from one of the surviving roommates' phones came in just before noon to report an unconscious person, and officers found all four victims dead. Autopsy reports released by the City of Moscow in July 2025 found that all four died of stab wounds from a single-edged, non-serrated knife. Kernodle had more than 50 wounds, many of them defensive.

The Car and the Phone

Investigators collected video from around the neighborhood and followed a white Elantra making repeated passes, the first at about 3:29 a.m. and another at 4:04 a.m., before it left at 4:20. An FBI examiner first identified it as a 2011 to 2013 model, then said it could be as late as 2016. On November 29, a Washington State University police officer looking for white Elantras found a 2015 model registered to Kohberger, who lived in Pullman, just across the state line. Another officer learned he had switched the car's registration from Pennsylvania to Washington on November 18, five days after the killings.

Phone records added more. The affidavit says Kohberger's phone moved south from Pullman at about 2:47 a.m. and then stopped reporting to the network until 4:48 a.m., when it reappeared south of Moscow. Investigators wrote that this was consistent with an attempt to conceal his location. The same phone was back near King Road around 9 a.m., hours before the 911 call. Records also put it near the house at least 12 times before the murders, nearly always late at night or early in the morning.

The Sheath and the Family Tree

The central physical evidence was a tan leather Ka-Bar knife sheath, stamped with a USMC insignia, found on the bed next to Mogen's body. Analysts recovered a single male DNA profile from the sheath's button snap. It matched no one in the national law enforcement database.

Investigators turned to investigative genetic genealogy, which compares crime-scene DNA with people who have uploaded their own DNA to consumer services. On November 22, the sample went to the private lab Othram. The New York Times reported that Othram's closest match shared just 70.7 centimorgans with the sample, a distant relationship. On December 10 the FBI took over the genealogy work and found a match of 250 centimorgans somewhere in the family tree, a much stronger lead. The Times also reported that the FBI's searches reached consumer DNA data that is restricted for law enforcement use, including MyHeritage.

A family tree is a lead, not proof. In December, Kohberger and his father drove the Elantra across the country to his parents' house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. On December 15 the car was stopped twice in Indiana for following too closely. Agents then watched him in Pennsylvania. A law enforcement source told CNN that he was seen outside the house wearing surgical gloves, that he cleaned his car "inside and outside, not missing an inch," and that around 4 a.m. one morning he put trash bags in a neighbor's bins.

On December 27, investigators collected trash from the family home. According to the affidavit, DNA from it came from the biological father of the man whose DNA was on the sheath.

The Arrest

Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI arrested Kohberger at the house on December 30, 2022. Michael Mancuso, a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, prosecutor, later said Kohberger was found in the kitchen wearing latex gloves and putting his trash into separate Ziploc bags. Warrant records unsealed in March 2023 list what was seized from the home, including a Glock pistol, a Smith & Wesson pocketknife and black face masks. Kohberger waived extradition and was flown to Idaho on January 4, 2023.

Testing the Evidence

The defense went after the genetic genealogy, arguing that the way the FBI built the family tree violated his rights. In February 2025, Judge Steven Hippler refused to suppress the DNA and data from Kohberger's online accounts, writing that "suppression is not warranted on any of these issues."

None of it reached a jury. Kohberger was indicted in May 2023 on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, and prosecutors sought the death penalty. On July 2, 2025, he pleaded guilty to all five counts under a deal that took death off the table, and on July 23 he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole plus 10 years. In July 2026 he petitioned to withdraw the plea, saying he is innocent and was pressured by his former lawyers. The legal history, from the venue change to the plea and the challenge now pending, is in our companion post, Murders in Moscow: The Kohberger Plea and the Fight to Undo It.

The house on King Road was demolished on December 28, 2023. On August 21, 2024, the University of Idaho dedicated the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial on its Moscow campus in honor of the four students. A motive has never been established. Offered the chance to speak at his sentencing, Kohberger declined.

Sources

1. AP via KOMO: The white sedan: How police found the man accused of slaying four Idaho students (Jan. 6, 2023)
2. TODAY: Idaho murders, what to know from the probable cause affidavit
3. ABC News: Idaho college murders, full timeline of events
4. New York Times (via The Star): To identify suspect in Idaho killings, FBI used restricted consumer DNA data (Feb. 2025)
5. ABC11 / CNN source: Kohberger seen wearing surgical gloves, cleaning car before arrest (Jan. 6, 2023)
6. Fox News: Kohberger was found putting trash in Ziploc bags, prosecutor says
7. NBC News: Police seized weapons from family home of Idaho murder suspect (Mar. 2023)
8. KHQ: Kohberger case files reveal autopsy details (July 23, 2025)
9. ABC News: Judge denies Kohberger request to exclude DNA evidence (Feb. 2025)
10. KATU: University of Idaho awards posthumous degrees and certificates
11. Boise State Public Radio: Demolition begins at King Road house (Dec. 28, 2023)
12. University of Idaho: Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial dedication set for Aug. 21

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