Bryan Kohberger’s attorney: ‘No connection’ between Idaho murder suspect, victims

An attorney for the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students at an off-campus home last year said in a recent court filing that “there is no connection” between his client and the victims.

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Authorities arrested Bryan Kohberger on burglary and first-degree murder charges after officials found Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20; stabbed to death on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger stood silent in May when he was asked to enter his plea to the charges, and a judge entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf.

Kohberger’s lawyer, Jay Weston Logsdon, said in a court filing Thursday, “There is no connection between Mr. Kohberger and the victims.”

“There is no explanation for the total lack of DNA evidence from the victims in Mr. Kohberger’s apartment, office, home, or vehicle,” Logsdon added.

Previously, authorities said DNA found on a knife sheath discovered near one of the victims caused investigators to focus on Kohberger. However, Logsdon noted last week that DNA from two other men was also found inside the house and DNA from another man was found in a glove outside the home shortly after the killings.

“To this date, the Defense is unaware of what sort of testing, if any, was conducted on these samples” other than an analysis that allows investigators to compare two DNA samples for similarities, he wrote.

Last week’s court filing came in response to a motion filed by prosecutors seeking to block the disclosure of details surrounding how the investigation came to focus on Kohberger. Authorities said they used investigative genetic genealogy to narrow in on Kohberger by comparing the DNA found on the knife sheath with samples submitted to genetic genealogy services. The analysis allowed investigators to build a family tree that prompted the focus on Kohberger, officials said.

Later testing confirmed that the DNA sample taken from the knife sheath matched Kohberger’s DNA profile, according to court records.

Authorities arrested Kohberger late last year in Pennsylvania. Before the killings, Kohberger was a Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, about 10 miles from the scene of the killings. Police said cellphone records showed that Kohberger had visited the area at least a dozen times between June 2022 and November 2022.

A motive for the killings remained unclear Monday.

A six-week trial for Kohberger is scheduled to begin in October.