Mega Edition: Bryan Kohberger And The Arrest Affidavit (8/9/26)

The probable cause affidavit filed after Bryan Kohberger’s arrest laid out the prosecution’s initial theory connecting him to the November 2022 murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. Investigators described surveillance footage showing a white Hyundai Elantra repeatedly circling the King Road residence before the killings and then leaving the area at high speed. Police later connected a similar vehicle to Kohberger, who was a doctoral student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman. The affidavit also relied heavily on cellphone records, which investigators said placed Kohberger’s phone near the victims’ neighborhood on numerous occasions before the murders and showed the phone going offline during the critical period surrounding the killings. Investigators further alleged that his phone later reconnected to the network south of Moscow and traveled back toward Pullman, while surveillance cameras captured a vehicle consistent with his Elantra moving along a similar route.

The most significant piece of evidence described in the affidavit was a tan leather knife sheath found on the bed next to Madison Mogen’s body. Investigators said DNA recovered from the sheath’s button snap was later compared with DNA obtained from trash collected outside Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania, producing a familial match that strongly pointed toward Kohberger’s father and, by extension, Kohberger. The affidavit also included the account of surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen, who told investigators that she had awakened during the night, heard noises inside the house, and eventually saw a masked man dressed in black walking past her toward the rear sliding door. She described the man as approximately 5-foot-10 or taller, not very muscular, with bushy eyebrows, a description investigators believed was consistent with Kohberger. Taken together, the vehicle evidence, cellphone data, eyewitness account, and DNA from the knife sheath were presented as establishing probable cause to arrest Kohberger and charge him with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

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