Gloves and black clothing were seized from Pa. home where Idaho student killing suspect was arrested
Kohberger was arrested in December at his parents' Pennsylvania home. He is accused of killing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
Authorities seized items including medical gloves, a flashlight, and sneakers following Bryan Kohberger’s arrest late last year at his parents’ Monroe County home, according to newly unsealed documents.
Kohberger, who is in custody in Latah County, Idaho, is accused of killing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. A criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, Kohberger lived a short distance from the rental home in Moscow, Idaho, where the students were found dead in November.
The 28-year-old Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home at Indian Mountain Lakes in Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, the following month. Following his arrest, police served a search warrant at the home, north of Allentown, which Pennsylvania courts unsealed Tuesday.
According to the search warrant, police were looking for items including knives and other weapons, personal property of the victims, DNA swabs from Kohberger, Kohberger’s white 2015 Hyundai Elantra, and dark clothing.
Following Kohberger’s arrest on Dec. 30, policed conducted the search and took 12 items from his parents’ home. Seized items included a silver flashlight, a black Washington State University sweatshirt, black shorts, boxes, and socks, and a pair of black-and-white Nike sneakers in size 13. Police also took four medical-style gloves and a buccal DNA swab.
The documents said that Pennsylvania State Police began assisting with the investigation on Dec. 28 after being contacted by the FBI and the Moscow Police Department. The day before, authorities began surveilling the Kohberger family home in Monroe County, and observed Kohberger walking near the residence and traveling around Monroe County.
Investigators were also monitoring Kohberger’s cell phone, which they tracked to the home.
The unsealing of the search warrants in Pennsylvania comes more than a month after similar documents in Washington state were unsealed. Authorities in Washington searched Kohberger’s home and found a stained mattress cover, cuttings from a pillow with a reddish-brown stain, black nitrate-style gloves, store receipts, hair strands, a computer tower, and other items.
Additional warrants in Pennsylvania are to be unsealed Wednesday, court officials said.
Authorities said they identified Kohberger as a suspect after discovering he drove a white Hyundia Elantra that matched a vehicle seen on surveillance cameras near the scene of the murders in Idaho. Investigators also tracked his cell phone to the area.
Police later matched DNA from a knife sheath found at the scene to DNA recovered from garbage at Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania. The DNA matched the biological father of the suspect police were searching for — and “at least 99.998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” Kohberger’s arrest affidavit stated.
Kohberger waived his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania in January, and has been in Idaho since then. His next hearing is scheduled for June 26.