ID - 4 Univ of Idaho Students Murdered - Bryan Kohberger Arrested - Moscow # 62

[Elley Mae]

This is something else that really troubles me… we’d have a better understanding if we had a trail of bloody footprints to follow. How is it even possible that he didn’t track blood all over?

Stabbed through the blankets & sheets.

Jmo

 

[Boxer]

Perhaps he was beaten up. Those scratches.

More likely self inflicted.He would be separate from other prisoners.

 

[Sundog]

The indigent Lori Vallow has been assigned a death penalty qualified attorney.

Idaho maintains a list of such attorneys. That being the case, I doubt the PD staff would continue to defend BK once the DA decided to pursue the death penalty. The risk of an ethical challenge based on competency would be too great. The prosecution might even weigh in favoring appointment of a listed attorney if necessary, not wanting to risk a valid appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel.

BK's current defense attorney, Anne Taylor, is on the list, so she is qualified to defend a death penalty case in Idaho. The chart at your link indicates that she has been both lead attorney and co-lead attorney in death penalty case(s).

 

[Boodles]

And this is where I have a major issue. Really. First, supposedly they have all single-plate Elantra owners in ID and WA and a DNA. Much as I am all for investigative genealogy, isn't it easier to pick up some coffee cups from the Elantra owners and directly compare to their DNAs? Than spend time and money building trees from Gedmatch material?

Another thought - if his parents did DNA tests, submitted DNA to Gedmatch and unlocked the matches (because apparently the DNA was 1/2 match with the Dad), it tells a lot about the parents' social responsibility and also, that they never expected something like this to ever happen to their kid. Thinking of it...

Now, the case you quote is very different. Semen in rape or murder cases is exactly where familial DNA works ideally. But these are old cases. Now, owing to Paul Holes and GSK case, every rapist and murderer knows what not to leave. Partial DNA, transfer DNA is contestable. Semen, not so much (there are some complex cases, but usually it is a direct clue.

MOO: Paul Holes and the media should have kept the details of GSK under wraps, tbh...it would not have propelled Paul to the stardom, but as the method, familial DNA could be of a better use today if the details were not known. What do you think?

We don't know all details of phone tracking. It is still more usable. Digital footprints, too. DNA is very usable, but also, not.

Bbm. Perhaps BK was protecting his DNA by not disposing of his trash in traditional ways.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

And no other DNA. Even if the perp wore gloves that DNA on the snap is very telling, IMO.

We don't know there is "no other DNA." We know about this DNA. There may be DNA under victims' fingernail, the killer might have bled or dropped sweat or sprayed saliva. There may be touch DNA from skin cells. We don't know what LE has; we just know what they had to show to get the probable cause affidavit.

 

[isabella88]

More likely self inflicted.He would be separate from other prisoners.

Yeah, wishful thinking on my part.

 

[rsd1200]

<Mod Snip - Discussing moderation>

For those interested, here is the New York Times Article in its entirety, picked up by the Chicago Tribune. I'm not posting the attachments, it should be all there in written format.

See y'all in June, I hope.

10 key revelations in the Idaho murder case

After weeks of unease over the killings of four University of Idaho students in a house near campus, authorities released their most detailed account yet of the investigation that led them to arrest a criminology student from a nearby university. Here are 10 key revelations.

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Pretty Go Pale]

Stabbed through the blankets & sheets.

Jmo

Plausible theory, though it would seem almost certain that at least one wasn't attacked in that fashion, since X was found on the floor of her bedroom near the doorway. Of course, it's possible she managed to move herself there after being attacked. Assuming that all of the victims were clothed, that would certainly, imo, greatly reduce the amount of blood flying onto the floor, as the clothing would catch/absorb some of it. Hmm, could well be why the killer didn't end up tracking blood throughout his path.

 

[maskedwoman]

Well, actually, they haven't said they didn't find anyone else's DNA on it. They only said they found his DNA on it. Right after the murders, they became fixated on the Elantra and this DNA tied him and his white Elantra to the scene. This could be one of the holes for the defense unless there is his blood DNA found throughout the rest of the scene and only his, besides those of the victims.
JMO

That's fair. But the fact that Chief Fry said they were very confident he acted alone, there must not be any unidentified DNA in the intimate zone.

 

[isabella88]

RE the cuts:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1613590732367093762

 

[Ragnarok]

Agree that pure rage doesn't fit with the months of stalking the victims/house. Believe that he had been obsessed for years with committing this kind of thrill kill. MOO

Inclined to agree. I'm hoping we'll learn why them or which one of them with the other victims being collateral.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

The key thing to remember about the car is that it had no front plate in the videos, so it stood out from Elantras registered in WA and ID. But in a college town, there might have been dozens of Elantra's with no front plate. I notice they didn't point that out at all. They just kept asking about Elantras until his finally rose to the top. They probably didn't want to tip anyone off so that they re-registered their car.

We may be surprised how many matching cars they ran down and eliminated one way or another. Then they got to his and couldn't eliminate him. And one thing after another, the pieces started falling into place. But they apparently couldn't get his DNA. Without a match to that DNA they had, they were stuck. I think that's when they took some of his parents' trash back in PA and proved the familial match. I could be very wrong, but I think that was done before he left school to drive back home with Dad.

Working backward on DNA is an investigative nightmare. In my hometown, a young girl scout disappeared and was murdered in 1975. A semen sample was found on her body. They had one suspect, a young man from her neighborhood, but the case went cold. Forensics were not good in 1975 but miraculously, that semen sample was preserved properly. 20+ years later, still working the case, the police asked everyone they could find of a certain age range that lived in the area of her home for a DNA sample to try and find or eliminate suspects. It didn't give them a suspect, but it did give them a long list of people NOT involved, including that young man who spent 20 years under a cloud of suspicion. Several years after the DNA sweep, they arrested a transient for a different rape and murder, and when they ran his DNA looking for other possible crimes, his DNA matched the sample from her case. When confronted with the evidence, he confessed. Because all they had was the DNA, finding him at all was pure dumb luck.

I should be immune to shock at stupidity by now, but not realizing that your Hyundai Elantra without a front plate would be a clue is just gobsmacking stupidity.

 

[Cryptic]

The indigent Lori Vallow has been assigned a death penalty qualified attorney.

Idaho maintains a list of such attorneys. That being the case, I doubt the PD staff would continue to defend BK once the DA decided to pursue the death penalty.

Good information about going beyond the local county if needed. I agree, the locals probably bowing out in favor of a qualified attorney.

Unless.... one of them is death penalty qualified? Though the linked article stated that a defense lawyer must be death penalty certified, it does not state that 'certification' must include having handled death penalty cases before.

In the end, I have a suspicion that attorneys with actual death penalty trial experience are rare in Idaho. For example, there are only 8 inmates on death row there- and some of those may have been sent there a long time ago.

 

[Which_pancake]

I've wondered if 4:12 was when the phone locked/shutoff? Could she have been on tik tok when attacked and phone was left open/playing?

In my personal experience with tiktok, it will replay the same video over and over in a loop unless you scroll on to the next one. Possibly a forensic phone examination can determine if she was interacting with tiktok or if it was just left open. I don't know though. MOO

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetwork

Idaho student murders suspect #BryanKohberger appeared in court today with what appeared to be small cuts on his face, prompting the question of whether the accused killer got into a fight while in jail.

Various documents related to accused student murderer #BryanKohberger's case, including a search warrant regarding his Washington State University apartment, have been sealed ahead of his trial. The Law&Crime Network's Angenette Levy explains why the court sealed the documents. https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetwork

The accused killer faces four first-degree murder charges and one felony burglary charge in connection to the murders of four University of Idaho students.

Idaho student murders suspect #BryanKohberger appeared in Latah County court Thursday for a status hearing regarding his right to a speedy trial.

#BryanKohberger's preliminary hearing is set for June 26, 2023. Defense asks for 4 to 5 days for the preliminary hearing

 

[10ofRods]

It was ill-advised for them to give any information. IMO, health information is not limited to the physical. What the receptionists allegedly said could possibly involve BK's mental health. Sure, HIPAA has plenty of legalese but it is also applied as just basic human decency to keep what happens in a physician's office private for patients. JMO and experience.

I thought it was a student health center (an exception to HIPAA, instead must follow FERPA). Someone posted the relevant policies upthread.

Where I teach, every student is asked to check a box when they apply to the college, whether they want strict FERPA confidentiality or not. Most do NOT choose it, as it means they can't be on the honor roll or have their names forwarded to scholarship competitions by counselors or faculty. Of course, most of us never go look up what the status of a particular student might be, although it does come up on all printed rosters. Most of us just obey FERPA.

But if I wanted to talk to the press about a student, I would certainly look up their status. I would never do this as a professor, but I was an administrator for a while, and sometimes it's necessary (it was not necessary in this case and no receptionist should be doing this - we have confidentiality training for our classified staff and this would be against that training, esp. in the health center).

 

[CityKid]

Or "Yes I had a sheath like that, I found it was too large so I sold it to some guy at school".

I'm really loving this line of discussion, btw. It shows what the prosecution will be up against if this goes to trial, and it's a good reminder to not take any statement or piece of evidence at face value. I've been on a few juries and these are the same discussions that have come up in every case in which I've had to deliberate. (Plus, it feels like we're collectively doing an online reenactment of "12 Angry Men.")

 

[Sundog]

Did you ever hear of DeSales University before this guy was arrested?

As for rankings, U.S. News ranks DeSales at "#285 out of 443 national universities"...

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/desales-university-3986/overall-rankings#:~:text=DeSales%20University%20is%20ranked%20%23285,widely%20accepted%20indicators%20of%20excellence.

Money puts DeSales at #421 out of 623 colleges ranked by "Value"...

2025 Best Colleges in U.S. | Money

Explore the top-ranked U.S. colleges and universities, including acceptance rates, estimated full prices, estimated prices with average grants, graduation rates and more. Find the best school for you here.

money.com

Clearly nothing to write home about

DeSales University ranks 73 in Best Regional National Universities North.
Many solid private regional universities provide a high quality undergraduate degree and targeted graduate degrees at both the Master and Doctoral levels.
Also if your university is ranked, even at 285, that is significant, because many universities, both public and private, are not ranked, they don't get into the rankings.

In addition, many students attend a university at the graduate level because of the quality and reputation of specific programs. The online Master's degree in Criminology is highly ranked, so a student graduating from that program would have both his/her faculty recommendations to go on, as well as the quality of the program, overall, when applying to doctoral programs around the country.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/Angenette5

They'll want time to prepare, wade through evidence and see what they can question potential witnesses on. The discovery in this case will be terabytes of information.

@Angenette5 hi! First I want to say I absolutely love your Name!! It’s beautiful! I do have a question , if u have time? Does Bryan get to talk to his parents or sisters while in jail? How does that work?

Well, thank you so much! I appreciate that. Yes, he should have phone privileges.

 

[SuziQ]

This doesn't have any bearing on the case though. So I guess I am a bit confused.

I don't think it has bearing on the case either. I think some are wondering if the receptionist had the right to blab at all. I know personally it bothers me. Imo.