Idaho murders crime scene photos seen after Kohberger sentencing

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Chilling photos taken inside the Idaho home where Bryan Kohberger slaughtered four students have been released for the first time, revealing a bloody and violent crime scene. Creepy handprints are seen pressed against the windows in one of the rooms while blood spatters are visible on the white painted doors. Other distressing images show the student bedrooms and beds where some of the victims were murdered in their sleep. Best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were stabbed to death in Mogen's bed in her room on the third floor of the home.
The sliding door to the kitchen on the second floor of the home is seen ajar in another photo - the way Kohberger left it after he both entered and exited the house through the back entrance. More than 200 distressing images, obtained by KTVB7 from Moscow Police, were released weeks after the 30-year-old mass killer was sentenced to a lifetime behind bars.
The criminology PhD student broke into 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in the early hours of November 13, 2022, and stabbed the four students to death. Kernodle, who was still awake having just received a DoorDash order - suffered more than 50 stab wounds, including two to the heart and multiple defensive wounds. Chapin died from a stab wound to the jugular and his legs had also been slashed.
Goncalves was stabbed more than 20 times and her face was 'unrecognizable' after Kohberger beat her with a second unidentified weapon. Mogen had stab wounds to her forearm, hands, liver and lung as well as a huge gash from her right eye to her nose. Two other roommates - Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke - were also inside the home at the time but survived. The net closed in on Kohberger after he left a brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene. DNA on the sheath came back a match to the criminology student, who was living just over the state border in Pullman, Washington, at the time.
Kohberger fought the charges for more than two years before he finally confessed to the murders and changed his plea to guilty last month, as part of a plea deal to spare him from the death penalty. On July 2, he pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. On July 23, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole and also waived his right to appeal.
Since the sentencing, a sweeping gag order in the case has been lifted and police have begun releasing records and documents from the investigation. As well as the crime scene photos, surveillance footage has also been released showing Kohberger's white Hyundai Elantra circling the victims' home multiple times on the night of the murders. The video, first reported by the Idaho Statesman, shows Kohberger staking out the scene and making three loops around the student neighborhood from around 3.30am onwards. At around 4am, Kohberger then parked his car and broke into 1122 King Road. Police said Kohberger took just 13 minutes to carry out his murderous rampage.
At around 4.17am, the video - captured by a neighboring home's security camera close to Kernodle's bedroom wall - picks up what sounds like a cry and a loud thud. A dog - believed to be Goncalves' pet Murphy - is then heard barking. At 4.20am, Kohberger's car is seen a final time in the footage speeding away from the area. The footage also captured a DoorDash delivery driver dropping off a food order for Kernodle minutes before the killer struck. Despite Kohberger's change of plea and a growing body of evidence coming to light, many questions still remain in the case.
When given the opportunity to speak at his sentencing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, Kohberger refused to reveal any details about the murders - leaving the victims' families in the dark. His motive remains a mystery and no connection has ever been found between him and the victims. Police have said Kohberger targeted 1122 King Road that night but it is unclear which of the victims was his specific target. Cell phone data found Kohberger was surveilling the student area in the lead-up to the murders. From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, his phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night. The victims had also noticed a string of bizarre incidents at the home in the weeks before the murders .
Around one month earlier, Goncalves had told multiple people she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home when she took Murphy outside. Friends also recalled multiple occasions when, during parties at the home, Goncalves's dog would run barking into the tree line and wouldn't return when he was called. This was out of character for the dog, they said. On November 4, 2022 - just nine days before the murders - the roommates then came home to find the door to their three-story house open. It is unclear if Kohberger had broken into the home prior to November 13, but Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said he believes it is possible.