Latest news with #Ka-Bar
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Idaho murder case runs into problems but suspect set for August trial
Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of killing four young University of Idaho students in 2022, is set to go to trial in August in a case that could see him sentenced to death. He is charged with the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – who were together in the same house when someone broke in at night and stabbed them to death. But the case is running into problems, not least a failure by prosecutors to ascribe a motive for the killings, which terrified a region and shocked the US amid a media frenzy around the crime. Last week, Kohberger's attorneys requested a trial delay, citing in part intense publicity around the case generated in part by a recent NBC Dateline special they claim was prejudicial to their client because it contained apparent prosecution leaks in violation of a non-dissemination order. The leaks included information that the phone belonging to Kohberger connected 23 times in four months to a cellphone tower near the rented home where the four students were killed. And also that he searched the internet for information about serial killer Ted Bundy as well as for pornography with the keywords 'drugged', 'sleeping' and 'passed out'. The defense is arguing it now requires more time to prepare for trial because of the publicity around that information. Related: Judge bans use of 'psychopath' and 'sociopath' in Idaho student murder trial Further problems may arise in July with the pre-trial publication of The Idaho Four, by the crime writer James Patterson and the journalist Vicky Ward, who ran afoul of a judge in South Carolina after obtaining crime-scene photos and documents in a civil claim related to that state's notorious Alex Murdaugh double murder case. Kohberger's attorneys have said the blurb for the book 'suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this court's non-dissemination order' and a delay might mitigate the 'prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity'. Idaho judge Steven Hippler has said he is open to appointing a special prosecutor to question people under oath to determine the origin of the leaks. But whether or not a delay is granted, a number of recent court rulings have been going against Kohberger, who has pleaded not guilty. His defense team has tried to keep considerable evidence, including a 911 call alerting police to the crime; the description of a man with 'bushy eyebrows' at the house around the time of the murders; and his Amazon shopping history, including the purchase of a knife similar to the one the alleged assailant was said to have used, out of the trial. Amazon records show that an account under Kohberger's name and email address bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener in March 2022, eight months before the murders, and had them shipped to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was later arrested. A brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath was found, police said, next to one victim's body and DNA on the clasp matched to Kohberger. Kohberger's defense team claims his Amazon purchase history was 'out of context, incomplete and unfairly prejudicial', but Hippler ruled it was 'highly relevant' and 'establishes significant connection between the defendant and Ka-Bar knife and sheath'. In another ruling against the defence, Hippler turned down a request to exclude the criminology student's 12-page master's essay from being presented as evidence in the trial. In it, Kohberger assessed how to handle a crime scene where a woman has been found stabbed to death. Other rulings going against the suspect involve evidence about his white Hyundai Elantra – a similar make and model of car that prosecutors say the killer drove and which was captured on security video near the home before the murders and leaving soon after. Nor has the judge allowed defense requests that the death penalty option be dropped because their client was once diagnosed with autism. Hippler instead ruled that the defense can only introduce the diagnosis if Kohberger testifies in his own defense or as a mitigating factor is he is convicted. But Hippler has also ruled that Kohberger's defense was permitted to keep a court filing 'in support of … alternate perpetrators' sealed from public view. It is not yet clear if defense claims of another perpetrator, or perpetrators, claimed to be in the documents will be permitted at trial. Absent from the prosecutors' filings to date are any attempts to ascribe a motive for Kohberger's alleged actions. Forensic psychiatrist Carole Lieberman has said she believes Kohberger's decision to study psychology and then criminology was because he was 'trying to calm the demons inside of him' and simultaneously 'trying to learn how to commit the perfect crime'. To the Guardian last week she went further, arguing that the bloody crime scene and use of a knife was evidence that Kohberger harbored rage against young women. Kohberger, she claimed, had held this rage since at least middle school, when he had a crush on a cheerleader – said to have looked like Kaylee Goncalves – only for her to reject him. 'I think that's why he stalked and killed them,' she said. Related: Man accused of murdering four Idaho students fights against death penalty According to some reports, Kohhberg followed Mogen and Goncalves on Instagram. The defence denies the claim and argues there is no motive to find because Kohberger did not commit the crime. Louis Schlesinger, a professor of psychology at John Jay College, said it should be noted that Kohberger's alleged crime was a targeted mass killing, not a serial killing, because there were two others in the home at the time, including a surviving roommate, who reported seeing an intruder with 'bushy eyebrows', and were not attacked. 'This seems to be situationally based, so you can rule out psychosis or impulsivity,' Schlesinger said, 'and it doesn't appear to be sexually motivated. It could be jealousy or a feeling of rejection or humiliation. But we really don't know the motive was.' But that doesn't mean a jury would not want prosecutors to at least imply a motive. 'Jurors want to hear a motive before they send someone to the execution chamber,' he said. 'They will want to know why he did it.'
The Age
29-04-2025
- The Age
I yelled out ‘mate': Hero police office Amy Scott reveals moment she faced Bondi killer
NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, the heroic police officer who shot dead Bondi Junction Westfield attacker Joel Cauchi, has detailed for the first time the moment she faced down the killer, ending his deadly spree. Cauchi, 40, was armed with a Ka-Bar USMC military knife when he stabbed 16 people, killing six, in the crowded shopping centre on April 13, 2024. The attack lasted just over three minutes before Inspector Scott, who was near the centre for other duties, heard an emergency call over the police radio, a coronial inquest into the massacre heard on Tuesday. 'Eastern Suburbs car, any car in the vicinity, we're getting multiple calls, multiple stabbings, multiple locations, at Bondi Junction Westfield,' the voice on the scanner broadcast just after 3.30pm, the inquest heard. 'I knew right then that it was very real,' Scott said. People were pouring out of the centre and flagged down Scott's car. Two French nationals and a security guard were among the group begging the lone officer for help. 'People were saying 'there's a guy in there with a knife, he's stabbing people, killing people … you've got to help us, please get in there',' Scott recalled. The inspector concluded it was an active-armed offender, and she could not wait for backup. She unclipped her service pistol and raced inside, accompanied by a small group of civilians.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-04-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
I yelled out ‘mate': Hero police office Amy Scott reveals moment she faced Bondi killer
NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, the heroic police officer who shot dead Bondi Junction Westfield attacker Joel Cauchi, has detailed for the first time the moment she faced down the killer, ending his deadly spree. Cauchi, 40, was armed with a Ka-Bar USMC military knife when he stabbed 16 people, killing six, in the crowded shopping centre on April 13, 2024. The attack lasted just over three minutes before Inspector Scott, who was near the centre for other duties, heard an emergency call over the police radio, a coronial inquest into the massacre heard on Tuesday. 'Eastern Suburbs car, any car in the vicinity, we're getting multiple calls, multiple stabbings, multiple locations, at Bondi Junction Westfield,' the voice on the scanner broadcast just after 3.30pm, the inquest heard. 'I knew right then that it was very real,' Scott said. People were pouring out of the centre and flagged down Scott's car. Two French nationals and a security guard were among the group begging the lone officer for help. 'People were saying 'there's a guy in there with a knife, he's stabbing people, killing people … you've got to help us, please get in there',' Scott recalled. The inspector concluded it was an active-armed offender, and she could not wait for backup. She unclipped her service pistol and raced inside, accompanied by a small group of civilians.
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Horrific new details emerge about crazed killer Joel Cauchi's evil obsession before he launched Westfield Bondi Junction massacre
Schizophrenic knifeman Joel Cauchi was preoccupied with violence, weapons and mass killings for years before the Westfield Bondi Junction massacre. Cauchi's internet browsing in the lead up to his rampage showed he was obsessed with serial killers and may have made some 'rudimentary plans' for his own attack. Before killing six people at the shopping centre he had conducted internet searches of the Columbine High School massacre in which 13 students were murdered. The opening day of an inquest into the Westfield Bondi Junction heard Cauchi had been 'floridly psychotic' when he committed the outrage. The inquest is investigating the deaths of five women and one man killed by 40-year-old Cauchi on April 13 last year. It will also examine the wounding of ten others and the death of Cauchi, who was shot by Inspector Amy Scott at the scene. The inquiry began at the State Coroners Court at Lidcombe in Sydney 's west on Monday and is set to run for five weeks. State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan is presiding over the inquest, which Cauchi committed with a US Marines-style Ka-Bar utility knife he bought on February 24 last year. Those killed were shoppers Dawn Singleton, 35, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, Pakria Darchia, 55 and security guard Faraz Tahir, 30. The families of Ms Singleton, Ms Young and Ms Good - excluding Dawn's father, multimillionaire businessman John Singleton - have engaged prominent barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC to represent them at the inquest. The families of Ms Cheng, Ms Darchia and Mr Tahir are also legally represented, as are shopping centre management and both NSW and Queensland police. Mr Singleton had urged the NSW Attorney-General not to proceed with the inquest because it would be too traumatic for the families of those killed to relive the events. 'If it was going to bring some justice I would understand - but it can't, it's just so unfair,' he has said. 'No good can come of making the details of this public all over again, the CCTV footage images. 'We all know what happened and who did it and he's gone, there's nothing to gain.' Ms Chrysanthou said at a directions hearing earlier this month the victims' families 'except for John Singleton... understand the mandatory nature of this inquest and they support it'. 'Their lives have been changed in a way that none of us can really comprehend,' she said. 'It is important for them to understand if anything else could have been done.' At the same hearing, senior counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, confirmed no graphic footage of the attacks would be played in court. At an earlier hearing in November, Dr Dwyer said the massacre 'shocked our community and has caused unspeakable grief for the families and loved ones of those who were killed and injured'. Joel Cauchi's mental health will loom large in the inquiry. Evidence will include the reports of four psychiatrists and two general practitioners. 'The parents of Mr Cauchi have spoken publicly and express their shock and sadness at the actions of their son, a man who had struggled with mental illness since he was a teenager and had no criminal history,' Dr Dwyer said. Among the issues to be canvassed will be Cauchi's previous treatment and the circumstances of him ceasing the use of psychotropic medication since 2020. The coroner will consider the emergency response of Westfield Bondi Junction staff and whether there should be restrictions on weapons such as the Ka-Bar knife Cauchi used to kill his victims. Expert evidence will be heard comparing what happened at Westfield Bondi Junction with the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017 and the mass shootings in Christchurch in 2019. At the time of the Westfield Bondi Junction attacks, Cauchi had been living rough around Maroubra in Sydney's east and had not taken his psychotropic medicine for the past four years. On the morning of April 13 he went to a Kennards storage unit at Waterloo in the inner-city and at 11.10am retrieved a backpack containing the Ka-Bar knife. For the next four hours Cauchi used public transport to move between the city and eastern suburbs before entering Westfield Bondi Junction via Bronte Road at 3.12pm. Dr Dwyer told the directions hearing in November what happened next as Cauchi began to attack unsuspecting shoppers with the knife he had hidden in his backpack. 'In less than three minutes, he stabbed 16 people, killing six and injuring ten others,' she said. 'At 3.31pm, Mr Cauchi walked over the air bridge on level four towards the Sourdough Bakery, and he stood in line behind Ms Dawn Singleton. 'Mr Cauchi removed the knife from his backpack, and as everybody knows, tragically, he stabbed and fatally injured Dawn, who was the first of his 16 victims.' For the next 57 seconds Cauchi stabbed or attempted to stab anyone who came within his reach. He stabbed Jade Young near the Sourdough Bakery at 3:33:01 and Yixuan Cheng between Cotton On and the Peter Alexander store at 3:33:18. 'At 3.34, after exiting Myer and running back towards the Sourdough Bakery, and outside AJE Athletica, Mr Cauchi attacked Ashlee Good in the back from behind,' Dr Dwyer said. 'When Ashlee was stabbed, she turned and then saw Mr Cauchi attacking her daughter's pram. 'She ran at him and fought him off, receiving another stab wound as a result of that, this time in the chest, but undoubtedly saving the life of her daughter.' Cauchi ran back past Sourdough Bakery and at 3:34:26 stabbed Faraz Tahir then fellow security guard Muhammad Taha. 'He fatally wounded Faraz, and he seriously injured Muhammad,' Dr Dwyer said. Cauchi fatally stabbed Pikria Darchia at 3:34:51. 'Pikria was the last person who was stabbed fatally that day, but other people were injured after that time,' Dr Dwyer said. 'At 3:35:40, Mr Cauchi stabbed the final 16th victim, who was seriously injured.' Inspector Scott had been in her car when she heard a police radio alert and headed for the shopping centre. She entered level four of Westfield Bondi Junction at 3.37pm. Civilians helped direct Inspector Scott to Cauchi, who began to run as she gave chase. Four members of the public, armed with chairs and other objects, followed Inspector Scott, ready to assist. Cauchi had fled along the level five air bridge and was about 15m from Inspector Scott when she first confronted him. When Cauchi ran towards the police woman with the Ka-Bar held in his right hand she stepped back, yelled at him to stop and drop the knife, and drew her service weapon. Cauchi did not stop and from 3:38:40 Inspector Scott discharged her pistol three times, killing the knifeman with shots to the shoulder and neck. The fatal shots were fired less than six minutes after Cauchi had begun his stabbing spree and one minute and 19 seconds after Inspector Scott had arrived at the shopping centre. Cauchi grew up in Queensland, mostly in Toowoomba, with his parents Andrew and Michele. They say he was diagnosed with schizophrenia around the age of 18 and for the next 18 years generally complied with taking medication. From 2012 until February 2020 Cauchi regularly saw a psychiatrist and his medication was reduced over the years until it was stopped entirely in June 2020. Cauchi had moved to Brisbane in February that year and from about that time until the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbings had no particular treatment plan.
ABC News
28-04-2025
- ABC News
Bondi Junction stabbings inquest to review killer Joel Cauchi's 'preoccupation with death', interaction with police and mental health authorities
A coronial inquest into the Bondi Junction stabbing will examine killer Joel Cauchi's "preoccupation with death and murder" and "inner turmoil" in the lead-up to fatal attack. Cauchi, 40, killed six and injured 10 during a stabbing rampage at the Westfield shopping centre in Sydney's east on April 13, 2024. WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing. He was shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott less than six minutes after the attacks began. Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Yixuan Cheng, Ashlee Good, security guard Faraz Tahir and Pikria Darchia were killed in the attack. Counsel Assisting the Coroner Peggy Dwyer SC said police searches of his phone found "Mr Cauchi was preoccupied with weapons, with violence and with mass killing". If you or anyone you know needs help: Emergency services on triple-0 if you need immediate care She said there was evidence of "rudimentary planning" and that in the years prior Cauchi had purchased "Ka-Bar knives", which were used on the day of the attack. On February 12 last year, he made a note to check out malls and "where to run" and later searches found he was "planning a strike or an attack". "The browsing history on Mr Cauchi's mobile phone beginning around late 2022 suggested a preoccupation with death and murder". "There were bookmark pages on serial killers, searches containing mass stabbing incidents in Australia and searches in relation to serial killers". The six people killed by Joel Cauchi following his attack in April 2024. ( Supplied ) 'A man who was seriously unwell' However, Dr Dwyer emphasised there was "no direct evidence indicating any motive in relation to what happened", apart from insight into his "inner turmoil and his dark thoughts leading up to the incident". "What these records unequivocally show is a man who was seriously unwell." Cauchi, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, in 2024 was experiencing homelessness in Sydney, away from his parents in Queensland and "completely detached from the mental health system", she said. Dr Dwyer said the five-week inquest, which began on Monday, would also review Cauchi's mental health treatment, including the "reduction and cessation" of medication prescribed to manage his mental health. Joel Cauchi's was not being actively treated for his mental ill-health in the lead up to the attack. ( Supplied ) She said his parents had expressed concern about him possessing knives, including some of a similar style used by Cauchi during the Bondi attack. "Mr Cauchi's father was worried about him having those knives, and the court will explore whether that was an opportunity missed for intervention by police, which may have resulted in Mr Cauchi being re-engaged with the mental health system at the time," Ms Dwyer said. "It is important to learn from this catastrophic event, as I've already touched on, Mr Cauchi's mental health treatment in Queensland is a very important topic." "His treatment for schizophrenia and the decision to reduce and ultimately cease his psychotropic medication, the consequences of that reduction, whether there were early warning signs of a relapse … and [that] he was taken off that medication" will be examined, she said. Inquest to also explore opportunities for intervention The court will also examine if "there were any opportunities for an intervention that may have prevented what ultimately occurred" by Queensland and NSW mental health authorities. However, she acknowledged both states were "under strain" and that it "was neither possible or appropriate for this inquest to seek to identify how to reform the entirety of the mental health system". The inquest will also review "any opportunities for interventions were missed" by both Queensland and NSW Police in their prior interactions with Cauchi. Photo shows NSW Police officer Inspector Amy Scott pays tribute marking one year after bondi stabbing attack Families of the victims and dignitaries commemorate the April 13 stabbing attack inside Westfield Bondi Junction that claimed six lives. In her opening statement, Dr Dwyer acknowledged the " truly unfathomable" grief of the victims' families. "The public nature of this grief is a burden for the families that we are trying to be mindful of at every stage of the inquest," he said. NSW State Coroner Magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan said the court would do "all that we can" to assist the families during the court proceedings. The hearings are scheduled to run until May 30, with oral evidence from 40 witnesses to be heard, including from Inspector Scott. It will also explore the initial response by security staff at Westfield, "including when staff first became aware of what Mr Cauchi was doing". Only two civilian witnesses are expected to be called at the wishes of the family to limit recounts of the fatal day. NSW State Coroner Magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan expressed her condolences to victims' families. ( Coroners Court of New South Wales ) She reiterated her condolences to the victim's families, who had been "tirelessly advocating for their loved ones". "Our ultimate hope … is to provide much-needed answers about how the tragic events of April 13, 2024 occurred and how such events can be prevented in the future"," she said.
