Court documents show that DNA left on a knife sheath was used to link Brian Kochberger to the Idaho murders.

Male DNA left on a knife sheath button was used to link a doctoral student in Washington state to the murders of four University of Idaho students in November — and a surviving roommate came face to face with him overnight. murders, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

A written probable cause statement prepared by police officer Brett Payne of Moscow, Idaho, outlines how investigators used CCTV in the area to link the quadruple homicide to a white Hyundai Elantra driven by 28-year-old Brian Kochberger.

Upon arriving at an off-campus apartment building on November 13, Payne wrote that he noticed a brown leather sheath lying on the bed next to one of the victims, Madison Maughan.

“Later, the scabbard was machined and stamped with Ka-Bar, USMC, and the US Marine Corps eagle and anchor on the outside,” Payne wrote. “The Idaho State Lab later discovered a single source of male DNA (a suspected profile) left on a knife sheath button fastener.”

Investigators said they tracked Kochberger’s movements on his cell phone and also collected trash from his family’s home in Pennsylvania. According to the affidavit, DNA obtained from the debris and scabbard showed a connection.

Payne also said that one of two other housemates who were in the house at the time of the murders made contact with the suspect, who was described as “a figure dressed in black clothing and a mask covering the mouth and nose of a man walking towards her.” .

The roommate said she didn’t recognize him and was in a “frozen shock phase” as he walked to the rear sliding glass door.

Kochberger was arrested Friday at his family’s home and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary after allegedly breaking into a students home with the intent to commit a felony.

Arrest of suspect about seven weeks after killing students – Mogen, 21; Kaylee Gonsalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, ended a period of fear and disillusionment in Moscow’s student community.

But Kochberger, who at the time of his arrest was a doctoral student in the department of criminal justice and criminology at nearby Washington State University, was not immediately known for his connection to the victims.

The newly released court documents also do not indicate a motive for the attack, which Moscow police say was “targeted” from the start, although they did not know if it was a specific occupant or the house itself. killer focus.

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