Pa. warrant reveals what police seized from Kohberger family home
BOISE, Idaho — Pennsylvania police and the FBI seized a dozen items from the home of Bryan Kohberger’s parents in eastern Pennsylvania, including black clothing and his size 13 Nike shoes, and also took a DNA swab of the Idaho quadruple homicide suspect’s mouth, according to an unsealed search warrant released Tuesday and obtained by The Idaho Statesman.
During Kohberger’s arrest in the early morning hours on Dec. 30 at the family home in Albrightsville, police took a large black Washington State University Cougars sweatshirt, and black socks, shorts and underwear, the documents state. They also retrieved four medical-style gloves, a large white T-shirt and a silver flashlight.
Kohberger, 28, was a Washington State graduate student in the criminal justice and criminology department. He was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 13 slaying of four University of Idaho students in Moscow. The victims were University of Idaho seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.
The law enforcement search was conducted at approximately 1:25 a.m. on Dec. 30, according to the records.
As with the search warrant for Kohberger’s WSU student apartment in Pullman, Washington, executed the same day as his arrest in Pennsylvania, police were seeking any dark clothing; shoes with a diamond-pattern sole; blood or items that contained blood or bodily fluids; and all weapons to include knives and knife sheaths — or receipts for such purchases. In addition, police sought any possible property of the four victims, as well as two surviving housemates.
At the request of the Whitman County prosecutor, a Washington judge unsealed that search warrant in mid-January.
—The Idaho Statesman
JetBlue flight at Boston airport had a ‘close call’ with a Learjet
A JetBlue flight had a “close call” with a Learjet at Boston Logan International Airport Monday night, a day after a different JetBlue flight reported an “aborted landing” due to an unstable approach at Logan.
The FAA is investigating the “close call” between the JetBlue plane and the Learjet, according to the FAA.
Shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday, the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance while JetBlue Flight 206 from Nashville was preparing to land on an intersecting runway.
“An air traffic controller instructed the pilot of the Learjet to line up and wait on Runway 9 while the JetBlue Embraer 190 landed on Runway 4-Right, which intersects Runway 9,” the FAA said in a statement. “The Learjet pilot read back the instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead.
“The pilot of the JetBlue aircraft took evasive action and initiated a climb-out as the Learjet crossed the intersection,” the FAA added.
The Learjet was operated by Hop-A-Jet, a private charter company.
JetBlue in a statement said Flight 206 landed safely in Boston after its pilots were instructed to perform a go-around by air traffic controllers.
—Boston Herald
Nishad Singh, former FTX head of engineering, pleads guilty in fraud case
The former head of engineering at Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt cryptocurrency firm owned up to fraud charges on Tuesday, federal prosecutors said.
Nishad Singh, 27, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions, defrauding the Federal Election Commission and other related charges.
“Today’s guilty plea underscores once again that the crimes at FTX were vast in scope and consequence. They rocked our financial markets with a multibillion-dollar fraud,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.
Singh’s lawyers, Russell Capone and Andrew Goldstein, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Bankman-Fried, 30, has been charged in a 12-count indictment alleging he stole billions from investors of his trading platform FTX to divert to his crypto hedge fund Alameda, conspired to defraud banks, pumped millions in masked donations into the political system for personal gain and other related charges.
—New York Daily News
'Time is now' to let Finland, Sweden join NATO, leader says
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday reiterated his call for Turkey and Hungary to let Finland and Sweden join the Western military alliance.
"The time is now to ratify and to fully welcome both Finland and Sweden as members," Stoltenberg said in Helsinki, speaking alongside Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Stoltenberg said progress had been made with Turkey and a meeting of representatives from Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki is to take place in Brussels next week.
The two Nordic nations applied to join the defense alliance in May, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, accessions must be ratified by all allies and Turkey has been blocking the process for several months and demanding legislative changes over allegations that Sweden sympathizes with and harbors what Turkey views as Kurdish terrorists.
Finland shares a more than 800-mile-long border with Russia. The country declared independence from Russian rule in 1917 and fought against Soviet troops during World War II.
Marin said the reason why Finland decided to apply for NATO membership was that the alliance's border "is the only line that Russia wouldn't cross."
—dpa
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