When Bryan Kohberger was charged with the brutal murders of four Idaho students last month, authorities immediately searched his dorm room and office at nearby Washington State University.
In a newly unsealed search warrant application, investigators outlined exactly what they were looking for at the home of the 28-year-old graduate student who was arrested in Pennsylvania last month.
First, the application, filed in Washington’s Superior Court on 29 December, gave police permission to search for “blood, or other bodily fluid or human tissue or skin cells, or items with blood or other bodily fluid or human tissue or skin cells on the items.”
It also stated that officers should look for “knives, sheaths, or other sharp tools, including any danger, dirk, or sword, and any written indicia of ownership of dame, including sales receipts.”
The warrant also states that investigators wanted to get ahold of “any images, whether digital or on paper or any other format, which shows Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen …BF (Bethany Funke)and/or DM( Dylan Mortensen) …and/or the house at 1122 King Road, Moscow, ID, and/or the surrounding neighborhood.”
Then, police were asked to try and find “clothing, including but not limited to dark shirt(s), dark pant(s), mask(s), shoes with diamond pattern sole” as well as “trace evidence including DNA from blood or skin cells or other source, footprints, fingerprints, hair (whether human or animal/dog).”
Investigators were also given permission to search for any materials “showing an interest in, or planning of, murder, violent assault, stabbing, and/or cutting of people”
The warrant also asked officers to look for any materials showing details of the house where the students were murdered, and any items such as “ledgers, papers, lists, books, notes, letters, calendars, address books, contact lists, diaries, tapes, photographs, videos, emails, text messages, social media posts/messages.”
Additionally, it gave permission for officers to seize electronic and digital devices such as cell phones, computer towers, laptops, tablets, external hard drives and other data storage devices.
Investigators were also looking for “evidence of use of the device to conduct internet searches relating to a review of other murders or violent assaults/stabbings and/or cutting people, as well as how to avoid detection after the commission of such crimes. Details of 1122 King Road and one or more of the victims.”
The documents also give details of what was actually found at the suspect’s home. These included a stained mattress cover, possible hair strands, a glove, a computer tower, a Walmart receipt, two Marshalls receipts and a dust container from a vacuum.
They also took away an item with a “dark red spot”, a pillow case with a “reddish/brown stain”, a “Fire TV” stick and possible animal hair strands.
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found at their King Road rental house opposite the University of Idaho in the city of Moscow on 13 November.
Police believe that the students were killed in their beds between 4am and 4.25am after a night out in Moscow.
The suspect was arrested in Pennsylvania in December after driving across the US with his father and flown back to Idaho charged with the murders.
Investigators honed in on the suspect through DNA evidence taken from the scene of the crime and tracking a white Hyundai Elantra car belonging to Mr Kohberger that was spotted near the scene of the crime.
