‘A smoking license’: ID connected to Idaho murder victim found in Bryan Kohberger’s car
ID related to the murdered University of Idaho students was found in the car of suspected killer Bryan Kohberger, amid reports that he may have cyberstalked one of the victims.
Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering 21-year-old Maddie Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, and 20-year-old Xana Kernodle in their off-campus home.
His connection to the students has remained unclear, but according to an unsealed search warrant, officers found ID cards in his car six weeks after the murders.
Sources have now said so News Nation belonged to someone who lived in the residence in Moscow.
A gag ban on the high-profile process means that the police do not want to confirm who the identity document belongs to.
Kohberger was linked to the grisly murders by DNA on the knife scabbard found in the house and data from the cell phone tower that also put him near the scene of the crime.
Retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said the discovery was a “big deal.”
“That’s a smoking permit,” she said during a performance on CUOMO on Thursday.
“Just as the scabbard was a smoking scabbard found next to Maddie with his DNA attached to that clasp, so it is in this situation.
“Why would he have an ID for one of those people from that house?”
Attorney Mark Geragos also said the evidence would be a “hurdle” for the defense if presented in court.
Meanwhile, Dailymail.com reporter Caitlyn Becker said it appeared the IDs were hidden in Kohberger’s car.
In a TikTok video, she explained, “When these arrest warrants were unsealed last month, I looked through them and saw the IDs had been taken, but without any other information, I didn’t notice.
“But with a source saying that one of these IDs belonged to someone connected to the murders, I went back to review the details of the search warrant and what I found was kind of crazy.”
An ID linked to the murdered University of Idaho students was found in the car of suspected killer Bryan Kohberger amid reports he was cyberstalking someone at the residence
Kohberger, 28, is accused of killing Maddie Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, in their off-campus home in November
She further explained that the warrant states that the cards were found “in the glove in the box.”
It suggests that Kohberger deliberately hid the IDs.
She added: “My other questions are: Whose ID was it? When did it disappear?
“If it was before the murders, could this reinforce the state theory of stalking? And if it was after the murders, are we looking at a possible trophy?’
Kohberger was a doctoral student in criminal justice at Washington State University – 15 miles from Moscow.
Police found a trove of disturbing items including a gun, several knives and a black face mask in his home after the dramatic arrest.
Investigators were tight-lipped about the possible motive for the killings, but revealed in an affidavit that he had visited the vicinity of the Moscow home “several times.”
And last week it was revealed that police have served several search warrants to social media companies, including TikTok and Google, to see if there was any contact between Kohberger and his victims.
And in February it emerged that he had multiple images of one of the girls on his phone when it was searched by police.
Sources told People at the time that it was “obvious he was paying attention to her” — though they wouldn’t reveal which of the girls it was.
Kohberger is due to appear in court on June 26. He has yet to plead four counts of murder and one count of burglary.
It comes after reports said that authorities in at least two Pennsylvania counties where Kohberger attended college have been sifting through their cold case files to look for any links linking him to them.
Authorities initially sealed the search warrant for the Washington murder suspect’s home, arguing that releasing the details could “early end” the investigation. Pictured (LR) Dylan Mortensen, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen
Investigators were tight-lipped about the possible motive for the killings, but revealed in an affidavit that he had visited the vicinity of the Moscow home “several times.”
Kohberger is expected to make a plea in the case on June 26. Pictured Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen
“Your natural question is to ask, ‘is this man wanted?
‘Is his name there? Did he do something here in (my) province?’
Authorities have said in the past that Kohberger has no criminal record.
However, because Kohberger was a student at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania authorities investigated the records more thoroughly.
He may have attended classes at a satellite campus in Monroe County. Using a crime information center, authorities in Northampton County searched records of unsolved cases using Kohberger’s height, weight, working method and other characteristics that could have marked him in an unsolved crime.