Idaho student murder suspect Bryan Kohberger’s new defense claim that unidentified male blood found on a handrail at the King Road crime scene and on a glove outside points to potential other suspects could be part of an elaborate plan to stage the crime scene, according to a veteran criminal profiler.

“When he was arrested, he quickly said, ‘Who else did you arrest?’” said John Kelly, who has been closely following the case. “Not the normal response for someone being arrested for [allegedly] brutally killing four kids with a knife.”

Kelly, the founder of the System to Apprehend Lethal Killers, or STALK Inc., speculated that the remark could have come from the suspect’s expectation that police had developed other substantive leads.

“Maybe this is the reason why he made that stupid response: he staged some other DNA, blood, to throw authorities off,” Kelly said. “Remember, from his studies, he would know about staging.”

While the judge seemed unconvinced by Taylor’s argument that the unknown blood samples could undermine probable cause to arrest her client, experts say it could create reasonable doubt at trial later this year.

The house at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, behind police tape on Nov. 15, 2022. Police say four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death inside on Nov. 13. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year. Before his defense successfully argued for a change of venue, Latah County Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on the suspect’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse on June 27, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (August Frank-Pool/Getty Images)

Even the knife sheath may have been planted, Kelly told Fox News Digital previously, arguing that the “USMC”-stamped Ka-Bar sheath could have been left behind to try and point investigators toward someone with military ties.

“This is staging 101,” he said. “They’re going to look at this, and they’re going to think it’s a military guy that did this – some guy with some kind of training who lives up the road.”

However, police recovered DNA on the snap that they later said matched a familial sample taken from the trash at Kohberger’s parents’ house 2,500 miles away in Pennsylvania.