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Attorneys representing Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students as they slept, say they may be able to prove key evidence found at the murder scene was planted.
In court documents submitted by prosecutors on Monday, March 10, 2025, Kohberger’s attorneys are reportedly focused on the much-talked-about knife sheath, which was found near the bodies of victims Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21. The defense’s motion was not made public but details were shared in the prosecution’s summation, which asserted that Kohberger’s attorneys intend to claim that the sheath “could have been planted by the real perpetrator,” according to Fox News.
The key piece of evidence contained DNA that was a “statistical match” to the 30-year-old defendant.
How Kohberger’s lawyers plan to defend him in court
In the 17-page court document, Latah County prosecutors quoted a defense expert’s disclosure, according to CNN. The disclosure allegedly stated his defense attorneys’ intention to bring forensic science experts to the stand, even though “there is good support that Mr. Kohberger’s DNA was found on item 1.1, a swab from the knife sheath.”
According to what prosecutors understood, the defense does not plan on denying Kohberger’s DNA on the sheath’s button.
“Instead of challenging the conclusion that the DNA on the knife sheath belonged to Defendant, the defense’s expert disclosures reveal that the defense plans to argue the DNA on the knife sheath does not prove Defendant was ever at the crime scene and the knife sheath itself could have been planted by the real perpetrator,” prosecutors said in the filing.
Who is Bryan Kohberger?
Bryan Kohberger was a former grad student who studied criminology and criminal justice at the University of Washington, now accused of the violent November 13, 2022, murders of friends Mogen, Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in the beds of their off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho, just east of the Washington state border and 80 miles south of Spokane.
Investigators later tracked their prime suspect as he drove cross-country from his Pullman, Washington residence — less than 10 miles west of Moscow — to his hometown in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. State Police arrested Kohberger weeks after the quadruple murder on December 30, 2022
The latest developments in the Idaho murders case
In a motion filed on February 24, 2025, attorneys moved to strike the death penalty, citing their client’s purported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (A.S.D.). Earlier this month, experts cited by the defense allegedly indicated DNA collected from underneath victim Madison Mogen’s fingernails belonged to three different people.
A ruling on those motions has yet to be made.
The aforementioned sheath, belonging to a Ka-Bar knife, was at the center of a previous motion in which Kohberger’s attorneys attempted to have the DNA evidence — as well as digital and electronic evidence — suppressed from legal proceedings.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler blocked the defense’s attempts last month.
Kohberger has been jailed at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in Boise since September 2024, after the Supreme Court issued a change of venue from Latah County, where the murders took place, as reported by NBC News.
A judge pleaded not guilty on Kohberger’s behalf on four counts of first-degree murder, plus burglary. Kohberger faces execution if convicted.
On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, lawmakers made Idaho the only state to utilize death by firing squad as its primary method of execution, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The law is expected to go into effect in 2026.
Kohberger’s murder trial is scheduled for August 11, 2025 in Ada County.
