MOSCOW, Idaho — The DNA records that first identified Bryan Kohberger as the suspect in the University of Idaho student homicides must be delivered to the court by the beginning of next month, the judge overseeing the capital murder case ruled at a hearing Thursday.
Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District set a deadline of Dec. 1 for prosecutors in the case to retrieve and submit the records from the FBI, some of which he already initially ruled must be turned over to Kohberger’s defense through the legal process known as discovery. Judge plans to review the documents behind closed doors before issuing a final decision on what information may be kept from the defense, including through a protective order requested by the prosecution.
With just three days of advance notice, Judge scheduled the hearing to provide an update on the records related to an advanced DNA technique used by police called investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), which the FBI employed to land on Kohberger. The technique involves taking DNA from a crime scene and submitting it to online genealogy services such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com to build a family tree to locate a suspect.
Defense and prosecuting attorneys attended virtually on Zoom for the lightly attended hearing at the Latah County Courthouse. Speaking on behalf of the prosecution was Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, while Kohberger’s lead public defender, Anne Taylor, appeared from the jail located in the courthouse’s basement alongside Kohberger, who was off-screen and not shown.
Taylor asked that an inventory of the FBI’s records be produced, as well as for clarity from Judge about the closed-door review process. He said during the roughly 30-minute hearing that he may schedule a future hearing with an expert on the issue to ensure he conducts it properly.
“I’ll do my best. That’s the best I can do,” Judge said.
The prosecution and defense have been battling over the disputed records since May, when the defense filed its first discovery request specifically citing IGG records and DNA profiles uploaded to databases. In June, the prosecution disclosed for the first time that the FBI used IGG to land on Kohberger as the suspect, in its request for a court protective order of the information.
The prosecution said the FBI, which was almost immediately brought into the homicide investigation, passed along “a tip to investigate” to local law enforcement after it obtained the IGG results. However, in court filings opposing the release of the records to the defense, as well as at a hearing in August, the prosecution affirmed that the IGG results were never used to secure any warrants related to Kohberger, including for his arrest.
Thompson told Judge that he spoke with the FBI in a virtual meeting on Monday to submit his formal request for all of its IGG records related to Kohberger. The request could take up to a month to fulfill, he said the agency told him.
For his closed-door review, Judge said he would like to look at all of the records at the same time. Likewise, Thompson stated his preference that none of the records requested by the defense be turned over until they’re all in hand, but will meet whatever the court demands.
Prosecutors don’t plan to introduce the IGG information at trial, Thompson wrote in the June legal filing. Instead, they plan to present the “statistical match” between the DNA found at the crime scene and a cheek swab law enforcement took from Kohberger after they took him into custody.
“The state’s argument that the IGG investigation is wholly irrelevant since it was not used in obtaining any warrants and will not be used at trial is well supported,” Judge wrote in his ruling last week. “Nonetheless, Kohberger is entitled to view at least some of the IGG information in preparing his defense even if it may ultimately be found to be irrelevant.”
Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. In May, a grand jury impaneled by Thompson indicted Kohberger and put the case on a path to trial.
The victims were U of I seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21; junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20. The four college students were stabbed to death at an off-campus home in Moscow, where the three women lived. Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and staying over for the night.
Police located a leather sheath for a combat-style knife in Mogen’s bed partially under her body. Law enforcement later found a single source of male DNA on the button snap of the Ka-Bar brand sheath that they linked to Kohberger, police have said since December.
Idaho State Police, involved almost immediately in the investigation, used a private lab to develop a profile from the DNA and begin work on a family tree, Thompson detailed in a court filing. Slate and The New York Times previously identified the private lab as Texas-based Othram, though the detail had never before been verified by prosecutors or law enforcement.
The private lab contracted by state police was Othram, Taylor said Thursday. Othram did not respond Thursday to a request for comment from the Idaho Statesman, nor has the company responded to prior requests.
When law enforcement instead decided the FBI would take over the development of a family tree through IGG in the Moscow case, the private lab thought to be Othram “ceased its efforts” and sent the DNA profile it created to the FBI, Thompson said in the June court filing.
Judge last week issued his initial ruling that granted the defense some of the IGG records it has sought for months. He said he plans to review the records once the prosecution delivers them to the court from the FBI so he may decide what information he may withhold.
“I want to make sure we do this right the first time,” Judge said Thursday.
