Idaho
Bryan Kohberger asks Idaho judge to block ‘bushy' brows evidence, suggests witness’s artwork skews memory
Bryan Kohberger’s defense team is asking the judge overseeing his quadruple murder trial to block an eyewitness from testifying about the intruder she saw having “bushy eyebrows” on the night three of her housemates and another friend were killed in a 4 a.m. massacre.
First, the defense argues that allowing the witness, identified in court filings as “DM,” would be unfair, too vague and unfairly prejudicial before the jury. Also in the motion, attorney Elisa Massoth denies that the defendant, Kohberger, has bushy eyebrows.
She is also seeking an order barring any evidence related to “bushy eyebrows” in addition to keeping DM from using the phrase. In separate filings, the defense is also asking the court to limit the use of the words murder, psychopath and sociopath.
The surviving housemate is the only known witness to have encountered the intruder and lived to tell her tale after she froze in shock, and he walked toward a back sliding door – and recently unsealed text messages so she tried in vain to reach her murdered friends minutes after the intruder left.
BRYAN KOHBERGER DOESN’T WANT AMAZON SHOPPING LIST REVEALED AT TRIAL
Brian Kohberger pictured after his transfer to the Ada County jail in Boise, Idaho. (Ada County Sheriff’s Office)
The motion became public after Judge Steven Hippler told defense attorneys and prosecutors they were keeping too many court filings out of public view, filing them under seal without proper justification.
Massoth wrote that DM was unable to describe the masked intruder to a sketch artist and did not know what color eyebrows the intruder had. The texts, at least the exceprts that have been made public, show she discussed the intruder’s mask covering his mouth and forehead. They do not mention his eyebrows.
“Eyewitness identifications are inherently unreliable,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who formerly represented Lori Vallow. “Especially this one – it’s beyond vague.”
IDAHO POLICE RECOVERED A 3-PERSON MIXTURE OF DNA UNDER MADDIE MOGEN’S FINGERNAILS
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
But what stands out to her in this case is the revelation in court filings that DM had a wall of photos and artwork, some of which she had drawn herself, depicting detailed faces and prominent eyebrows.
Last month, defense attorneys tried to attack the housemate’s credibility, arguing her story changed in the span of three interviews with investigators and that she admitted she had been drinking, felt tired and her memory was hazy.
“There is a beyond strong explanation, when somebody is so unsure about why they may have this distinctive impression of eyebrows – because it’s all over the room,” Elcox told Fox News Digital. “It’s artwork that they’re drawing.”
Read the motion
The defense argued that this artwork could have influenced her memory.
“There is no reliability of the physical characteristics that D.M. has reported,” Massoth wrote. “Mr. Kohberger does not have bushy eyebrows, but the art work on D.M.’s wall and that which she draws eyes with eyebrows could be described as bushy, full, or prominent.”
Hippler previously said the witness’s statements could be “fodder” for cross-examination at trial but had no bearing on the finding of probable cause used to justify Kohberger’s arrest.
Elcox says she expects explosive cross-examination on this issue.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger as he appeared on the Washington State University website. He was studying there for a Ph.D. in criminology at the time of the murders 10 miles away at the University of Idaho. (Washington State University)
“People often accused defense attorneys of just like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks, like questioning an identification,” she said. “But that is some real meat and potatoes, about how to how to question the reliability of whatever was observed. I can’t imagine a more specific fact.”
The new filing also reveals DM had “lucid dreams of being kidnapped or chased,” she was a consumer of true-crime TV and podcasts.
“I think the judge will allow it on the grounds that DM will be subject to cross-examination and that the unreliability of the identification goes to the weight that the jury will give the description, not the admissibility of it,” Elcox, who has been closely following the case, told Fox News Digital. “But … this identification can absolutely be destroyed on cross-examination.”
Judge Hippler previously said DM’s testimony appeared more useful in establishing a timeline of the slayings than identifying the attacker.
According to a probable cause affidavit, DM overheard someone saying, “There’s someone here” after 4 a.m. She later heard what sounded like crying, and a male voice saying, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.”
BRYAN KOHBERGER’S DEFENSE CLAIMS HE HAS AUTISM IN BID TO AVOID FIRING SQUAD
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, June 27, 2023. (August Frank/Pool via Reuters)
A security camera at the home next door picked up “distorted audio” of what investigators believe were “voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud,” in addition to a dog’s barking at 4:17 a.m.
DM looked out her bedroom door and “saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” according to the affidavit. She described him to police as over 5 feet, 10 inches tall, athletic but not muscular and having bushy eyebrows.
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Bryan Kohberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania after police arrested him at his parents’ house in Albrightsville in the quadruple homicide in Moscow, Idaho. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
They came face-to-face, and she froze in shock after he passed within three feet of her, according to the new filing.
Minutes later, she called three of the victims – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20. No one answered. Then she reached out to the other surviving roommate, “BF.”
Although it was believed DM locked her bedroom door and went to sleep after this encounter, the new filing reveals that after a brief exchange of texts with her roommate, BF urged her to “run” downstairs.
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According to other court filings released this week, DM spent the night in BF’s room and an unnamed person called 911 from BF’s phone around noon the next day.
At 10:23 a.m., DM texted both Mogen and Goncalves. “Pls answer,” she wrote. “R u up??” She then called her father around 11:40 a.m., and finally someone called 911 from BF’s phone around noon.
Timeline of Nov. 13, 2022:
- 4:00 AM: Suspect arrives at house
- Between 4 and 4:17: Time of murders
- 4:19: Roommate calls 3 victims, no one answers
- 4:22 to 4:24: Surviving roommates text each other from inside house
- 4:27: Roommate calls victims again, no one answers
- 4:32: Roommate texts Goncalves ‘Pls answer’
- 10:23: Surviving roommate texts victims, no one answers
- 11:39: Roommate calls her father
- 12:00 PM.: 911 call placed from roommate’s phone
Court documents revealed last month that DM also said the intruder may have been carrying a vacuum-like object. She did not recognize him at the time of the attack and did not recognize an unmasked photo of Kohberger after his arrest.
Kohberger, 30, is accused of killing four of the six people inside a home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, around 4 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022. The fourth victim was Ethan Chapin, 20.
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Brian Kohberger in Latah County court for his Jan. 5, 2023, initial appearance in an Idaho courtroom. (Pool)
Police arrested Kohberger Dec. 30 of that year at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania.
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He faces a first-degree murder charge for each victim and a single felony burglary charge. A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all charges.
The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 11. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Idaho
Idaho woman finds love on reality TV’s ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’
Eagle, Idaho – Quinn Guterman never expected to leave a reality dating show with a boyfriend.
“Definitely didn’t think I’d be coming home with a boyfriend,” she said in an interview with CBS2.
But that’s exactly what happened after Guterman met Tennessee farmer Brett Maverick on FOX’s “Farmer Wants a Wife”.
Months after filming wrapped, the couple says their relationship is still going strong.
“He’s here a lot more than he’s not because I’m working full-time,” Guterman said.
Brett says the relationships formed on the show were genuine.
“The conversations are all real. None of that is staged or scripted,” Maverick said. “Anything that you did see from our side of it, they were real conversations. You just didn’t see the whole conversation.”
The pair said one of the biggest reasons their relationship developed was the amount of uninterrupted time they spent together while filming. Without phones or the distractions of everyday life, contestants filled their days with puzzles, card games, and exploring the property.
“It was a really good time to just be around each other and get to know each other better,” Guterman said. “Honestly, that’s how I feel the connections formed the most.”
Now, they’re focused on making time for one another despite busy schedules.
“We’re trying to see each other as much as we can when we can,” Maverick said.
Looking back, Guterman says the experience changed her perspective on reality television.
“My biggest surprise is that I could find love on a TV show,” she said. “That doesn’t ever seem realistic.”
Beyond their relationship, both say they also left with lasting friendships among the cast.
“We have a really tight-knit group of people,” Guterman said.
“I don’t know if that’s fairly normal for TV shows,” Maverick added. “But for us, we’re all super tight. We all enjoy being around each other. We got friends for life out of it.”
For Guterman and Maverick, what started as a television experiment has become a real-life relationship they’re continuing to build.
Idaho
Dorothy Moon reelected to third term as Idaho GOP chair
MERIDIAN — Former Idaho state Rep. Dorothy Moon was elected to her third term as chair of the Idaho Republican Party during last week’s Idaho GOP Convention in Meridian.
Moon announced her candidacy for a third term as chair earlier this month after first being elected in 2022 and again in 2024. In this year’s election, Moon received 306 votes, former Idaho state Sen. Steven Thayn received 155 votes and Mark Fuller, the previous Idaho GOP first vice chair, came in third with 134 votes. In receiving just over 51% of the vote, Moon was able to narrowly avoid a runoff.
In his challenge to Moon, Thayn called for fostering a greater sense of unity among members of the party.
“Unity does not mean uniformity of opinion,” Thayn said in a prior news release on his candidacy. “Nor does it mean forced agreement. Forced unity always leads to tyranny. Real unity is voluntary. It is built through listening, respect, and a sincere effort to solve problems together.”
In the initial announcement of Moon’s campaign, she highlighted improvements to voter turnout and the defeat of the 2024 ranked-choice voting ballot initiative as among key party successes during her most recent term.
Idaho
Large police presence near Taco Bell in Blackfoot – East Idaho News
BLACKFOOT — A large contingent of Blackfoot Police officers has cordoned off an area near the Taco Bell on Parkway Drive in Blackfoot.
Police responded around 5 p.m., according to multiple witnesses who contacted EastIdahoNews.com.
EastIdahoNews.com has reached out to Blackfoot Police for details.
We will update this story as we learn more.
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