The man suspected of savagely knifing four college students to death last November will appear in court in Idaho today in a bid to have his indictment overturned due to ‘insufficient evidence’ and alleged juror bias.
Criminology student Bryan Kohberger, 28, was indicted by an Idaho grand jury who heard the evidence during a closed-door session in May and decided to send the case to a full trial.
Kohberger, who refused to make a plea and instead chose to ‘stand silent’ at a hearing the same month, now wants to void the decision and proceed to a preliminary hearing to test the evidence against him.
Should events go his way, prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, would be forced to argue their case in a mini trial which could result in Kohberger’s release should a judge agree that police do not have enough evidence to secure a conviction.
The Washington State University PHD candidate was arrested last December and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of burglary over the horror attack which left a scene so appalling, police described it as ‘the worst we’ve ever seen’.
Bryan Kohberger (pictured last month) will appear in Latah County Court Thursday for a two-part hearing where his attorneys will argue that his indictment should be dismissed
Kohberger is the only suspect in the quadruple murders of Maddie Mogen (top) Kaylee Goncalves (second from left) Xana Kernodle (second from right) and Ethan Chapin (center) – all students at the University of Idaho – who were knifed to death on November 13, 2022 in the quiet, college town of Moscow
DailyMail.com visited the students’ former home in Moscow, Idaho, which university officials plan to demolish, however it remained intact but boarded up on Wednesday
Best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and young couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, were all killed in their beds at the three women’s rented home.
The attack was so brutal, blood could still be seen dripping down the walls of gray-painted home days after the killing.
In the wake of the murders, the house was turned over to the University of Idaho which plans to knock it down to make way for a memorial to the murdered students.
When DailyMail.com visited on Wednesday, it remained intact but is boarded up and guarded by college security guards.
A hearing on Kohberger’s motion to vacate his indictment will be held at Latah County Court in two parts: a closed morning session and an afternoon session that will be open to the public and media.
In the morning session, Kohberger’s defense attorney Anne Taylor will argue that the indictment should be dismissed based on a ‘Biased Grand Jury, Inadmissible Evidence, Lack of Sufficient Evidence, and Prosecutorial Misconduct in Withholding Exculpatory Evidence’.
Like the hearing, the motion arguing the case is sealed and could not be reviewed by DailyMail.com.
The second part of the day will see Taylor argue for a dismissal based on an error in the instructions handed to the jury, saying that jurors were ‘misled’ on the standard of proof required for an indictment.
In a closed-door morning session Thursday, Kohberger’s defense attorney argued that the indictment should be dismissed based on a ‘Biased Grand Jury, Inadmissible Evidence, Lack of Sufficient Evidence, and Prosecutorial Misconduct in Withholding Exculpatory Evidence’
An afternoon session that will be open to the public and media will hear the defense’s motion to dismiss on grounds of ‘error in grand jury instructions’
A small memorial paying tribute to the four college students is seen outside the home where the horrific murders took place
Kohberger’s bid for freedom comes 10 months after he was apprehended during a raid on his parents’ Poconos Mountains, Pennsylvania home on December 30 before being flown back to Idaho in a small Pilatus PC-12 turboprop plane on January 4.
Since being returned to the Gem State, the alleged killer has been locked up at the Latah County Jail, with prison sources telling DailyMail.com he spends his time obsessing over TV coverage of the case and has turned to God – meeting with a local pastor every Sunday.
Kohberger has been locked up at the Latah County Jail since being flown back to Idaho on January 4
The November 2022 killings shocked the tiny college town of Moscow which had not seen a single murder for seven years when Madison, Kaylee, Ethan and Xana were found dead in their beds.
Police initially appeared to be stumped by the murders and issued a series of contradictory statements over whether the students had been targeted and whether the public was at risk.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, they released a photo of a white Hyundai Elantra and a plea for further information about the vehicle’s movements and owner.
The car turned out to belong to Kohberger who, in an extraordinary twist, was pulled over twice while driving the vehicle back to Pennsylvania in early December.
Since his arrest, it has emerged that loner Kohberger had battled heroin addiction in his teens and early twenties and was banned from a bar near his parents’ home due to his creepy behavior towards women.
Police sources have since said that following his move to Pullman, Washington, to pursue a PHD in criminology, he applied to work for the Washington State University police department – but was turned down.
The manner in which the killer navigated the three-story home to kill the four students – who were sleeping in separate rooms and floors – in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022 has raised questions about his motives
Investigators were seen in January removing a bloodied mattress from the home where four University of Idaho were murdered in November
Fellow students said he took an unusual amount of interest in the Moscow murder case and described his ‘sexist’ attitude towards women in his classes.
As a result of his ‘rude behavior’ towards women and his penchant for grading them differently, he was fired by his professor at the WSU criminology department John Snyder on December 19 – just days before his arrest for murder.
Over the weekend, a Dateline report provided further evidence of his bizarre behavior with a female friend at WSU claiming he broke into her home a month before the murders and moved her possessions about to make her feel ‘uneasy’.
She also said she had asked him to set up security cameras to help her catch the person who had moved her belongings – only to belatedly realize he was the culprit and, chillingly, had enjoyed access to the footage.
Kohberger is believed to have meticulously planned the murders of Madison, Kaylee, Ethan and Xana, with a probable cause affidavit noting that he had repeatedly visited the area around their home prior to the killings.
The document also said his DNA was found on a KA-BAR knife sheath found next to the bodies of Kaylee and Madison, and that he was seen in the home by roommate Dylan Mortensen, 19.
Kaylee and Madison were discovered dead in bed next to each other, while Ethan and Xana were found on the floor below, with Xana discovered slumped over on the floor of her bedroom.
Kohberger, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence in the case, and due to a sprawling gag order, few details have emerged. He chose to ‘stand silent’ during his arraignment in May instead of entering a plea
According to the document, survivors Mortensen and Bethany Funke heard something of what happened, with Mortensen telling cops she heard Goncalves say ‘there’s someone here’ at approximately 4am.
Ten minutes later, she heard a thud and crying from Xana’s room and a male voice saying ‘it’s ok, I’m going to help you’.
At 4:17am, a dog was captured barking loudly on a neighbor’s security camera. Around the same time, Mortensen said she opened her bedroom door again and saw a tall male with bushy eyebrows leaving through the sliding glass doors at the back of the home.
She described how she had been ‘frozen in shock’ as the black-clad male walked towards her and said she locked herself in her room after he left.
A shoe print was later found outside her door.
The affidavit also reveals that Kohberger’s white Hyundai Elantra was captured on camera near the scene before being seen driving rapidly away from the home towards Pullman at approximately 4.20am.
Police rapidly connected the vehicle to Kohberger and noted the similarity between his appearance and Mortensen’s description of the intruder at the rental home.