[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Damn. We knew Dateline was going to give us a little about Bryan Kohberger we hadn’t heard before. But this is actually shocking.
The prosecutors in the the University of Idaho quadruple murder case have been as tight-lipped as the police, but there was clearly enough evidence even the small fraction we’ve gotten was a lot. Some of that evidence has been confirmed as part of NBC‘s new Dateline special, “The Terrible Night on King Road.” And they’ve found some stuff we’ve never heard, too!
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New Car Video
We’d heard there was evidence Kohberger’s car was spotted in the general area. He was a grad student at Washington State University, only about 10 miles away from the site of the Moscow murders. But for his car to be seen close by around the time of the murders? Which took place around 4 in the morning? We’ve heard his defense was going to try to excuse the fact Kohberger’s DNA was found in the house by suggesting, hey, it’s a party house — there’s lots of guys’ DNA in that house. That already probably wasn’t going to work, considering Kohberger’s DNA was on a knife sheath! But placing him in the area, from out of town, at a time when he had no other alibi or explanation for being there? It’s a big deal.
Related: Bryan Kohberger’s Mom Is Reportedly Ruining His Defense
Dateline got hold of video of the security footage we’d heard about. And it’s so much worse for Kohberger than it sounded. A white car matching his white Hyundai Elantra wasn’t just seen in the area. It was filmed by a neighbor on King Road, circling the murder house! The car apparently circled the block several times before finally approaching. No wonder cops asked for help find the car so early on in the investigation!
Per the footage, the car was first seen at 3:30 a.m. Over the next half hour or so, it circled again and again… Then at 4:07 it passed the camera again, toward the house… And then at 4:20 it was seen speeding away in the opposite direction! That’s the exact time frame when the murders took place. 4:20 was when surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen made the calls to her friends right after seeing a masked man in the house! They know the exact time because of her cell phone data! And speaking of phone data…
Phone Pings
We also heard previously that Kohberger’s cell phone data showed he traveled to Moscow, Idaho a lot. It’s more than that.
Apparently Kohberger was invited to an afternoon pool party in Moscow on July 9 — the one where he exchanged phone numbers with a fellow grad student, who also spoke with Dateline. But then he came back that night. And again and again. He drove to another college across state lines over and over after that.
And according to the FBI data, his cell phone connected to the tower that serviced the street where the murders took place. Over and over. They say he connected to that tower 23 times in that four month period before the murders. Always at night. And that included the night of the murders… only his cell was turned off around 3:00 a.m. It was turned back on later and pinged a cell tower just south of Moscow around 4:48 a.m. He then got back to his apartment in Pullman, Washington as he made a call 90 minutes later. But for some reason he went back to Moscow around 9:00 a.m! Then he went back to his apartment — and took that already infamous selfie at 10:31. Smiling and thumbs up, about six hours after the killings.
How does his defense plan to answer the data showing him in the area? They’re supposedly going to suggest to the jury that he liked to drive around and stargaze at night. Mm-hm. Even if that were a reasonable doubt, it wouldn’t explain the far worse cell phone data…
Photos
Four University of Idaho students were killed that night. Roommates Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle, as well as Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin.
We already heard Kohberger followed all three female victims on social media. But his phone showed more than just follows. Dateline confirmed he had, saved in his browsing history, dozens of photos of female students — both from Idaho and from Washington State. Many were in bikinis.
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Per Dateline, many of the accounts were friends and followers of the three female victims.
We still don’t know which, if any, of the victims were on his phone. But sources did confirm to Dateline that investigators believe Maddie was the main target of the murder. That, we’ve heard, is due to factors from the murder scene — like how the killer went straight to her room.
In fact, the other murders may all have been collateral damage, in a way. Kaylee was in bed with Maddie. And she reportedly fought back hard. Xana was still awake after ordering late night fast food on DoorDash. She may have heard the noise and gotten the killer’s attention. And of course her boyfriend was sleeping in her room. The murderer is said to have “carved” Ethan’s legs while he slept. The other two roommates were unharmed. That tracks with the idea he targeted Maddie and only killed others he came across on his way in and out? It’s possible.
Internet Searches
This may be the most damning new info. It’s not direct evidence. That would be the car and the DNA. But this is what we think could convince the jury Bryan Kohberger is a killer. Not a poor autistic guy who acted weird around girls and was in the wrong place at the wrong time — like the defense are apparently trying to sell. A disgusting creep who thought of women as disposable objects. The kind of guy who could kill four coeds.
In September, two months before the murders, Kohberger’s internet search history shows he was looking up “Sociopathic Traits in College Student.” And the next month, he looked up “Can Psychopaths behave prosocially.” It seems like he didn’t think he was autistic. Kohberger, a grad student in criminology, who had studied serial killers like Ted Bundy and BTK, was thinking in terms of sociopath and psychopath.
But the worst was the same thing every guy fears anyone seeing — his porn history. Only it’s far worse in Kohberger’s case. According to authorities with access to his data, the month before the murders he searched for porn using the keywords “sleeping” and “drugged.”
JFC. Do porn sites even offer videos with keywords like “drugged”? That’s horrific!
In the days immediately following the killings, there were other notable searches. He googled “University of Idaho Murders” and watched a YouTube video about the victims. He also watched some videos about Ted Bundy. And oddly he listened to Britney Spears. It’s unclear why that was included, though notably the track he listened to was Criminal.
Dateline also revealed another selfie taken by Kohberger in the days following a masked killer dressing in black and murdering four students.
This photo is, based on the timeline, seemingly inspired by a similar photo of serial killer Ted Bundy wearing a black hoodie, a photo Kohberger would have seen in the videos he was watching. What a person to emulate… someone who killed female college students.
Again, this phone stuff isn’t direct evidence tying him to the act of killing, but it will be impossible to get pictures like these — and of course that porn search history — out of the heads of jurors.
Dateline’s full Moscow murders special, “The Terrible Night on King Road”, airs Friday, May 9 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
[Image via Monroe County Correctional Facility/Xana Kernodle/Maddie Mogen/Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram.]
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