Man who ‘killed four university students could walk free...

New evidence could change the course of the trial of a man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students. Lawyers for Bryan Kohberger, 30, who was a criminology PhD candidate when he allegedly stabbed dead four students in November 2022, recently revealed that detectives found blood from unidentified men at the crime scene. One blood sample was found on a glove outside the victims’ off-campus home, the lead defense attorney told the court in late January, according to the Idaho Statesman. Another unknown DNA blood sample was found on a handrail.

Image Credit: Metro [FILE - Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. On Wednesday, Aug. 2, attorneys for Kohberger, accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last year, said he was on a long drive by himself around the time of the slayings. (Zach Wilkinson/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool, File)]

Police did not mention the unidentified blood DNA to a judge in December 2022 when they sought to obtain a warrant to arrest Kohberger, said defense attorney Anne Taylor during the hearing. Detectives then did not present that evidence to the judge for her probable cause determination, argued Taylor, so some evidence in the case should be discounted. Police did say they uncovered on the bed of a victim, a leather sheath for a knife with DNA that matched Kohberger.

Image Credit: Metro [MOSCOW, IDAHO - OCTOBER 26: Bryan Kohberger listens to arguments during a hearing to overturn his grand jury indictment on October 26, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger, a former criminology PhD student, was indicted earlier this year in the November 2022 killings of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, in an off-campus apartment near the University of Idaho. (Photo by Kai Eiselein-Pool/Getty Images)]

Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler rejected the defense team’s argument on the unidentified samples. ‘How does that, even if disclosed, preclude a finding of probable cause when there’s a DNA match between the DNA on the sheath and Mr. Kohberger?’ he told Taylor. ‘Isn’t that probable cause every day and twice on Sunday?’. Taylor responded that the judge should consider all factors in determining probable cause.

Image Credit: Metro [Ka-Bar (; trademarked as KA-BAR) is the contemporary popular name for the combat knife first adopted by the United States Marine Corps in November 1942 as the 1219C2 combat knife (later designated the USMC Mark 2 combat knife or Knife, Fighting Utility), and subsequently adopted by the United States Navy as the U.S. Navy utility knife, Mark 2. Ka-Bar is the name of a related knife manufacturing company, Ka-Bar Knives., Inc. (formerly Union Cutlery Co.), of Olean, New York, a subsidiary of the Cutco Corporation.]

‘It’s these other things that are withheld that create a context around it… Do we want to have one thing with no context around it when there’s this other context that really matters?’ she said. Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a count of burglary. A Moscow grand jury found probable case and indicted him on the five felony charges. The victims are Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene.

Image Credit: Metro [Investigators from the Idaho State Police remove bloodied mattresses, bed frames and other possessions from the Moscow home where Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were found stabbed to death on November 13. Alleged killer Bryan Kohberger???s defense team had obtained a preservation order for the scene that was due to expire on February 1 or until the court agreed to release it. Kohberger returned to Moscow on Wednesday night after being arrested at his family???s Pennsylvania home on December 30. Pic-DailyMail.com]

Kohberger is set to stand trial in Boise in August. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: Dad with ‘heart of gold’ killed by exploding tractor tyre. Arrow MORE: Elon Musk’s power play: why truth matters in an age of disinformation. Arrow MORE: Career criminal behind £54,000,000 Securitas raid shot at home in ‘murder plot’.