Maps included in the probable cause affidavit for the University of Idaho killings case provided new insight into the suspect’s alleged movements around the deadly tragedy.
Bryan Kohberger was arrested by law enforcement in Monroe County, Pennsylvania on December 30. This was more than a month after four University of Idaho students were found dead in an off-campus residence on November 13, with authorities determining that they had been stabbed multiple times.
Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, agreed on Tuesday to be extradited from Pennsylvania to face charges in Idaho. He has asserted his innocence through his former attorney, with public defender Jason LaBar saying in a statement that Kohberger “is eager to be exonerated.”
Law enforcement personnel keep watch shortly before a convoy, believed to be carrying murder suspect Bryan Kohberger, entered the Latah County Courthouse on January 4, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Inset: this handout provided by Monroe County Correctional Facility shows Kohberger in a booking photo after he was arrested on December 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania. Maps included in the probable cause affidavit for the University of Idaho killings case provided new insight into the suspect’s alleged movements in the time surrounding the killings. David Ryder/Getty Images; Monroe County Correctional Facility via Getty Images
A phone number that Kohberger provided during a traffic stop in August in Moscow, Idaho, where the killings took place, seems to be a key element in tracing his alleged movements around the killings. The affidavit said that upon review, it was determined that the phone was using cellular resources that provided coverage to an address in Pullman, Washington, where he resided, at approximately 2:42 a.m. on November 13.
Several minutes later, the phone was using cellular resources that provided coverage southeast of the residence, which is consistent with the phone leaving the residence and traveling south through Pullman, according to the affidavit.
At 2:47 a.m., the phone stopped reporting to the network, which the affidavit said could mean that it was in an area without cellular coverage, the connection to the network was intentionally disabled or the phone was turned off.
The phone did not report to the network again until about 4:48 a.m., when it used cellular resources that provided coverage to Idaho state highway 95 south of Moscow and near Blaine, Idaho.
From 4:50 to 5:26 a.m. the phone used cellular resources consistent with the phone traveling south on the highway to Genesee, Idaho, then traveling west toward Uniontown, Idaho, and then north back into Pullman.
At about 5:30 a.m., the phone was again using cellular resources that provide coverage to Pullman, which the affidavit said was consistent with it traveling back to the Kohberger residence.
A map shows suspect Bryan Kohberger’s alleged route on the morning of the University of Idaho killings. The map is based upon cellular device location. Latah County
One map included in the affidavit, seen above, used these cellular locations to trace a possible route for the suspect during these hours.
Another map included in the affidavit, seen below, marked the location of Kohberger’s Pullman residence and used arrows to show the movements of a white Hyundai Elantra that has been connected to the suspect. Notably, the Moscow Police Department last month released information on a white Hyundai Elantra that they believed was in the area of the crime on November 13.
This map shows Bryan Kohberger’s alleged movements in a white Hyundai Elantra the morning of the Idaho murders. At one point, the car returns to Washington State University, where Kohberger is a student. Latah County
LaBar has reportedly confirmed that the car was found at Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger has reportedly been assigned a new attorney, chief public defender Anne Taylor of Idaho’s Kootenai County.
Newsweek reached out to Taylor’s office for comment.
