In the ongoing legal proceedings against Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students, recent court filings have unveiled significant new evidence. Reports indicate that Kohberger, a former criminology graduate student, purchased a military-style knife along with accompanying accessories from Amazon several months prior to the murders. Disturbingly, it has also come to light that the surviving roommates of the victims were actively using social media and texting family members before they eventually called emergency services.
Kohberger has entered a not-guilty plea. The prosecution’s latest filings disclose a selfie purportedly taken by Kohberger on the morning of the murders, which shows him smiling and giving a thumbs-up. Meanwhile, the defence has pushed back against the prosecution’s interpretation of the surviving roommates’ phone records, claiming they waited approximately eight hours to alert authorities after noticing something suspicious.
Text exchanges between the roommates reveal a sense of panic after they failed to contact their housemates around 4:22 am, shortly before the murders were believed to have occurred. One roommate described seeing what appeared to be a masked man in their home, expressing fear in her texts. Although they did not immediately call 911, new evidence from the defence suggests that they were using social media within a short time frame after the incident.
In fact, between 4:22 am and 4:37 am, the roommates engaged with platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. They resumed phone activity by around 8 am, contradicting earlier assertions that they were unaware of the gravity of the situation until later in the morning. The defence has requested that the judge either limit the evidence presented by the prosecution or allow a broader range of phone records to be submitted.
Furthermore, one of the surviving roommates described the suspect as having “bushy eyebrows,” but she was unable to definitively identify Kohberger as the individual she saw in the home that night. Kohberger’s legal team has requested that the court exclude his selfie, claiming it may unduly influence the jury’s perception. However, prosecutors argue that the image is relevant, as it may relate to witness descriptions.
As the trial approaches, set to begin in August, both the prosecution and defence have laid out plans for witness testimonies and evidence. Prosecutors intend to call surviving roommates to testify and exhibit their texts to create a detailed timeline of events. Conversely, the defence aims to highlight inconsistencies in witness statements and plans to utilise expert testimony regarding Kohberger’s physical capabilities.
As more information surfaces, the complexity of the case continues to unfold, raising questions about the night of the murders and the events that followed.