Despite solid police work, questions linger in Moscow case

After weeks of speculating and criticizing, the public got its first look into the Moscow Police Department’s investigation into the killings of four University of Idaho students.

Detectives built their case against Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger, 28, using DNA evidence, cellphone data, video surveillance and an eye witness, according to the redacted probable cause affidavit released Thursday.

“It sounds like at this point, excellent police work was done,” said John Skaggs, a former Los Angeles homicide detective.

Maddie Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; and Xana Kernodle, 20, were found stabbed to death in the girls’ rental home near the UI campus on Nov. 13. The girls’ two other roommates were home and unharmed, although one roommate saw the attacker leaving the residence, according to court documents.

While DNA plays a major role in most modern homicide cases, Skaggs noted before the arrest that DNA in this case could be complex with the 1122 King Road home where the girls lived being known as a party spot.

Investigators, however, found a knife sheath next to one of the victims with what they believe is the suspect’s DNA on the snap button.

“I’m sure they had numerous profiles in that house if it’s a little bit of a party pad,” Skaggs said. “But to have any kind of DNA … on a sheath and of course you have a stabbing murder, that would have been huge.”

While numerous new details were released in Thursday’s court filings, Skaggs cautioned that most of the evidence police have likely wasn’t in the affidavit.

“What you’re reading at the affidavit is I hope not everything they have,” Skaggs said. “It’s just a minimum to establish probable cause.”

Investigators spotted a white Hyundai Elantra in the area of the house early on in the investigation. It wasn’t until Nov. 29 that a WSU police officer ran a check on vehicles with campus parking permits and found Kohberger’s Elantra.

It would be another month before Kohberger’s arrest.

Skaggs said there could be numerous reasons for the gap in time.

“The odds are his is not the only Elantra on the campus, so that means they had to sift through dozens of Elantras to figure out who could be the suspect,” Skaggs said.

Cellphone data can take weeks to obtain, he said. Investigators could have sifted through data on multiple Elantra owners, which is a “cumbersome and time-consuming” project, he said.

The biggest thing to remember, Skaggs said, is that the information released so far is only part of what investigators know.

Criminal justice professor Danielle Slakoff agreed.

“A lot of the main questions are: A, Why them? and B, Why did this person not call police?” Slakoff said.

The motive likely won’t be discussed in court documents until trial, Slakoff said.

When it comes to the roommate who saw someone in the home, Slakoff cautioned against speculation, especially when the college student is a victim herself.

“We really don’t know her mind state at all,” she said.

Ultimately, it could be months or years before the full scope of the investigation and evidence become public, Slakoff and Skaggs agreed.

“I do think there’s a long road ahead,” Slakoff said.