University of Idaho murder suspect says cellphone data proves he was driving at time of killings

The legal team for the suspect accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022 said cell tower data proves he was driving late at night and miles away when they were killed.

Lawyers for Bryan Kohberger, who was indicted for murder by a grand jury last May, said in a new court filing Wednesday that his alibi was confirmed by the location of his mobile device.

All four victims – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Gonçalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 – were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, at their off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho.

DNA from a knife sheath left at the crime scene led investigators to Kohberger, prosecutors said.

Kohberger’s legal team previously argued that he was driving alone at the time of the murders – but they have now pledged to call an expert who they say can prove this using cellphone data.

Kohberger, who lives in the city of Pullman, Washington, 15 kilometers from Moscow, was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022 and pleaded not guilty. He was a doctoral student at the University of Washington studying criminal justice and criminology.

Public defender Anne C. Taylor filed legal documents in Latah County on Wednesday in response to the state’s demand for details about the alleged alibi.

Kohberger’s team intends to rely on the testimony of cell tower data expert Sy Ray, an experienced military and police instructor who they say can prove their client was miles away from Moscow at the time of the crime. Ray testified in many criminal cases, including homicides.

A probable cause statement last year argued that security video showed a white Hyundai Elantra was spotted near the scene — investigators said it was driven by Kohberger.

But Wednesday’s document says Kohberger’s car can’t be the same one, since he didn’t travel that far east on the night in question.

“If not disclosed, Mr. Ray’s testimony will also reveal that critical exculpatory evidence, further corroborating Mr. Kohberger’s alibi, was not preserved or was withheld,” the lawsuit states.

The suit said Kohberger was an avid runner and walker and that as the school year began, that activity decreased and nighttime travel increased — something his lawyers say is proven by cellphone data and photos he took of the night sky. .

Authorities previously obtained a search warrant for data linked to cellphones in the area at the time of the murders. The Kohberger didn’t show up in the search because he had turned it off, investigators say.

However, a separate search warrant issued on Dec. 23, 2022, provided Kohberger’s cellphone data from the 24 hours before and after the incident, the affidavit said. This showed that he left the house two hours before the murders and turned off his phone, only to turn it back on later when he was seen traveling from Idaho to Pullman.

Later on the day of the killings, at 9 a.m., Kohberger left Pullman for an area near the crime scene before returning.

Further analysis of cellphone data revealed that he had been near the students’ home on King Road in Moscow at least 12 times in the six months before the murders, the affidavit said.

The deaths shook the small Moscow community of 25,000 residents and an 11,000-strong student population.