Unsealed warrants: Police sought knives, victims’ photos at Moscow suspect’s home, office

Police seized more than a dozen items during a court-approved search of homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman, Washington, on Dec. 30, including a black rubber glove, a vacuum dust container and red-stained bedding, according to a pair of search warrants unsealed Tuesday.

Law enforcement filed for the search warrants at Kohberger’s Washington State University housing and on-campus office, receiving a judge’s approval on Dec. 29. Police executed the warrants the next day in their investigation into the Nov. 13 deaths of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

From Kohberger’s apartment, police sought blood (or items with blood, bodily fluids or skin cells), knives, knife sheaths — and sales receipts for either — and possible photos of the U of I victims and the King Road house in Moscow where they were stabbed to death, according to the records, which were obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

“The King Road residence contained a significant amount of blood from the victims including splatter and castoff (blood stain pattern resulting from blood drops released from an object due to its motion), which, based on my training, makes it likely that this evidence was transferred to Kohberger’s person, clothing, or shoes,” Moscow Police Sgt. Dustin Blaker, a 22-year veteran of the department, wrote in a statement seeking the warrants.

“… It is likely that he still had blood or other trace evidence on his person/clothes/shoes, including skin cells or hair from the victims or Goncalves’ dog,” he added.

Also seized from Kohberger’s apartment were a desktop computer tower; an Amazon Fire TV Stick cord/plug; a Walmart sales receipt and two others for Marshalls department store; and 13 possible hair strands — one possibly from an animal.

The bedding police took included “top and bottom of mattress cover packaged separately both labeled ‘C’ multiple stains (one tested)“ and two cuttings from a reddish/brown stain on an uncased pillow, with the larger stain also tested. A collection of a dark red spot was seized as well, without testing, the records showed.

In addition, police were looking for dark clothes, including shirts, pants, masks and shoes with a diamond-pattern sole. In a probable cause affidavit unsealed on Jan. 5, investigators reported finding a latent shoe print with a diamond-shaped patter, similar to that of a Vans-type shoe.

No such items were located, according to the unsealed records.

“These murders appear to have been planned, rather than a crime in a moment of conflict,” Blaker wrote. “I believe it likely that Kohberger planned his actions ahead of time. The plans may have included a review of other murders or violent assaults/stabbings and/or cutting of people, as well as how to avoid detection after the commission of such crimes.”

Investigators sought digital devices including computers and cellphones, electronic data stored on memory drives, modems and routers, and GPS navigation tools. The one computer tower was seized, records showed.

Mentioned specifically in the search warrant for Kohberger’s office, where he was a criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. student, police sought any photos of the victims, electronic records related to the King Road home, internet search history, and social media accounts and passwords, the records showed. At the ground-level office in Wilson-Short Hall he shared with two other department Ph.D. students, no items were seized, according to the records.

Whitman County Judge Gary Libey signed and sealed the warrants on Dec. 29 — the night before Kohberger was arrested at his family’s home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, while visiting them for winter break. Kohberger, 28, remains in custody without bond at the Latah County Jail and awaits a scheduled preliminary hearing on June 26.

Libey was not expected to review the seal until March 1. He had cited threats to the public and law enforcement, and maintaining the integrity of the investigation, as reasons for the court seal.

On Tuesday, Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy requested the records be unsealed.

“These warrants and associated applications were sealed, due to the sensitive nature of the investigation at that time,” Tracy wrote in his Tuesday filing. “Since then, an extensive probable cause affidavit has been unsealed in Latah County, Idaho, which has alleviated much of the need for that sealing here in Washington.”

A nondissemination order, issued by Latah County Judge Megan Marshall on Jan. 3, remains in effect in the case. It bars law enforcement and attorneys from making statements outside of submitted court records.

The New York Times was first to report about the unsealed warrants Wednesday, followed by KREM2 TV in Spokane.