More evidence has been revealed that prosecutors argue ties Bryan Kohberger to the murders of four University of Idaho students following his indictment in May.
DNA evidence found on a knife sheath left near the body of one of the murdered students is a "statistical match" to Kohberger, prosecutors said in recent court documents. Investigators had already matched the DNA to "the biological father of the individual" who left the DNA on the sheath, but this more concrete DNA match further connects Kohberger to the homicides, prosecutors said.
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"A traditional STR DNA comparison was done between the STR profile found on the Ka-Bar knife sheath and Defendant's DNA," the court documents stated. "The comparison showed a statistical match."
An “STR” analysis, or short tandem repeat analysis, is a type of DNA profiling commonly used in criminal cases and other forensic cases, according to the National Institute of Justice.
The FBI had originally loaded the DNA profile from the knife sheath onto publicly available genealogy sites, according to court documents.
“The FBI went to work building family trees of the genetic relatives to the suspect DNA left at the crime scene in an attempt to identify the contributor of the unknown DNA," prosecutors said, leading them to send a tip to law enforcement. The tip itself "pointed law enforcement" toward Kohberger but did not serve as "substantial evidence of guilt," leading to the FBI following up with a STR analysis.
Investigators collected trash from Kohberger's parents' home in Pennsylvania and used the trash to compare Kohberger's father's DNA to the knife sheath, according to court documents released earlier this year.
“At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father," the earlier court documents stated.
Judge John C. Judge entered a not guilty plea for Kohberger related to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary on May 22. Kohberger and his counsel opted to stand silent.
Prosecutors have 60 days to announce they are seeking the death penalty. In late March, the Idaho legislature passed a bill reinstating the firing squad as an alternative option for the death penalty instead of lethal injection. Gov. Brad Little (R-ID) signed the bill on March 24, and the law goes into effect on July 1.
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The trial date has been set for Oct. 2 at 8:30 a.m. PST. Kohberger's attorney said the trial may take four to six weeks to prepare.
Kohberger was arrested in late December following the monthslong investigation by state and federal law enforcement agencies that used evidence found in his car and home to connect him to the murders. Other alleged pieces of information not specified in court documents are an ID card connected to a victim and photos of a female victim on Kohberger's phone.