Bryan Kohberger DNA Revelation Made in New Court Documents

Bryan Kohberger's DNA is a "statistical match" to DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene where four University of Idaho students were murdered, according to new court documents.

Kohberger, 28, is accused of breaking into a rental home in Moscow, Idaho, in the early hours of November 13 and fatally stabbing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. At the time, Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University in Pullman.

He chose to "stand silent" at his arraignment in Latah County District Court in May, prompting the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf. That came after a grand jury indicted him on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. An attorney who had represented Kohberger after his arrest at his parents' home in Pennsylvania previously said he was "eager to be exonerated."

A probable cause affidavit unsealed in early January said that DNA on the knife sheath found at the crime scene had been matched to Kohberger's father's DNA, which was recovered from trash outside the Kohberger family home.

In a motion for a protective order dated June 16, prosecutors provided new details about how police and the FBI honed in on Kohberger as their suspect.

The recent filing says that law enforcement found the Ka-Bar knife sheath "face down and partially under both Madison's body and the comforter on the bed."

The Idaho State Police Lab located DNA on the knife and determined that it came from a single source and that the source was male.

Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis was conducted to develop a profile that could be compared to others, the filing said. That profile was compared against DNA collected from Kohberger through a cheek swab following his arrest.

"The comparison showed a statistical match—specifically, the STR profile is at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be seen if Defendant is the source than if an unrelated individual randomly selected from the population is the source," the filing says.

The filing also outlines prosecutors' arguments for sealing information related to the use of investigative genetic genealogy in the case.

It says that the state seeks to protect from disclosure "the names and personal information of the hundreds of innocent relatives on the family tree, the names of the publicly available genetic genealogy services used, and certain other information."

Kohberger's trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, has been scheduled to begin October 2. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson has until around the middle of July to inform the court whether he will seek the death penalty in the case.

Earlier this month, a judge overseeing the case heard arguments over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters. Second District Judge John C. Judge indicated he would rule on the gag order during further proceedings.

A coalition of media organizations has challenged the order, saying it violates the Constitution's guarantees of free speech and a free press, but prosecutors and Kohberger's lawyers have insisted that it is needed to preserve Kohberger's right to a fair trial.