Police in Idaho released a trove of documents shedding light on the exhaustive investigation that led to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger, the man who has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022.
In the weeks leading up to the murders, residents at the house where the killings took place once thought a break-in had occurred and one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, reported seeing a man staring at her while she was walking her dog. After the rampage, a friend of Kohberger’s told police the doctoral student had visible scratches on his face, which he said he got in “a car accident.”
The new details were revealed in 300 documents released by the Moscow Police Department on July 23 about the investigation into the high-profile murders that triggered a nationwide manhunt and rocked the college town of Moscow, Idaho.
While the new files include details about Kohberger’s behavior before and after his arrest as well as several strange occurrences at the house where the killings took place, central questions remained unanswered. It is still unclear what motivated Kohberger to carry out the murders and why he chose the rental home near the University of Idaho campus.
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Kohberger on July 23 was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Gonclaves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Near the end of the sentencing hearing − which came after emotional victims’ impact testimony − he declined to give a statement, disappointing the families who hoped Kohberger would explain his actions.
At a news conference after the hearing, local police indicated that Kohberger’s motivation may remain a mystery.
“The evidence suggested that there was a reason that this particular house was chosen,” Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne said. “What that reason is, we don’t know.”
A ‘dark figure,’ a ‘stalker’ and a strange Facebook message
In newly released police documents, several people said Goncalves had seen a shadowy figure staring at her when she took her dog outside about a month before she and three of her roommates were killed.
Bethany Funke, one of the two roommates who survived the attack, said Goncalves “told everyone” about the unknown man who she had seen outside the three-story house. It scared Goncalves and she called her roommates to ask when they’d be back home, Funke said.
One person said “Kaylee saw a dark figure staring at her from the tree line when she took her dog Murphy out to pee,” according to police documents. The person continued, saying “there had been lighthearted talks and jokes made about a stalker in the past” and that “all the girls were slightly nervous about it being a fact though.”
Another friend told law enforcement about two to three weeks before the murders, Goncalves told her friends, “an individual was following her.”
Friends who had lunch with Goncalves in September told police they remembered her mentioning a strange message on Facebook and receiving something in the mail.
It’s unclear whether these occurrences had anything to do with the murders. Investigators have not found evidence showing Kohberger had direct contact with any of the victims. However, between July and November 2022, Kohberger’s phone was picked up nearly two dozen times by a cell tower near the murder house.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New documents from Bryan Kohberger investigation released
