Crime and Courts

Knives, Gun, Masks Were Seized During Search When Man Accused of Killing Idaho Students Was Arrested

A long list of items taken from Bryan Kohberger's white Elantra and his parents' Poconos-area home were publicly released Thursday, more than two months after he was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police.

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What to Know

  • Law enforcement officials have revealed more details regarding items seized from the Pennsylvania home where they arrested a graduate student charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death.
  • Additional court documents made public Thursday stated that a knife, a pocketknife, and a Glock 22 handgun with three empty magazines were found at the home of Bryan Kohberger’s parents. The home, Kohberger’s car, the garage and a shed on the property were all searched when he was arrested there Dec. 30.
  • Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student at Washington State University, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths in Moscow, Idaho.

Several knives, a gun, ammunition, and masks were seized during a search for evidence at the home of the parents of the graduate student charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death, according to newly unsealed court documents.

The items were seized from Bryan Kohberger's parents' home in Eastern Pennsylvania as well as his white Hyundai Elantra that was at the residence.

The search results were made public Tuesday, two months after Pennsylvania State Police arrested Bryan Kohberger at his parents' home in the area of the Pocono Mountains.

Kohberger, a 28-year-old former doctoral student at Washington State University, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths in Moscow, Idaho.

The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The slayings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a studying criminology.

The university said it’s destroying the property as a “healing step.”

A cellphone and a laptop were seized from the home, along with black face masks, a black hat and several articles of dark-colored clothing and a book with “underlining on page 118.”

Police took a door panel from the Elantra, seat cushions, headrests, seatbelt, visor, brake and gas pedals, a band-aid, “maps and documents” and other items, including clothing and a shovel.

Read the full search warrant info here.

Kohlberger and his father had driven the Elantra back to Pennsylvania from Idaho, where he was attending graduate school, not long after the murders in a cross-country road trip that was partially documented by police in bodycam videos after the pair were twice pulled over for traffic infractions.

Thursday's disclosure comes two days after authorities shared that during the search of his parents' residence, Pennsylvania State Police swabbed Kohberger's DNA and seized a silver flashlight, four “medical-style gloves,” a white Arizona Jean Co. T-shirt, a black Champion sweatshirt, a pair of black-and-white size 13 Nike shoes, black Under Armour socks, black Under Armour shorts and black Under Armour boxers, according to an inventory of the items.

The significance of the items, if any, was not immediately clear.

A roommate who lived in the home where the attack took place has told authorities she was awakened in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, opened her bedroom door and saw a masked figure clad in black clothing walking past her.

Investigators seized stained bedding, strands of what looked like hair and a single glove — but no weapon — when they searched Kohberger’s Washington state apartment, according to documents released in January.

Kohberger’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for late June. He has not entered a plea.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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