Need to know
- According to court order
- They were not named, but “everyone had social connections with one or more victims” and “interacted with one or more victims in social activities within a few hours before the homicide”
- Five weeks before the murder, a fourth victim had been seen coming out of a store, but the man was removed from the police with three friends
Bryan Kohberger plans to argue at the trial that the four Idaho students he murdered were actually killed by three friends.
The three were not named, but before Koberg reached an agreement with prosecutors, the court ordered to avoid the death penalty – which was obtained by the people – detailed their relationship with victims Kaylee Goncalves, Kaylee Goncalves, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, 21, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Aida County District Court Judge Steven Hippler wrote in a court order that Kohberger plans to accuse the murder of “the social connection between one or more victims, interacting with one or more victims in pre-homicide social events, living within walking distance of the crime scene and being familiar with the layout of the victim with previous social events, which is familiar with previous social events.”
Bryan Kohberger.
Aida County Sheriff's Office
There is also a fourth possible suspicion that Kohberger hopes to be introduced in the trial, but the person has only “passed” with one of the victims.
Under the order, a fourth person noticed one of the victims while going out shopping about five weeks before the murder.
The order said: “He followed her briefly with the exit while considering approaching her to speak. He turned around before talking to her.”
In the murder case, Koberg could not use any of the four as a “replacement perpetrator.”
“While this evidence may raise an opportunity for crime – no doubt it is shared by dozens of other people in the victim’s social circle, there is no compelling evidence that any of them have a motive to kill the victim, let alone physically hurt them, or a means of doing so,” Judge Hippler wrote.
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Judge Shippler also said the proximity of these friends at the crime scene was a dispute – given that evidence had been submitted in the case. “The fact that these people are walking distance from the crime scene is not proof, as the perpetrator drives the vehicle to the crime scene,” the judge wrote.
“None of these people drove a vehicle that matched the description of the suspicious killer,” he added.
Police also asked all four at some point under the order – all four working with law enforcement. Judge Hippler wrote that the four provided DNA samples also determined that laboratory tests did not match the DNA found at the crime scene.
The order did not stop Koberg and defense attorney Anne Taylor from “faced and crossing state law enforcement witnesses about the thoroughness of the investigation, especially in following up and excluding the exclusion.”
Public defender Anne Taylor and prosecutor Bill Thompson.
Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty; August Frank Ball/Getty
The order could put Koberg's defense strategy in trouble: Judge Shippler filed the order on June 26, and the next day, Koberg's defense team contacted the prosecutor to discuss the possibility of a plea agreement.
Kohberger then signed a plea agreement on June 30, and then his written factual basis was based on the fact that he admitted to four murders on July 1, and then signed his guilty plea in court on July 2.
His sentence is on July 23, during which time he will have the opportunity to speak to the victim's family and friends after making an impact statement.
Kohberger can also use this time to share his motivations, which remains a mystery.
Lata County Attorney Bill Thompson advised Kohberger to sentence four life sentences to the murder, which was another 10 years of theft.