New details emerge in the case against Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students
More than two years after a quadruple homicide devastated Moscow, Idaho, a judge unsealed the transcript of a recent hearing in the case against Bryan Kohberger – the man accused of stabbing four students to death in an off-campus home.
The hearing, which was closed to the public, came after defense attorney Anne Taylor claimed investigators acted inappropriately when using investigative genetic genealogy to try to isolate a suspect.
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Investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG, is a relatively new forensic technique combining DNA analysis with genealogical research. Authorities can take an unknown suspect’s DNA profile and upload it to a public database to learn about the suspect’s family members. Investigators can use that information and other evidence to build a family tree and identify potential suspects.
But the defense’s attempt to get a judge to suppress the IGG evidence failed. And Kohberger’s murder trial is expected to begin this summer – with the prosecution seeking the death penalty if the 30-year-old is convicted.
Due to a wide-ranging gag order, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and attorneys for victims’ families and witnesses are prohibited from saying anything publicly, aside from what is already in the public record.
Here are some of the new details revealed from the transcript of the closed-door hearing:
A lead detective in the case, Moscow Police Detective Cpl. Brett Payne, said he didn’t hear Bryan Kohberger’s name mentioned until December 19, 2022 – more than a month after the killings.
“That was a result of investigative genetic genealogy that was being undertaken by the FBI. We had a phone call that evening, and we were told Bryan Kohberger’s name,” Payne testified.
Payne acknowledged he didn’t mention the investigative genetic genealogy in a probable cause affidavit for Kohberger.
“What led to that decision?” Taylor asked.
“That decision was a collaborative decision,” the detective responded. “We made that decision in an effort to independently verify the information that was provided to us as a tip from the FBI, in much the same way we would any other tip in law enforcement. So it was not in any way meant to obfuscate any sort of information, it was simply can we validate Mr. Kohberger’s involvement in this incident or can we not. That was it.”
“As a group effort, you decided to intentionally leave that out of your affidavit?” Taylor asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Payne responded.
DNA testing on parts of a knife sheath detected a single source, said Rylene Nowlin, an Idaho State Police forensic laboratory manager.
The lab tested samples from the knife sheath for “touch DNA” – which can come in the form of skin cells that are shed on items being touched.
An analyst swabbed “the entire leather portion of the strap, both top and bottom, and then the underside of the button,” Nowlin testified. “She did not swab the top of the button because that was determined to be the most likely place for fingerprints to be found.”
Idaho State Police had a contract with Houston-based Othram laboratory for certain types of forensic work, Nowlin said. Othram specializes in DNA sequencing combined with genealogy mapping.
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“That DNA sample was delivered by Moscow Police Department in person to them at Othram labs,” Idaho State Police Laboratory System Director Matthew Gamette testified.
“I accompanied the officer from Boise down to Houston and down to the Othram laboratory. I didn’t have possession of the sample, but I was with the investigator that did.”
After Idaho authorities delivered the DNA sample, Gamette stayed in touch with Othram “about what type of analysis we were asking them to do, also what type of searching,” he said.
“I remember they asked specifically for consent to do certain types of searching. We had to authorize things through memos and whatnot of them doing certain searching, specifically I believe it was FamilyTreeDNA that they needed an authorization for,” said Gamette.
FamilyTreeDNA is one of two main genealogical databases that allow searching by law enforcement, Payne said.
Another genealogical database that law enforcement can use is GEDMatch PRO, genetic genealogist Leah Larkin testified.
“Those are the only two databases of any significant size that allow [forensic investigative genetic genealogy] searching,” Larkin said.
“Ancestry forbids it, 23andMe forbids it, MyHeritage forbids it.”
Many of the biggest genealogy sites cater to customers who simply want to know about their ancestry – and might not want their DNA data to potentially be used by law enforcement.
In recent years, after law enforcement used some of the most popular genealogy sites for criminal investigations, many companies changed their terms of service.
Othram, the lab company in Texas, stopped its work for the case on December 10, 2022, Taylor said. “The FBI took over, and we’ve heard that by December 19th, nine days later, they’d made an identification,” the attorney said.
That timeline is significant “because Othram’s matches were, as in their own words in their report, those matches were low,” Larkin testified.
She noted Othram had recommended testing four brothers “to get more information.”
But “if you went out and if you approached those men, and even if one of them said, yes, you can test my DNA, the testing itself would have taken some time; getting a kit to a person, getting the spit, sending it into the lab, having it analyzed. And it wouldn’t have led to the crime scene profile because it was the wrong family branch,” Larkin testified.
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“So going from low matches to an ID or at least a tip, whatever they were calling it, within nine days, that right there told me they had gone into a database they were not supposed to be in.”
CNN has reached out to the FBI for a response to the accusation that it used a genealogical database inappropriately. Prosecutors did not directly respond to that claim during the hearing.
Larkin said she also saw “screenshots from GEDMatch” in email communications.
Unlike GEDMatch PRO, which is smaller and allows law enforcement searches, “GEDMatch is just a super open database” and does not allow searches for criminal investigations, Larkin said. GEDMatch has far more users, and “any kit in the system that is public, you can see their matches.”
“So if you are in GEDMatch and I am in GEDMatch and let’s say we were cousins, I could go in and look at my kit and I would see you in my match list, but I could also go into your kit and see me in your match list,” Larkin testified.
In GEDMatch PRO, law enforcement might not see those same matches.
Eventually, the FBI “admitted they had uploaded to MyHeritage” – a database off limits to law enforcement, Larkin said, citing a document shared with the court.
Kohberger’s trial is expected to begin in August and last several months. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
In the meantime, the families of victims Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin continue the long wait to learn the suspect’s fate.
But Goncalves’ family expressed relief that the judge did not suppress the genetic genealogy evidence.
“We are thankful to the Court for a timely decision and appreciate the work [the] prosecution has put in thus far,” the family posted on Facebook last week.
“In the big picture of life, justice is just moments away.”
CNN’s Taylor Romine and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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Detective learned Kohberger’s name only after genetic genealogy
But IGG wasn’t cited in a probable cause affidavit
Only one person’s DNA was detected on a knife sheath
Idaho authorities traveled with the DNA to Texas
Many popular genealogy sites don’t allow law enforcement searches
An expert claims authorities used an unauthorized database
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Bryan Kohberger adds new lawyer ahead of murder trial: Who is Bicka Barlow?
Criminal defense attorney Lexie Rigden joins ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss the Bryan Kohberger defense team’s argument to exclude DNA evidence from the Idaho murders case and the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal battle.
Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger has added one of his own defense expert witnesses to his legal team as he faces charges that could carry the death penalty in connection with the home-invasion murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022.
San Francisco attorney Bicka Barlow, an expert on DNA forensics who testified for Kohberger’s defense during an August 2023 hearing, has been admitted pro hac vice in the case, meaning the judge gave her permission to represent Kohberger alongside his other lawyers even though her license is in California.
Barlow earned a bachelor’s degree in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley, before getting a master’s from Cornell University, according to her website. She then went to the University of San Francisco School of Law.
JUDGE UNSEALS TRANSCRIPT OF CLOSED-DOOR IGG HEARING
Geneticist and lawyer Bicka Barlow speaks during Bryan Kohberger’s hearing on Aug. 18, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho. (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune)
She began her career as a researching attorney in the criminal division of the San Francisco Superior Court and eventually founded a private practice dedicated to cases involving DNA.
She claims to have led the first successful challenge in an American court to the admissibility of short tandem repeat (STR) DNA evidence, one of the most common methods of DNA analysis.
She also has experience with mitochondrial DNA and Y-STR, which is STR testing specific to the Y chromosome.
WITNESS TO IDAHO MURDERS SAYS INTRUDER WITH BUSHY EYEBROWS CARRIED VACUUM OUT OF CRIME SCENE: COURT DOCS
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing on Aug. 18, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho. (August Frank/Pool via REUTERS)
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Jay Logsdon, a deputy to lead defense attorney Anne Taylor, will remain on the team as a consultant but will not represent the 30-year-old Kohberger at trial, according to an order from Ada County Judge Steven Hippler.
DNA evidence has been central to identifying Kohberger as a suspect in the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Police recovered a knife sheath from under Mogen’s remains with DNA on the snap.
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During a closed-door proceeding that was unsealed this week, Moscow Detective Brett Payne, the lead investigator, testified that Kohberger’s name had not been known to him prior to Dec. 19, when the FBI offered it up as a tip after a genetic genealogy investigation.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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But the FBI’s use of genealogy databases violated an internal policy, defense witness Dr. Leah Larkin testified at the same hearing. Investigators used at least two databases that were not supposed to be accessed by law enforcement.
Hippler previously ruled that the FBI’s actions did not violate the Constitution or undermine probable cause used to arrest Kohberger.
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Kohberger’s trial is expected to begin in August and take up to 15 weeks. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
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Geneticist-attorney Bicka Barlow previously worked for San Francisco Public Defender’s Office
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Idaho judge declines to throw out genetic evidence in University of Idaho killings
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, is escorted into court for a hearing in Latah County District Court, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho judge declined to throw out key evidence against the man charged with murder in connection with the killings of four University of Idaho students, saying Wednesday that the genetic investigation process that it hinges on was not unconstitutional.
Judge Steven Hippler was not swayed by legal arguments made by Bryan Kohberger’s defense team that law enforcement violated his constitutional rights when they used a process called Investigative Genetic Genealogy, or IGG, to identify possible suspects.
The decision came nearly a month after a two-day hearing on the matter, removing what could have been a major wrench in the prosecution’s case before trial starts in August.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed in the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho. When asked to enter a plea last year, Kohberger stood silent, prompting a judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
The IGG process often starts when DNA found at the scene of a crime doesn’t yield any results through standard law enforcement databases. When that happens, investigators may look at all the variations, or single nucleotide polymorphisms, that are in the DNA sample. Those SNPs, or “snips,” are then uploaded to a genealogy database like GEDmatch or FamilyTreeDNA to look for possible relatives of the person whose DNA was found at the scene.
In Kohberger’s case, investigators said they found “touch DNA,” or trace DNA, on the sheath of a knife that was found in the home where the students were fatally stabbed. The FBI used the IGG process on that DNA and the information identified Kohberger as a possible suspect.
Defense attorney Anne Taylor had argued that police never sought warrants to analyze the DNA found at the crime scene, nor did they get warrants to analyze the DNA of potential relatives that had been submitted to genealogy databases. She argued the court should suppress the IGG identification and everything that came from it.
The judge said that in order to throw out evidence based on a warrantless search, Kohberger’s defense would need to “show that he had legitimate expectation of privacy in the item or place searched.”
“Any privacy interest he can claim in this DNA was abandoned along with the sheath, to which he claims no ownership or knowledge,” said Hippler. “Even if no such abandonment occurred, defendant has not demonstrated it is reasonable to recognize a privacy interest in DNA left at a crime scene.”
The judge also ruled against three other defense motions objecting to the way warrants were issued and to suppress evidence such as cellphone data.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
