Brian Kohberger enters an Idaho courthouse
Accused Idaho killer Brian Kohberger faces a firing squad if convicted of brutally killing all four University of Idaho students.
Brian Kohberger, 28, accused of fatally stabbing 20-year-old Ethan Chapin of Conway, Washington; 21-year-old Madison Mogen of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernadle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, on Nov. 13.
Murder victims from left: Kylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernadle, Maddie Mogen
Latah County prosecutors have not yet said whether they plan to pursue the death penalty against Brian Kohberger.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson
Kohberger faces a firing squad since GOP state lawmakers introduced a new bill that would bring back the legal death penalty.
Last week, Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced a bill that would bring back the firing squad as a form of capital punishment.
Currently Idaho only allows lethal injection.
“Skaug’s bill adds the firing squad as a form of capital punishment. It says that five days after a death warrant is issued, the IDOC director must determine whether execution by lethal injection is an available method. If the method is not available, the IDOC will use the firing squad. – East Idaho News reported.
Death by firing squad was legal in Idaho until 2009.
Skaug argued that death by firing squad is more humane because lethal injection can be botched, the outlet said.
According to court documents, Kohberger’s DNA was found on a brown leather knife sheath left on Maddie Mogen’s bed on the 3rd floor of the King Road residence.
“The membrane was then processed and ‘Ka-bar’ ‘USMC’ and the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia were stamped on its exterior,” Idaho police officer Brett Payne wrote in a 19-page affidavit. “An Idaho State lab later found a single source of male DNA (suspicious profile) left on the button snap of a knife sheath.”
Police executed a search warrant at the Kohbergers’ Pullman, WA apartment, about 10 miles from the crime scene.
The search warrant was sealed last month.
Police found a nitrite-type glove, 13 possible hair strands (one possible animal hair strand), 1 dark red spot (possible blood), 2 cut red/brown stains (possible blood) among other evidence.
No weapons were found.
The judge overseeing the quadruple murder case imposed a strict gag order, so very little information about other evidence linking Kohberger to the victims was released to the media via leaks.
According to PEOPLE, Kohberger had “more than one picture” of one of the female victims on his phone.
Two weeks before the murder, Kohberger reportedly messaged one of the female victims on Instagram.
Click here to read and analyze the affidavit of probable cause.
Click here to read the unsealed search warrant at Brian Kohberger’s Pullman, Washington apartment.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 26 at 9 a.m.
