Bryan Kohberger Was Investigated for Eerily Similar Home Invasion One Year Before Idaho Slayings
Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger was once investigated in connection with a home invasion a few miles from where he allegedly butchered four college students, according to a chilling report.
Kohberger, who is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students at their off-campus home in Nov. 2022, was named a person of interest—but ultimately cleared—in the break-in in Pullman, Washington, ABC News reported.
The revelation came as ABC obtained body camera footage of police responding in October 2021 to a report of a masked intruder at the residence, which is less than 10 miles from where the slayings occurred in Moscow, Idaho.
“I heard my door open and I looked over, and someone was wearing a ski mask and had a knife,” the woman living at the home told cops.
“I kicked the s--t out of their stomach and screamed super loud, and they like flew back into my closet and then ran out my door and up the stairs.”
As in the Idaho slayings, the intruder entered the home in the early morning hours, was masked and silent for the duration of the break-in.
No suspect was identified at the time of the Washington case, but authorities named Kohberger as a person of interest after he was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022, in connection with the murders of college students Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21.
Kohberger was cleared in the earlier home invasion after cops determined that his height did not match the suspect’s and that he was not yet enrolled at Washington State University at the time of the incident.
“We have no reason or evidence to believe he was involved in this burglary at this time,” Pullman police told the ABC News.
But experts say the unsolved Washington case could be crucial in the Idaho trial, as his defense lawyers try to get jurors to consider whether there could be other suspects.
Kohberger’s trial is set to begin in April and continue through November.
The trial will be split into two phases—one to determine his guilt or innocence, and the other, if he’s found guilty, to determine whether he should receive the death penalty.
