BOISE, Idaho – The community and families of the University of Idaho students killed by Bryan Kohberger had hoped to eventually learn why he targeted four students and what he did with the murder weapon he used to kill them.
For now, they won’t get those answers for one simple reason: investigators don’t know.
After Kohberger was sentenced Wednesday, investigators and the prosecutor, previously under a gag order in the case, were able to finally address questions from reporters.
They revealed they have found no link between Kohberger and the victims, on social media or otherwise.
“We wanted that to be the case,” said Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne. “We’ve looked for a link and we have not found one.”
They also revealed they have no idea where the knife is that he used to kill them.
“There’s no evidence we found that would lead us to any specific – or even general – location to where the murder weapon or the clothes [he wore that night] would have been,” said Cpl. Payne “We searched… we had folks getting soil samples, all kinds of things to try to come up with somewhere to start searching for these things and we just never found it.”
As far as the clothing Kohberger was wearing that night, investigators say people shouldn’t make assumptions about what they might have been able to find.
“The reality is, somebody could carry this out and still not get covered in blood,” said Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson, the other lead investigator on the case. “We’ve had some of the world’s experts that we’ve asked those same questions. We’ve struggled with that – why did we not find more here and there?”
Investigators also say they never figured out why Kohberger targeted that specific house on King Road, other than that it was a busy neighborhood just off campus.
“That area is frequented by many people at all hours of the night when college is in session,” said Brett Payne of Moscow Police, who was one of the lead investigators on the case. “Perhaps it’s the old hiding in plain sight. There’s lots of people around, lots of vehicles around at all hours, it’s not isolated where you would be noticed.”
Investigators acknowledge there’s much they’ll never know about why Kohberger attacked the four students.
The City of Moscow launched website that will contain case files previously unreleased in the case. You can view all those case files by clicking here.
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