April 18 (UPI) — Bryan Kohberger, the defendant in the Idaho student murders case, was driving west of the city where the murders occurred on the night of the killings, according to his attorney in a Wednesday court filing.
Kohberger’s lawyers plan to use cellphone tower data analysis in an effort to prove he was not at the home where the murders happened Nov. 13, 2022.
“Mr. Kohberger was out driving in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars. He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Wash., west of Moscow, Idaho,” lead defense attorney Anne Taylor said in the filing.
Taylor added that the alibi is supported by data from Kohberger’s phone, with numerous photos showing him late at night or in early morning hours out in the countryside.
Kohberger’s defense will put a cell phone tower and radio frequency expert on the stand to support the alibi, according to the court filing.
The spot where he allegedly was out driving the night of the murders was about 10 miles from the murder scene.
His defense said he often took drives alone late at night.
Prosecutors say Kohberger broke into an off-campus home and murdered Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger was a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
He’s charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
The students were stabbed to death at a King Road residence in the small city of Moscow on the Washington-Idaho border. The victims likely were asleep when the brutal attacks began.
Kohberger was arrested Dec. 30 in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, where police tracked him down. His Hyundai Elantra was seized from his Pennsylvania home. Moscow police had been looking for a white Elantra as possible evidence.
The home where the murders occurred was torn down Dec. 28.
Over objections from some family members of the victims, the University of Idaho had the home demolished “to allow the collective healing of our community” after the home was given to the university.
