New documents reveal evidence investigators used to link suspected killer to Idaho slayings

An unsealed search warrant shows the evidence that led investigators to their suspect in the brutal killings of four University of Idaho students.

The warrant was part of a 49-page document made public Wednesday by the Whitman County Court in Washington, where suspected murderer Bryan Kohberger was living at the time of the Nov. 13 stabbings of 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, reported CNN.

"[The residence] contained a significant amount of blood from the victims including spatter and castoff [blood stain patterns],” read the probable cause document that sought a search warrant for Kohberger's home and office.

Authorities believed the suspected killer had fled the scene with evidence tying him to the slayings, and investigators also said evidence from a dog found unharmed at the students' home, as well as blood, skin cells or hair from the victims, might have been transferred to the killer's clothing, shoes or body.

“It is likely that some trace evidence was transferred to areas in his apartment through contact with the items worn during the attack,” the document stated. “One likely location for the clothes/mask/shoes that he was wearing during the attack would be his residence.”

Authorities asked the public about three weeks after the killings for information about a white Hyundai Elantra they believed had been in the "immediate area" of the crime scene, and investigators traced that vehicle to Kohberger based on tips they received.

The 28-year-old Kohberger allegedly traveled to Pennsylvania from Washington to spend the holidays with his family, and authorities there recovered trash from the family home and sent it to Idaho for analysis, which determined that a DNA profile obtained from that evidence matched a knife sheath found on the bed of one of the victims.

Phone records then showed that Kohberger's phone was near the victims' home hours before their killings, and they also show his phone was near their home at least 12 times between last June and his arrest.

A search warrant for Kohberger's apartment in Pullman, Washington, about 10 miles from the crime scene in Moscow, Idaho, was obtained on Dec. 30 and turned up hair strands, a possible animal hair, cuttings from a possibly blood-stained pillow and part of a stained mattress.

Investigators also recovered a glove, store receipts, dust from a vacuum, a Fire TV stick and a computer tower.

Kohberger was arrested that day in Pennsylvania and extradited this month to Idaho to faces first-degree murder charges.