University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is now demanding that the bizarre two-word phrase ‘bushy eyebrows’ is banned from his high-profile death penalty trial.
In a series of motions, filed on February 24 and made public this week, the accused mass killer’s defense made a string of requests asking the judge to block certain words and phrases from his trial.
On the proposed list of banned terms is ‘murder,’ ‘bushy eyebrows,’ ‘psychopath’ and ‘sociopath.’
‘Bushy eyebrows’ was the defining characteristic that the slain victims’ surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen recalled about the masked intruder she saw leaving the student house moments after the brutal murders are believed to have taken place.
According to Kohberger’s defense, ‘the description provided by D.M. is unreliable and should be excluded’ from the courtroom.
Mortensen is expected to be a key witness when Kohberger goes on trial in August charged with the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The four University of Idaho students were all found stabbed to death inside an off-campus student home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, back on November 13 2022.
The brutality of the murders – and the mystery around who was responsible – plunged the small college town into fear and sent shockwaves across America.
Bryan Kohberger (seen in a mugshot) is seeking to have the phrase ‘bushy eyebrows’ banned from his murder trial
Around six weeks later on December 30 2022, Kohberger – a criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and charged with the slayings.
At the time of the murders, two other roommates – Mortensen and Bethany Funke – lived with Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle in the three-story house in Moscow.
They were inside the home at the time of the murders but escaped unscathed.
Mortensen, whose bedroom was on the second floor, came face-to-face with a masked man in the immediate aftermath of the murders, according to court documents.
She told investigators that she had been woken by noises in the home at around 4am that morning and had heard a voice say ‘there’s someone here.’
She also heard what sounded like whimpering coming from Kernodle’s room and a man’s voice saying: ‘It’s ok, I’m going to help you.’
Mortensen told investigators she had opened her door and peeked outside three times.
The third time, she said she saw a man with ‘bushy eyebrows’ and dressed in black walk past her door and head towards the sliding back doors of the home.
From left: Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
Soon after seeing the intruder, Mortensen went downstairs to Funke’s room and the two roommates fell asleep there, according to the newly-filed court documents.
Around eight hours later, a 911 call was made from Funke’s cellphone as the bloodbath inside the home was discovered.
Now, in the new court filings, Kohberger’s defense is asking the judge to block any evidence referencing ‘bushy eyebrows’ and to block Mortensen from using those words to identify Kohberger when she testifies at trial.
‘Although she has never identified Mr. Kohberger, testimony by D.M. from the witness stand, describing bushy eyebrows while Mr. Kohberger sits as the accused at trial, will be as damning as her pointing to him and saying, “he is the man that did this,”‘ the defense argues.
The defense claims there are some inconsistencies in Mortensen’s description of the masked intruder.
The legal team also points to artwork seen on the student’s bedroom walls – many of which she had drawn – including ‘many pictures of eyes with prominent eyebrows.’
‘Some of the eyebrows are heavy, voluminous, puffy, or perhaps subjectively bushy,’ the defense states.
Mortensen also told investigators that she ‘had a lot of lucid dreams of being kidnapped or chased’ and that, on the morning of November 13 2022, ‘she did not fully understand what was a dream or not,’ the defense writes.
The off-campus home at 1122 King Road where the four students were found brutally murdered on November 13 2022
In one police interview, she allegedly said ‘she thought that the person she saw was a fireman.’
As the only known living eyewitness, Mortensen could be a key witness for the prosecution – and a key witness that the defense looks set to seek to discredit.
In other filings, the defense is also asking the terms ‘murder,’ ‘murderer,’ ‘murdered,’ ‘murder weapon,’ and similar words to be banned from the trial, saying they would be ‘unfairly prejudicial’ to the accused killer.
‘Whether the killings at issue are murder as allegedly committed by Bryan Kohberger, or by an alternate suspect or someone still unknown is the ultimate issue,’ his defense argues.
‘To label Mr. Kohberger as a “murderer,” the alleged weapon consistent with an empty sheath as a “murder weapon”, or to assert that any of the four decedents was “murdered” by Mr. Kohberger denies his right to a fair trial and the right to be presumed innocent,’ the defense argues.
A separate filing also asks the judge to ban the terms ‘psychopath’ and ‘sociopath’, calling these ‘unequivocally unfairly prejudicial.’
The bizarre requests came amid a flurry of new court documents filed by both the defense and prosecution in recent weeks.
In one bombshell new court filing, it was revealed for the first time that DNA from three individuals had been found under Mogen’s fingernails.
A bombshell new court filing in the case against Bryan Kohberger has revealed that DNA evidence was found under the fingernails of murder victim Madison Mogen (pictured)
DNA was found on a Ka-Bar knife sheath (seen in a stock image) left behind at the scene
According to the defense filing, during grand jury proceedings, the court heard testimony that a ‘three person mixture’ had been found on the 21-year-old’s left fingernail clippings.
It is not clear who the three individuals are that the DNA belongs to.
Statistically, it was assumed that Mogen was one of the three individuals.
Two hypotheses were then tested, that the three people included: Mogen, Goncalves and one unknown unrelated person or Mogen and two unrelated persons.
Parts of the document have been redacted, meaning the findings of the testing remain somewhat unclear.
The statistical likelihood that Kohberger is one of the three individuals whose DNA was found on the clippings is also redacted.
Yet, the defense indicates that the comparison to Kohberger’s DNA was inconclusive – that he could neither be confirmed or eliminated as the source.
Kohberger’s defense argues that at least four other, unnamed individuals were also tested and that they, like Kohberger, also all came back inconclusive.
Ethan Chapin was staying at his girlfriend Xana Kernodle’s (together on left) home on the night of the murders. Best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen (together on right) were found stabbed to death in the same bed
‘All of these individuals sit in the same shoes as Mr. Kohberger, namely that the LR is exclusionary but falls in the range of inconclusive,’ the filing states.
The filing details that the witness testified to the grand jury about the meaning of the term ‘inconclusive’ and that this testimony used ‘misleading language.’
‘LR’s [likelihood ratios] are different from traditional statistics that courts and juries are used to seeing and hearing. The LR is comparison of hypotheses, it is not statement of identity or probability of identity. It simply asks the question: given the data, which hypotheses tested is more likely,’ the defense argues.
Focusing on Kohberger’s DNA being ‘inconclusive’ would mislead the jury at his trial, his defense argues.
‘Expanding beyond the language of the report would prejudice Mr. Kohberger in that it might allow the jury to infer that the inconclusive data would mean that he might be included,’ the defense writes.
The defense is asking the judge to limit testimony about the DNA analysis, claiming it would violate Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.
The legal team also argues that additional testing since carried out by the defense has now excluded Kohberger as the source of the DNA.
This marks the first time it has emerged that there could be additional DNA evidence from the scene potentially tying Kohberger to the grisly crime.
The off-campus home where the four grisly murders took place was torn down in December
A critical part of the case against the suspect comes from a brown leather knife sheath found close to Mogen’s body at the scene.
According to prosecutors, touch DNA found on the sheath belongs to Kohberger and was traced to him using Investigative Genetic Genealogy.
Kohberger’s team has tried unsuccessfully to have the IGG evidence tossed from the trial.
The defense also pointed to blood from two unknown men also found at the King Road home – one on the handrail between the first and second floor, and the second on a glove found outside.
The DNA does not match Kohberger and has not been identified.
Kohberger’s team is also continuing to fight to get the death penalty off the table in the case – with their latest argument being that the accused killer has autism and that his diagnosis ‘exposes him to the unacceptable risk’ that a jury will convict him of murder and sentence him to death.
Goncalves’ family has long publicly called for the death penalty and her father is now pushing for Kohberger to face the firing squad if convicted of the shocking murders of his daughter and her friends.
Kohberger stayed silent at his arraignment, leading the judge to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Bryan Kohberger’s defense also wants the terms ‘murder’, ‘psychopath’ and ‘sociopath’ also banned from the trial
He has so far offered up a vague alibi for the night of the murders claiming he was driving around at night looking at the stars.
No witnesses can corroborate where he was, his attorney Anne Taylor admitted in a court filing.
As well as the DNA found on the knife sheath, prosecutors say Kohberger was also tied to the murders through his white Elantra – matching the car seen leaving the crime scene at the time of the murders – and cellphone records placing him in the vicinity of the home.
Kohberger is next due in court in April.
