Bryan Kohberger’s damning Amazon shopping history has finally been revealed, with prosecutors saying it connects him to the murder weapon used to slaughter four University of Idaho students in a crime that shocked America.
The 30-year-old criminology PhD student bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022, according to new court documents, filed by the state and unsealed Wednesday.
Eight months later – on November 13 2022 – investigators believe this same type of knife was used to murder Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin inside a student home in Moscow, Idaho.
A Ka-Bar brown leather knife sheath, featuring a US Marine Corps seal, was found next to Mogen’s body in her bedroom on the third floor.
Touch DNA on the sheath was later found to be a statistical match to Kohberger, according to prosecutors. The murder weapon has never been found.
Kohberger’s Amazon history also reveals that he searched for a replacement knife or sheath in the days after the murders, according to prosecutors.
The bombshell revelation comes amid a flurry of new court documents filed in recent days as both sides prepare to head to trial this summer.
In other court documents, Kohberger has claimed there were multiple killers that fateful night, arguing that one individual could not have pulled off the savage murders in such a short timeframe.
University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger (seen in court in 2023) has claimed that there were multiple killers
DNA was found on a Ka-Bar knife sheath (seen in a stock image) left behind at the scene
He also claims he has a physical condition that would have made it impossible for him to kill four in the roughly 13-minute timeframe – as he vows to point to several alternate suspects at his trial.
Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022, and was charged with the four murders.
A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at his arraignment.
After more than two years, his trial is finally set to get under way in Ada County in August – with the accused killer facing the death penalty if convicted.
Investigators swooped on Kohberger after Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) determined that he was the source of the DNA on the knife sheath.
Kohberger’s team has tried unsuccessfully to have this IGG evidence tossed from the trial.
In the new court documents, further details about the alleged murder weapon were revealed as prosecutors ask the judge to allow jurors to see Kohberger’s Amazon history at his trial.
Prosecutors wrote that the state was granted a search warrant for Kohberger’s Amazon.com user activity in the spring of 2023, including his ‘customer click activity pertaining to knives and accessories,’ ‘payment methods used, ‘details of items in carts,’ ‘all suggestions made to account,’ ‘all records regarding “reviews by other Amazon users” viewed by Bryan Kohberger’, ‘advertising data’, ‘devices used to connect to account’ and ‘all account linked to account.’
Best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were found dead in the same bed in Mogen’s room on the third floor
Young couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found dead in Kernodle’s room on the second floor
The search was limited to between March 20, 2022, and March 30, 2022 – the time prosecutors said it was known that Kohberger had bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener online – and between November 1, 2022, and December 6, 2022 – the days right before and after the murders.
According to prosecutors, the data revealed that his Amazon account bought a knife, sheath and sharpener in the lead-up to the murders.
It also allegedly revealed that he searched for a replacement knife and sheath after the murders.
‘Kohberger’s click activity which shows a purchase of a Ka-Bar knife and sheath before the homicides makes it more probable (than it would be without the evidence) that the Ka-Bar sheath found at the crime scene was Bryan Kohberger’s,’ the state argues.
‘Second, Kohberger’s click activity after the homicides makes it more probable (than it would be without the evidence) that Kohberger had a reason to search for a Ka-Bar knife and sheath after the homicides. These facts are of consequence to determining whether Bryan Kohberger committed the homicides at 1122 King Road- the central question before the jury. This evidence is clearly relevant.’
In a separate court filing, prosecutors also pushed back against the defense’s claims that it would be impossible for one person to have committed the crime alone in the estimated 13-minute window that the murders took place.
Prosecutors say investigators carried out ‘timed runs’ at the off-campus student home at 1122 King Road ‘to gain an understanding of the approximate time needed to carry out the homicides.’
The timed runs established that ‘one assailant could have carried out the four homicides in the suggested time frame,’ according to prosecutors.
The off-campus student home at 1122 King Road where the murders took place
Blood appears to drip down the wall of the house where the four Idaho students were murdered
The state also plans to argue that the victims had been drinking and so this ‘impaired their ability to resist’ and – for some – even ‘prevented them from putting up any resistance.’
‘These opinions support the argument that less time would have been needed to commit the homicides,’ the filing says.
In a separate newly-unsealed defense filing, Kohberger’s team pushes back on these test runs, pointing to the suspect’s ‘developmental coordination disorder.’
According to the defense, the 30-year-old ‘suffers from deficits in fine motor dexterity and visual motor function’ which means he does not have the physical speed and coordination to have killed four in such a short timeframe.
‘Clearly these are physical issues. He has experienced these physical impairments all of his life.’
The defense adds: ‘Such speed and coordination are not possible for him.’
Kohberger’s team has previously pointed to other DNA evidence found at the scene that does not belong to the suspect – including the blood from two mystery men, one on the handrail of a stairwell and the other on a glove found outside.
A three-person mixture of DNA was also found under Mogen’s nails – with testing coming back inconclusive for Kohberger and several other individuals.
Bryan Kohberger smirks and offers a ‘thumbs up’ to the camera in a selfie six hours after the murders
In the new filing, Kohberger’s legal team also revealed that he has been diagnosed with autism and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).
The defense argues that jurors should hear about these conditions at his trial because they offer an explanation for some of his behaviors both in and out of the courtroom.
For example, Kohberger was allegedly wearing gloves and placing trash in baggies when police raided his parents’ home and arrested him.
The defense argues that – rather than trying to hide his DNA – Kohberger was wearing gloves to avoid germs due to his OCD.
Meanwhile, the defense argues Kohberger’s autism will impact how he behaviors in the courtroom during the trial.
Kohberger has ‘little insight into his own behaviors and emotions,’ often rocks his body back and forth when listening, has ‘limited’ facial expressions and ‘his expressions are sometimes incongruent with what is happening around him,’ the defense stated in a previous court filing.
‘A juror seeing the defendant engage in any one of these behaviors, while sitting at counsel table during a murder trial, would perceive the defendant as strange, out-of-control, and even disrespectful of such a solemn proceeding,’ the defense writes.
The defense is arguing that capital punishment should be taken off the table at his trial, claiming his autism diagnosis ‘exposes him to the unacceptable risk’ that a jury will convict him of murder and sentence him to death.
The defense has already lost one bid to have the death penalty struck from his high-profile trial, which comes at a time when Idaho is undergoing a shake-up of its capital punishment methods.
Last year, firing squad became an alternative method of execution in Idaho, amid a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
Kaylee Goncalves family arrives for a court hearing in 2023. A family member previously wore a shirt in support of the firing squad
Pictured: the firing squad chair in the execution chamber at the Utah State Prison. Firing squad became an alternative method of execution in Idaho last year
A Republican state lawmaker is now pushing for it to become the principal method of execution – something that Goncalves’ father Steve Goncalves has publicly supported.
For the past two years, Goncalves’ family members have been vocal about their support for the death penalty, with a relative wearing a pro-firing squad shirt to one of Kohberger’s court hearings in August.
The defense is now asking the judge to ban the victims’ families from wearing clothing referring to ‘shooting Mr. Kohberger’ or about the firing squad at his trial, as well as clothing featuring the photos of the victims.
Kohberger has indicated that his own family is also planning to attend his trial.
As well as the DNA found on the knife sheath, prosecutors say Kohberger has been tied to the murders through his white Elantra which matches the car seen leaving the crime scene at the time of the murders.
Cellphone records also allegedly show that Kohberger may have stalked the King Road home at least a dozen times in the lead-up to the murders – and that he turned his phone off while committing the crime to try to cover his tracks.
One of the surviving roommates also came face-to-face with a tall masked intruder with ‘bushy eyebrows’ inside the student home moments after the murders.
Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke lived in the student home with Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle and survived the attack.
The student home where the murders took place. Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen came face-to-face with a masked intruder moments after the murders
At around 4am that morning, Mortensen came face-to-face with the man who walked past her doorway on the second floor and headed towards the back sliding door, according to court documents.
The terrified roommate then sent a series of panicked texts to Funke and her slain roommates moments later.
Only Funke answered. The others were already dead.
Around eight hours later, a 911 call was made from Funke’s phone.
Prosecutors plan to show jurors a creepy selfie Kohberger took around six hours after the murders.
It shows Kohberger in a white shirt buttoned up to the collar and headphones as he stands in front of a shower. He gives a chilling half smile and thumbs up to the camera.
Jurors should be allowed to decide if they believe he could be described as having ‘bushy eyebrows’ at the time of the murders based on the photo, prosecutors say.
Kohberger is next due in court in April.
