How Idaho Murder Suspect Was Caught Using Genealogy Websites
04.01.2023 - 00:13
/ perezhilton.com
Officially, the police have stayed incredibly tight-lipped about the University of Idaho murder investigation. Unofficially, we’re getting little peeks into the process by which they apparently caught their killer.
Six weeks after the brutal slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Maddie Mogen in their off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, it was starting to look like the cops had nada. But then on December 30, they surprised us by making an arrest.
Bryan Kohberger, a student at nearby Washington State University, only about 15 miles from the murder scene, was apprehended by the FBI all the way in Pennsylvania. How did they track him down? We heard from two law enforcement insiders speaking to CNN that it was DNA evidence that pointed to Kohberger. Apparently the criminology student had left his DNA at the scene — though no word on whether that was hair, blood from the struggle, or some other bodily fluid.
Related: Kohberger Did Research Project Asking Criminals How They Picked Their Victims
That has now been corroborated by new police sources speaking to ABC News. They’ve gone one step further, explaining that Kohberger was caught using genealogy databases! The PhD student didn’t have a record, so his DNA wasn’t in a criminal database. But much like they did with the Golden State Killer, the authorities were able to compare the DNA they found on the scene with what was on file thanks to websites like 23andMe and Ancestry.com. Apparently they found a match to a family member — and a further connection in that family to a white Hyundai Elantra, matching a vehicle that had been spotted near the scene. No wonder they kept asking about the car!
According to the sources speaking to ABC, once they were