(NewsNation) — The lead prosecutor handling the Bryan Kohberger case says he believes the convicted killer was likely in the Idaho home of his victims before the November 2022 murders.
Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson told the “48 Hours” podcast that Kohberger’s movements and apparent familiarity with the home led to that belief.
“The layout of the house is unique. It’s a little bit confusing,” Thompson told the outlet, adding that it had many blind spots.
Kohberger had entered the home shared by the students through a sliding glass door in the kitchen on the second floor in the back of the house. The move seems to have been from someone who knew its placement.
Thompson said Kohberger’s cell phone records showed that he was “stalking that neighborhood” and was there more than 20 times before the killings.
Those records put the convicted murderer near the home after 10 p.m. “when there would be no legitimate reason for him to be over here to shop,” he said, referring to Moscow.
Thompson believes Kohberger may have broken into the victims’ home during one of these trips.
“The investigators never uncovered any evidence that would definitively prove that, but I think that’s a legitimate point,” he told the podcast.
Kohberger accepted a plea deal weeks before he was set to go to trial for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
That deal took the death penalty off the table in exchange for a guilty plea in which he also agreed to waive his appeals in the killings and burglary charges.
The former graduate student was handed four life sentences last month.