Brian Koberger, charged in Idaho murder case, says cell phone data shows he was never near his home

Koberger has already provided an alibi in court documents, saying he was out in his car at the time of the 4 a.m. killing. Wednesday’s filing by Ms. Kohberger’s attorney, Ann Taylor, shows that through testimony from a cell phone tower expert who claims Ms. Kohberger’s cellphone was in the wrong location to link her to the killing, Ms. It suggests that we try to prove that.

That testimony would contradict prosecutors’ claims that cell phone data showed Koberger on the highway leaving the town where the murders occurred that night.

Koberger, 29, stabbed 20-year-olds Ethan Chapin and Zana Karnodol, and 21-year-olds Madison Morgen and Kaylee Gonsalves at their off-campus home in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. He has been charged with murder. He was searched by authorities. The manhunt lasted nearly seven weeks, a long manhunt that drew national attention and put the nearby college towns of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, on edge.

Authorities arrested Koberger, a criminal justice student at Washington State University in Pullman, at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania in late December. He was later indicted by a grand jury.

Mr. Koberger maintains his innocence. He pleaded not guilty in May to four counts of murder and one count of robbery. Lawyers are prohibited by judge’s order from discussing most aspects of the case.

Koberger was charged with the crime after DNA was linked to a button snap on a knife sheath left at the scene, according to court records. Prosecutors also seized other items from Kohberger’s home and car, arguing that his physical description matched the general description of the intruder given by his surviving roommate.

Additionally, authorities said cell phone records show Koberger was near the victim’s off-campus home at least 12 times in the months before the killing. On the night of the murder, Koberger’s cellphone was tracked as she left her home just before 3 a.m. and then stopped reporting to the network, authorities allege in a criminal affidavit.

Surveillance camera footage showed a car matching Koberger’s passing the victim’s home four times and then speeding away about 15 minutes after arriving at the home. Less than 30 minutes later, Koberger’s phone started reporting to the cell phone network again, and he was on the highway from Moscow back to Pullman, the affidavit said.

Testimony from defense experts that Koberger plans to bring will show that his mobile device was not traveling on that highway, according to a new filing by Koberger’s attorneys. That’s what it means. Instead, he would claim that Koberger was “south of Pullman, Washington, and west of Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.”

Taylor said in her filing that after entering graduate school, Koberger often went for night drives to hike, run or “look at the moon and stars,” which she also did at night.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 14, but a trial date has not yet been set.