THE heartbroken family of a University of Idaho murder victim has blasted suspect Bryan Kohberger’s selfie allegedly taken hours after the slayings.
A distressed family issued a warning of impending justice after observing a disturbing half-smile in the recently uncovered 40-page court documents.
It is alleged that Kohberger took the photo at 10:30 am on November 13, 2022—mere hours after a perpetrator entered a house off-campus and tragically ended the lives of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The selfie captures Kohberger with a closed-mouth smile inside an empty tiled bathroom. He is seen sporting wireless earbuds in his ears and is dressed in a buttoned-up shirt that reaches the collar.
Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jennings submitted the picture to corroborate reports from a surviving roommate who encountered the killer stalking around the home.
The roommate claims the ski-mask-enshrouded intruder was a slim white man about six feet one inch tall with bushy eyebrows.
Ashley believes this selfie proves that Kohberger’s eyebrows match the roommate’s description.
The selfie was one of the latest pieces of bombshell evidence revealed in 40 pages of court documents that were unsealed on Wednesday night.
The update spurred an emotional response from the Goncalves family, who have been outspoken about their belief that Kohberger murdered their daughter.
On Facebook, the family wrote, “With all the new docs that dropped in the last couple of days, it looks like the truth is finally coming out.
“Being able to put a stop to so many lies and conspiracies is what we have wanted for so long.
“PS His thumbs-up photo is disgusting.”
In an interview, Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, opened up about finally seeing more evidence years after losing his daughter.
“I don’t know why we are two and a half years into this process that we’re finally letting out the facts, but man, it feels good,” he told NewsNation.
When asked about the selfie, he said, “That’s an ‘F you’ to Idaho. ‘I just went into your state. I just killed your kids in their beds, and you’re not going to catch me.
“‘I’m just going to shower up here, clean off the last bit of the evidence.'”
KNIFE PURCHASE
Also, in the bombshell docs, prosecutors reported finding evidence that Kohberger allegedly purchased the military-style Ka-Bar knife believed to be used on the victims.
The murder weapon was never found, but a sheath for the weapon with Kohberger’s DNA on it was discovered at the scene of the crime, prosecutors claim.
Investigators obtained Kohberger’s Amazon purchase history and allegedly learned that he purchased a knife, sheath, and sharpener that matched the murder weapon’s description in March 2022.
Prosecutors also drew up a map visualizing the time Kohberger’s car was allegedly spotted within a half-mile radius of the house of horrors on the night of the murders.
Surveillance footage captured the suspect’s vehicle cruising around the house six different times from about 3:30 am to after 4 am, state attorneys allege.
Meanwhile, Kohberger’s defense poked holes in the evidence in their own filings, claiming that “many alternate perpetrators can be connected to the crime.”
Kohberger has pleaded not guilty to all four murder charges. If he’s convicted, he faces the death penalty.
His trial is set to begin on August 11.
University of Idaho murders timeline
On November 13, 2022, a brutal home invasion claimed the lives of four University of Idaho students.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in their Moscow, Idaho, off-campus home.
A six-week manhunt ensued as cops searched for a suspect.
On December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger, 30, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania – 2,500 miles away from the crime scene.
He was taken into custody and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, has been linked to the crime scene through phone records, his car’s location, and DNA evidence found at the home where the murders took place.
The house was demolished in December 2023 despite backlash from the victims’ families.
Kohberger is being held at Latah County Jail while he awaits trial.
On September 9, 2024, an Idaho judge ruled to move the upcoming murder trial out of Moscow after Kohberger’s lawyer argued that the town was prejudiced against him.
The state Supreme Court will decide the new venue and judge for the trial, which is expected to start in August 2025.
