Bryan Kohberger Created a 'Crime Scene How-To Guide' as Part of His Homework, Prosecutors Say

Prosecutors are looking into potential new evidence in the case of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, according to news outlets.

In court documents filed this week, prosecutors indicated that they were seeking to include one of Kohberger’s college assignments titled “Crime-Scene Scenario Final” as part of their evidence, according to Good Morning America, The Seattle Times and WPVI-TV.

According to the outlets, the 12-page paper, which detailed a case involving a woman who was stabbed to death at a trailer park, was created by Kohberger when he was studying criminal justice as a grad student at DeSales University in 2020. 

The prosecutor’s office noted in their court filing that there were similarities between the case that Kohberger wrote about and the Idaho murders, including the murder weapon, surveillance video and collection of DNA, per WPVI-TV. He also reportedly wrote about the use of protective clothing to avoid contaminating a crime scene and leaving behind fingerprints, per GMA.

Prosecutors wrote in the filing, per The Seattle Times, that the assignment “would be introduced to show Defendant’s knowledge of crime scenes.” 

In the court filings submitted, prosecutors also noted that Kohberger purchased a black balaclava, which is a mask that is designed to expose only a small part of the face, on Jan. 10, 2022, 11 months before the murders, per GMA and the New York Post. He also purchased a combat-style knife and sheath from Amazon, eight months prior to the murders, per the outlet.

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Kohberger is accused of murdering Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four were found stabbed to death inside the Moscow, Idaho home that Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle shared with two other individuals.

A probable cause affidavit — which was released in January 2023 after Kohberger returned to Idaho — revealed that one of the surviving roommates said they saw the killer. The roommate described “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask.”

She had drawn a mask — which only showed the intruder’s eyes — when asked what the murder suspect looked like. She also noted that the person she saw had “bushy eyebrows,” per GMA. A sheath with Kohberger’s DNA was found at the crime scene, per the New York Post. 

However, Kohberger’s attorneys have argued that he has a “developmental disability” that prevents him from “carrying out the speed and coordination to carry out the murders,” per GMA.  His lawyers also claimed that he exhibited behaviors that are symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and that he suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In May 2023, Kohberger was indicted by a grand jury for the murder of the four students. He stood “silent” as the court waited for his plea, and the judge ultimately entered a plea of “not guilty” for him.

Kohberger’s trial is set for August, almost three years after the four students were brutally stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022.