Internet slams Idaho suspect Bryan Kohberger's alibi claiming he was out late looking at ‘moon and stars’

LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO: According to a new court filing, Bryan Kohberger's lawyers planned to use cell tower data to prove that their client wasn’t at the Idaho residence when police say he stabbed four college students to death in November 2022.

As stated in a court document made public on Wednesday, April 17, Bryan Kohberger's attorneys intend to refute the prosecution's case using expert analysis of cellphone tower data.

Bryan Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder

Bryan Kohberger was charged with the Idaho quadruple homicide but his lawyers argue that evidence shows that Bryan Kohberger was not in the King Road residence when four students were found stabbed to death in November 2022 and he was traveling in the opposite direction on the fateful day. 

 "Mr Kohberger was out driving in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars. He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho," Kohberger's lead attorney, Anne Taylor, said in the filing, ABC News reported.

Prosecutors allege that Bryan Kohberger broke into an off-campus residence early on November 13, 2022, and fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students - Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

In May 2023, Kohberger—then a PhD student in criminology at neighboring Washington State University—was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary after being indicted. He did not enter a plea during his arraignment, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. If found guilty, Kohberger might receive the death penalty.

According to Kohberger's lawyer, after moving to the area in June 2022, his "avid" habit of running and hiking inspired him to explore his new surroundings; however, due to the hectic nature of the school year, those hikes gradually turned into "nighttime drives."

Taylor stated that the explanation is "supported by data from Kohberger's phone showing him in the countryside late at night and/or in the early morning on several occasions," which includes "numerous" photographs taken "several different late evenings and early mornings, including in November, depicting the night sky."

Bryan Kohberger's defense to present expert's testimony in quadruple murder case

Wawawai Park, a secluded area along the Snake River, was part of the drive; it was approximately 20 miles from Kohberger's apartment at the time and 28 miles from the off-campus house where the killings took place.

Kohberger's attorneys informed the court that in order to support the defense's alibi claim, they planned to present their own expert's testimony "to show that Bryan Kohberger's mobile device was south of Pullman, Washington and west of Moscow, Idaho on November 13, 2022; that Bryan Kohberger's mobile device did not travel east on the Moscow-Pullman Highway in the early morning hours of November 13th," meaning that his "could not" be the vehicle seen on camera traveling along the Moscow-Pullman highway near a nearby cannabis shop.

In the recently made public court document, Taylor stated that more information "as to Mr Kohberger's whereabouts as the early morning hours progressed," including their expert's analysis, "will be provided once the State provides discovery requested."

"If not disclosed, [Sy Ray, their expert]'s testimony will also reveal that critical exculpatory evidence, further corroborating Mr Kohberger's alibi, was either not preserved or has been withheld," Taylor added.

Investigators cited cellphone tower records and surveillance footage of the car

The filing on Wednesday is consistent with the defense's earlier remarks regarding Kohberger's whereabouts on the night of the murder: they have maintained that he was driving alone at the time, which was a habit of his.

Following a six-week search, Kohberger was identified by police as the main suspect in the student murders, and he was taken into custody at his Pennsylvania family's home in December 2022.

The cellphone tower records and the surveillance footage of the car that was spotted near the King Road house the night of the killings have been cited by investigators as sources of information.

Specifically, they have mentioned that during the two hours after midnight, Kohberger's phone "stops reporting to the network, which is consistent with either the phone being in an area without cellular coverage, the connection to the network is disabled (such as putting the phone in airplane mode), or that the phone is turned off."

There is no set date for the trial.

Internet questions Bryan Kohberger alibi

Brian Entin, senior national correspondent at News Nation shared the official documents of Kohberger's alibi stating, "Bryan Kohberger's legal team filed his alibi a short time ago. They claim he likes to go out for hikes and late night drives -- and that he was driving in the area of Pullman, Washington and west of Moscow, Idaho -- but not near the victims house."

The internet users reacted to the news. A user wrote, "Sounds like a defense attorney getting her client to admit he was driving around bc she knows the evidence is gunna prove that…and I have never known a single person who drives around at 3am on a random day of the week for fun…."

Another user questioned, "How is that an alibi? He offers no proof or witnesses. Useless and absurd."

The third commentator asked, "So his cellphone will show him driving around on numerous nights to verify that?"

"Everyone dismissing this... don't. The prosecution has to prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt. If there is any chance that he was out driving (to ppl not emotionally invested, not to you) the jury has to find him not guilty. & there is no appeals or 2nd chanc," the fourth person concluded.

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