Rampant online speculation that the suspect arrested in the Idaho murders was in attendance at a vigil for the victims has been debunked by newly-emerged footage.
In the wake of Bryan Kohberger’s arrest on charges for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, social media sleuths began scouring video of a 30 November vigil for the slain students to see if the suspect may have been present.
The armchair detectives - who have been poring over alleged clues in the case for weeks - seized on a specific clip showing the back of a tall man with brown hair, making wholly far-fetched claims that he could be Mr Kohberger.
The baseless speculation has now been discredited by new footage from Inside Edition, which appears to show the face of the same man the online commenters identified as Mr Kohberger from the back. It is clear on the outlet’s video that the man is not Mr Kohberger.
The vigil rumours marked the latest wild theory to go viral online, only to be swiftly debunked.
Goncalves’ family had first raised fears that the killer could attend memorials last month, saying they were not ready to hold a funeral for that reason.
But in the 11 days since Mr Kohberger’s arrest, there has been no indication that he was at any public events honouring the victims.
Law enforcement raided Mr Kohberger’s family home in a surprise arrest on 30 December. He was charged with four counts of murder and extradited to Idaho — it was later revealed in the affidavit for his arrest that police linked him to the crime scene using genealogy DNA.
Police said that his DNA was found on a knife sheath left behind at the scene by the killer.
The affidavit, released on 5 January, also states that investigators believe that Mr Kohberger stalked the victims’ home at least 12 times prior to the massacre.
Cellphone records show that his phone pinged in the area of the King Road home on at least twelve occasions prior to the time of the murders. The exact dates of these instances were not revealed in the documents but all but one were in the late evening or early morning hours.
One incident was identified on 21 August, when the suspect was stopped by police just minutes from the home.
A citation from Latah County Sheriff’s Office, obtained by The Independent, reveals that the traffic stop took place at around 11.40pm at the intersection of West Pullman Road and Farm Road in Moscow.
The record shows he was stopped for failing to wear his seatbelt – just a few minute’s drive from the home on King Road where the victims were murdered.
Investigators believe that Mr Kohberger turned his cell phone off at the time of the murders in order to try to avoid detection.
However, cellphone data places him close to the home on King Road at around 9am on 13 November – suggesting that he returned to the scene of the crime just hours after allegedly murdering the four victims at around 4am.
A white Hyundai Elantra spotted at the crime scene at the time of the murders was also traced back to the suspect, the affidavit reveals.
At the time of the murders, two roommates were also in the student home but were left unharmed.
The grim scene went undiscovered for around eight hours after the murders – which police believe occurred between 4am and 4.25am.
It was around midday when a 911 call was finally made to report an unconscious person inside the home. Police officers arrived to find the bloody scene.
The affidavit has now revealed for the first time that one of the surviving roommates came face to face with the masked killer as he left the home after killing her four friends.
Investigators initially said the two survivors were in bedrooms on the first floor – while the victims were found on the second and third floor of the three-storey home. It has now emerged that one of the survivors was in her bedroom on the second floor.
In her terrifying account to investigators, the roommate, identified as D.M. in the documents, revealed that she heard the killer inside the home and heard what sounded like crying coming from one of her roommates.
At one point she heard a woman’s voice – believed to be either Goncalves or Kernodle – saying something to the effect of “there’s someone here”, before hearing a man’s voice saying “it’s ok, I’m going to help you”.
She then had a lucky escape as she opened her door to see what was happening to see “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her”.
The man, who had bushy eyebrows and was around 5 foot 10 tall walked right past her and headed toward the back sliding glass door of the home, while she stood in a “frozen shock phase”.
Mr Kohberger, who faces life in prison or the death penalty, is next scheduled to appear for a status hearing on Thursday morning.
