Idaho quadruple murder suspect bought knife and victims' roommates used social media before calling 911, court docum

Court documents pertaining to the Bryan Kohberger quadruple murder case reveal that the suspect purchased a knife on Amazon months before the crime. Simultaneously, the surviving roommates of the victims exchanged text messages with family and were active on social media before calling 911. This raises questions about the timeline of events and their perceptions.

Newly released documents show that both the defense and prosecution are striving to submit evidence favorable to their respective sides, to counter the man accused of killing four students in an off-campus University of Idaho residence in 2022. Kohberger himself has pleaded not guilty through his lawyer. The legal battle intensifies as each side presents their case.

New prosecution documents reveal that Kohberger, the 30-year-old former criminology graduate student, purchased a military-style knife, a sheath, and a knife sharpener on Amazon months before the murders. State documents also include a selfie believed to have been taken by Kohberger on the morning of November 13, 2022, just hours after the murders. The photo shows the suspect smiling and giving a thumbs up to the camera. This evidence aims to place Kohberger at the scene and potentially demonstrate his state of mind.

The defense also released new evidence this week, highlighting phone records from the day of the murders that show the two surviving roommates waited approximately eight hours from when they became aware of a suspicious situation to when they called 911. The defense disputes the prosecution's selective use of surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke's phone records from the morning of the tragedy. The defense is asking the judge to prohibit the prosecution from presenting the state's chosen information to the jury at trial, or to allow more phone records to be admitted as evidence. The defense seeks to paint a more complete picture of the events.

According to recent filings by the prosecution, a series of text messages between Mortensen and Funke show that they were unable to reach their roommates and felt fear and panic around 4:22 a.m. local time. Investigators believe Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were murdered between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. Around 4:22 a.m., Mortensen texted Funke, "No one is answering." Funke replied, "Ya dude wtf." Mortensen then texted Funke that she saw a man in their house wearing a mask. "I'm scared," Mortensen wrote. Funke later texted Mortensen: "Go to my room" and "run." These texts highlight the roommates' growing fear and attempts to seek safety.

Previously released records from the prosecution indicated that Mortensen tried to contact others in the house again at approximately 10:23 a.m. after "waking up and realizing she had not heard from her roommates." But new defense documents suggest the surviving roommates were awake and using social media hours earlier. Kohberger's lawyers say that after Mortensen joined Funke in her room, there were only about three hours of inactivity on their phones. The defense filings state that the surviving roommates also accessed Snapchat and Instagram between 4:22 a.m. and 4:37 a.m. The new defense filings say Funke and Mortensen used their phones again around 8 a.m. The defense listed details of Funke and Mortensen's social media and call activity in the hours after their roommates died. Court documents identified Funke and Mortensen in the timeline by their initials, including: 8:00 AM BF calls another number; 8:05:43 – 10:00:45 DM on Instagram; 8:41-8:42 BF takes photo; 10:00:56 – 10:01:40 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat); 10:01:53 – 10:03:05 DM on Instagram; 10:03:30 – 10:04:02 DM on Indeed; 10:04:54 – 10:23:02 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat). This evidence aims to challenge the prosecution's narrative of the roommates' actions and awareness.

In the motion, Kohberger's lawyers countered the prosecution's claim that Mortensen only realized her roommates were not responding to her texts after she woke up. Mortensen began trying to contact Goncalves and Mogen again starting at 10:23 a.m., asking if they were awake: "R u up??" The new defense documents say Mortensen used Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok and texted her father hours earlier before re-engaging Mogen and Goncalves. The timeline includes phone activity, such as: 10:24:01 – 10:25:04 DM on Instagram; 10:30:18 – 10:45:43 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat); 10:56:49 – 11:29:08 DM messages on Instagram and Snapchat; 11:29:41 – 11:32:45 DM messages on Instagram and Snapchat; 11:37:36 DM message (Snapchat); 11:39:09 – 11:40:14 DM texts with father; 11:44:06 – 11:50:38 DM on Instagram; 11:54:39 – 11:57:01 DM on Instagram. Records show that Funke finally called 911 at 11:56 a.m., reporting that Kernodle was unconscious at the residence. The voices of two other friends can be heard during the call. This additional information further complicates the timeline and raises questions about the roommates' behavior.

One of the surviving roommates, Mortensen, had stated that she saw a person dressed in black, wearing a mask, inside the house around the time of the murders. She described the intruder as having "bushy eyebrows." But according to court documents, after Kohberger's arrest, Mortensen could not definitively say whether he was the person she saw in her home around the time of the murders. Kohberger's lawyers have asked the judge to prevent the prosecution from showing jurors the newly released selfie of the defendant at trial. Defense lawyers argue that the photo, found on Kohberger's phone, could unfairly prejudice the jury. But prosecutors say the jury should see Kohberger's smiling selfie taken at 10:31 a.m. — just hours after the alleged murders — because his photo matches Mortensen's description of the intruder that night. The state also argued that jurors can decide for themselves whether Kohberger's eyebrows are bushy and what that might have to do with the case. "That the description may or may not implicate the defendant is not grounds to keep the jury from considering the fact," the prosecution said. "It is unreasonable to think the jury will convict the defendant based on his trimmed or untrimmed eyebrows." This highlights the conflicting interpretations of the available evidence.

Kohberger's trial is expected to begin in August. Prosecutors say they expect both surviving roommates to testify and want to use their text messages to clarify the timeline of the night. But defense attorney Anne Taylor pointed to what she said were inconsistencies in law enforcement interviews with Mortensen and Funke. Defense filings state that prosecutors also plan to call law enforcement witnesses to testify that they conducted a test to show that it was possible to commit four homicides in a matter of minutes, including the time to travel to and from the car and remove blood-soaked clothing. Kohberger's lawyers say they need an expert to testify about his developmental coordination disorder to show the jury that he was not capable of committing crimes they believe required such speed and coordination. The upcoming trial promises to be a complex and contentious battle of evidence and interpretations.