The Moscow Murders and More

Bryan Kohberger And The Collection Of DNA Evidence At The Scene Of The Crime

From the archives: 12-8-22

As the public waits for answers and justice in Moscow, Idaho, the investigators are faced with a monumental task when it comes to sifting through the DNA searching for evidence. With as much traffic as the house used to get and with the scene of the crimes being filled with DNA evidence, the investigators are facing quite the challenge as they make their way through the meticulous task of sorting through the evidence.

In this episode, we hear from several experts in the field who discuss some of the issues facing the investigation as it moves into the DNA phase.

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to contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

source:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/idaho-murders-dna-digital-evidence-rcna59840

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 03 Jan 2025
Audio Format:: other

Welcome to where the five to nine more than makes up for the nine to five. Where you check your worries the moment you walk in. Where every day feels lucky, even at night, welcome to the chance to savor every moment every time you're here. For 50 years in counting, we've delivered legendary void hospitality. So join us for our 50th anniversary with special celebrations all year long. Welcome to Void Casino's. Welcome to where you want to be. And welcome back to the program. For the investigators who are investigating what happened in Moscow, collecting DNA from the site is going to be quite the task. Now, I know that they have collected a whole bunch of it, and the house is basically closed out for investigative purposes. According to the police, they've pretty much finished their search at the house, collected what they're going to collect and they have sent it off for DNA. Analysis. Now, we're hearing that some of these results have come back already, and I heard on a Nancy Grace video, she was saying something like none of the matches even hit in CODIS. Now, that's simply rumor and speculation by Nancy Grace, but it is pretty concerning. And you would think that if they had a match in CODIS already, that they would have somebody who would be their suspect. Now, remember, they said that this killer was messy. He was sloppy or they were sloppy and that a lot of DNA was found at the scene. Now, the question is, was any of that DNA belonging to the killer? Because the longer we go here and the more we move away from this being a targeted attack, we have to start thinking, was this some sort of sophisticated plan that was put into place by somebody who had no desire to get caught here? And as we get more information back, obviously, DNA, test results, toxicology, all of that, it'll provide a more robust picture. But if Nancy Grace is right and none of this stuff is hit in CODIS yet, that is a bit concerning. Today, we have an article from Newsweek and the headline, "Retrieving DNA from House of slain Idaho students could be a nightmare." This article was authored by Kalita Rockman. As police continue to work on figuring out who was behind the brutal slaying of four University of Idaho students, experts say the DNA evidence in the case may pose a massive challenge for investigators. Certainly not what we want to hear, right? Considering that it's DNA that usually leads investigators to where they're trying to go. Now, of course, these are people talking about the case, these investigators, these professionals, experts. They're not people who are actually working on the case. We always have to keep that in mind and take it with a grain of salt, right? These are just expert opinions and what they think about what is going on or what might occur. That doesn't mean that this is, you know, 100% ironclad that the investigators haven't gotten anything from DNA or that they won't get anything from DNA. But it's certainly a possibility. Kelly Gonsalves, Madison Mogan, Zanna Cernodel and Cernodel's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were found dead in their beds in a house near the University campus in Moscow on November 13. The women lived at the house and Chapin was visiting. Two roommates who were in the house at the time slept through the attack, police said. And they are not believed to be involved in the crime. And I think a lot of people who think it was a targeted attack think that it was targeted because the roommate survived. And that's certainly a logical road to go down. And it's certainly something that I believe as well. But when we start getting the confusion from the investigators walking it back and saying it wasn't a targeted attack, I'd like to know some more information about what was going on in the roommate's room, meaning do they have locks on their doors? Were the doors locked? Did somebody try and get in their room and know that they see the door was locked and decided, all right, well, we're just going to go upstairs and go on our rampage. Because if you try and kick a door in or break a door down, that pretty much ends your whole entire rampage right there, right? So maybe, and again, just my speculation, maybe the killer or killers tried the door, tried the doorknob, saw that it was locked and decided just to move on with their rampage. The slangs have left the community reeling with police yet to name any suspects in the case or locate a murder weapon. Forensic evidence collected from the crime scene is being processed. The Moscow Police Department said on its website, more than 100 pieces of physical evidence were collected and then taken to the Idaho State Police Crime Lab, the police said, we know that this information and this DNA and this evidence, some of it's been processed already and the results have been sent back to the police department. We know that, but the rest of it, the bulk of it, it's gonna take some time, toxicology, all of this stuff doesn't happen overnight usually. And I would love to see the FBI, the state, hell, the federal government even send out mobile testing labs to help expedite the process here. Look, we got four dead college students, folks. Nobody has any idea who did it, community is in jeopardy still and the parents certainly deserve some justice. So I would be completely on board with my federal tax dollars being spent to bring in some mobile labs here. Experts say the nature of the crime and where it took place means the DNA evidence may be difficult for investigators to utilize and that is not what anyone wants to hear. But it's a reality. If there is corrupted DNA or the crime scene has been contaminated, it's gonna be very difficult for them to use that DNA and come to a conclusion on who the person or persons were. It's five young women that occupy the space regularly and then you have one who was a boyfriend that was there, obviously, and is one of the victims. Joseph Scott Morgan, a distinguished scholar of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University in Alabama told Newsweek, "You're going to have their common DNA in that house just as a result of occupancy." And for sure, there's going to be a lot of DNA in that house, not only from the occupancy, but from all of the people that were in and out hanging out, coming over for kickbacks, coming over to chilled before games, football games or whatever. So there's going to be a ton of cross-contaminated DNA in that house. Neighbors have told reporters that parties and gatherings were regularly held at the house. While police have said the surviving roommates, some in friends to the residents before a 911 call requesting aid was made at 11.58 a.m. and responding officers arrived and located the victims on the second and third floors. Morgan says those people likely left evidence of their presence, such as skin cells and hair. All of that has to be taken into account, he said. So basically, the DNA scene, the crime scene, is going to be quite the puzzle for the investigator. With the label. And as we're getting some more of those DNA results back, I hope that they were able to isolate who's who and then eliminate people that way, right? All right, well, we know this person wasn't involved, so that piece of DNA can be put to the wayside. But it's certainly a challenging task. This is not an easy thing that these investigators are doing. And while I might criticize the messaging and how they've packaged this investigation, I completely understand that they have a gigantic task ahead of them and it's not going to happen in one day. If any of these occupants had other romantic partners, perhaps that would be there with more frequency than others. Then there might be a robust DNA signature left behind by those individuals. It's a big obstacle for the investigators to overcome. Joseph Geocloney, a retired New York police sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice agreed telling Newsweek, DNA is going to be tough. Because of the fact that you have a college house, lots of kids in there, that's just a given. With as much traffic as was going in and out of that house, unless there was some DNA left by the killer or killers on the victims, it's going to be difficult for the investigators to parcel this all out. God knows how clean it was or how much DNA you're going to find from several different donors. Any DNA that they find from an unknown subject is going to take a while to come through. Geocoloney urged the public to be patient, as investigators work the case. We have to be patient, there's no doubt. But at the same time, it's up to the investigators not to shoot themselves in their own foot. It's up to them not to package this the wrong way. And if they can't get their messaging straight, don't give any messaging at all. Just give us written, updated portions of your case or whatever you want to give the community that way instead of getting up there and saying something that you're going to regret later. They're going to have to wait for these DNA tests, toxicology reports to come back, he said. So if they have collected hair fibers, blood samples, all that stuff takes time. He added that there is no guarantee that even if a suspect's DNA is isolated, it would match anyone in the national CODIS database. And that's what I mentioned earlier. Remember, just speculation, something that I heard Nancy Grace talk about? I can't confirm it one way or the other. But she says that what they've gotten back so far hasn't matched in CODIS. So that's a bit concerning, but we do have to remember there's a ton of DNA to go through. So just because stuff hasn't popped yet doesn't mean that it won't later on down the road. Then that presents a whole other problem because now you have to look at the familial DNA aspects of it and that takes even longer, he said. So I think you have to give the police department a little bit of breathing room. These kinds of cases are exhausting. The Moscow Police Department has been contacted for comment. And look, I'm willing to do that as well. I'm not somebody who's piling on here by any means. I know that these investigators wanna solve this case. I'm certainly not sitting here thinking that they're, you know, playing dominoes in the office and not doing their job. But with that said, that doesn't mean they or the investigation are above reproach or above criticism. So I'd like to see how these results all end up and how they all come back. And hopefully it gives the investigators a robust ass roadmap to use to try and find the killer and bring them to justice. All right, folks, that's gonna do it for this one. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at bobbykapucci@protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I@protonmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter @B-O-B-B-Y_C-A-P-U-C-C-I. The link that I discussed can be found in the description box.