The Megyn Kelly Show - Pursuit and Arrest: Idaho College Murders and Bryan Kohberger, Megyn Kelly Show Special - Part Two | Ep. 689

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

In this second episode of a special edition of The Megyn Kelly Show focused on the pursuit and arrest of the suspect, Megyn Kelly takes you deep inside the quadruple murder at the University of Idaho, and the suspect, Bryan Kohberger. In part two, she explores how authorities zeroed in on Kohberger, monitoring him during a cross-country road trip that involved several encounters with police, the "trash pull" that led to an incredible DNA match, the arrest of Kohberger, and more. Using original interviews, source material, the writing and reporting of famed journalist Howard Blum, and more, this is a Megyn Kelly Show five-part series like nothing else before.More from Blum: https://www.howardblum.com/ Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. The case captivated the country for weeks. Four college students murdered inside their Idaho home. Was it a home invasion gone wrong? Was it drug-related? Was it something far more personal? Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. I'm Megyn Kelly. This week, we are bringing you a special edition of the show focused on the true crime case that I, along with millions of others, became absolutely obsessed with beginning just over one year ago.

There's so much mystery and confusion around the story. On Monday, we told you about the gruesome and horrific murders. And today we dive into how the suspect was identified and how he was caught. And we will begin to get into the key question, who is Brian Koberger and what possible motive did he have for this crime? To take you through the intricacies of all this, we're bringing you some of the fantastic writing and reporting of Howard Bloom, who covers this case in great detail for Air Mail News. In addition to those articles, his forthcoming book on the case will be published in the spring by HarperCollins. That will be a must read. And we will have Howard back on to talk about it when it comes out. But for now,

we're going to take you back to November 25th, 12 days after the murders and Bloom's writing. To the investigators' rising sense of excitement, the circumstantial theory they had been secretly incubating for weeks was growing stronger and stronger. Back on November 25th, Moscow PD had whispered to local lawmen to keep their eyes peeled for a white 2011 through 2016 Hyundai Elantra. We still are asking people to call in on any spotting of white Elantra. You know, we appreciate all the tips that we've gotten,

not only from local Moscow, but state, but across the nation. And we're following up on all those. Remember, according to the affidavit, the forensic examiner initially believed it to be a 2011 to 2013 Alantra. But after further review, amended that to make it 2011 to 2016. A car like this had been caught on surveillance video dashing about the neighborhood not far from King Road, from the crime scene, in the early morning hours immediately following the murders. Four days later, Daniel Tiengo, a Washington State University police officer, was diligently spending the midnight hours on his quiet graveyard shift

going through the inventory of white Elantras registered at the university. An up popped one belonging to a Brian Kohlberger. A half an hour later, another WSU officer drove over to the graduate student parking lot and eyeballed the vehicle only to discover the car

now had Washington State plates, not Pennsylvania anymore. Later in the still new morning, this morsel of intelligence, interesting, but certainly nothing provocative, was passed on to Corporal Rhett Payne, the gung-ho former Army MP who was the Moscow police's lead investigator. Payne dutifully typed the car's registration details into the motor vehicle's record system and the screen quickly displayed a photograph of Brian Koberger as well as his state driver's license information. The license revealed that Koberger is a white male and is 36 feet and 185 pounds, but it was the photograph that held Payne's studious gaze. He swiftly zeroed in on the eyebrows. They were bushy. And that, Payne realized with a mounting sense of triumph, was precisely the sort of

telltale clue he had been praying for over the past two weeks. For all along, since the very first days of this grim case, he and the small inner circle of investigators had been guarding an explosive secret. They had an eyewitness. Dylan Mortensen, one of the two 19-year-old surviving roommates, had seen the killer. At a little past 4 a.m., just about when the detectives theorized the four students had been hacked to death, she had heard a plaintiff cry. Anxious, she opened the door to her second floor room and saw someone. A man dressed ominously in black was walking toward her. He was, she would vividly recall, the details forever etched deep in her memory, at least five feet ten, not bulked up, but still trim like an

athlete. And he wore a mask that covered his mouth and nose, but not his eyes or his eyebrows. A profound and vehement fear seized hold of her. A, quote, frozen shock phase was how she would try to describe her galloping emotions. But the black-clad intruder continued past her as if she were invisible and headed toward a sliding glass door that led out of the house. For reasons that continued to be bound tight with the bands of mystery, Dylan returned to her room, locked the door, and did not emerge until after 11 a.m. Only then did she summon friends who, in a state of full-blown panic, at last called 911. But as she later related her unnerving experience to police interrogators, she shared one detail that at the time seemed small, if not irrelevant. The man in black had bushy eyebrows. And now, 16 long days after the murders,

Brett Payne found himself staring at a photograph of a man who might, just might, be the intruder Dylan had seen walking purposefully through her home. There were a few other very notable elements that police would find in the house, which was detailed in the 18-page affidavit written by Payne on December 29th, just ahead of the arrest of Kohlberger. Here's what Payne wrote in that affidavit. I also later noticed what appeared to be a tan leather knife sheath laying on the bed next to Maddie Mogan's right side when viewed from the door. The sheath was later processed and had K-Bar USMC and the United States Marine Corps Eagle Globe and Anchor insignia stamped on the outside of it. The Idaho State Lab later located a single source of male DNA left on the

button snap of the knife sheath. We'll get back to the affidavit in one sec. That single source of male DNA would prove to be crucial, as you will hear later on. In an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show from earlier this year, we talked with CeCe Moore about the DNA that was found at the crime scene. CeCe is known as the DNA detective and is one of the leading experts on what's called genetic genealogy. Listen. I think that he went to great lengths to not leave DNA. He likely had gloves on. He was educated about this. You would think he certainly would have made sure he wasn't leaving DNA behind, but he must have handled that knife sheath earlier when he didn't have gloves on. That's my guess. But I also want to point out that they don't have

to reveal everything they have in the affidavit. And you know that, of course. And so I think it's very possible they have additional DNA. And even if they didn't, they might by now, because I'm sure they've been going through all of that physical evidence batch by batch, sending that to the Idaho Crime Lab and trying to detect any additional DNA. So I don't think we'll really know what they have until this case progresses. And hopefully they will find more DNA or already have. It might be more complex, meaning there might be mixtures of blood. Cases I've worked where there was a frenzied stabbing, almost always the knife has slipped and cut the suspect as well. But then you have a mixture and you might even have a mixture of three people in

this case. Maybe you have his blood plus two of the victim's blood, for instance, and they have to do what's called deconvolution, where they extract out the victim's DNA and are left with just that suspect's DNA. And so it's possible that that could have taken more time, which is possibly why they were focusing on this knife sheath for the affidavit. And speaking of other evidence, here's more from the affidavit. During the processing of the crime scene by the ISP forensic team by first using a presumptive blood test and then amino black, a protein stain that detects the presence of cellular material. The detected shoe print showed a diamond-shaped pattern similar to the pattern of a Vans-type

shoe sole just outside the door of DM's bedroom located on the second floor. This is consistent with DM's statement regarding the suspect's path of travel. Okay, back now to Howard Bloom's reporting. The comings and going of that white Hyundai Elantra, similar to the one Kohlberger owned, would be studied in great detail. This is what we know. On August 21st, 2022, Brian Kohlberger was detained as part of a traffic stop that occurred in Moscow, Idaho, by Corporal Duke. At that time, Kohlberger, who was the sole occupant, was driving a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra with Pennsylvania plate LFZ8649, which was set to expire soon. Kohlberger was reportedly pulled over less than two miles from the site of the murders. In that stop, which occurred just before midnight, he received a ticket for failing to wear a seatbelt, according to the traffic citation. While video of that

encounter has not been released publicly, we know from the affidavit that Kohlberger provided his phone number as ending in 8458 and that investigators conducted electronic database queries to begin to trace that phone number and the pings related to it. We also know that on October 14th, 2022, less than a month before the murders, Brian Kohlberger was detained again as part of a traffic stop by a WSU police officer. This one was for running a red light. And that body cam footage has been released. Take a look. Hi, I'm Officer Luengus. Stops being audio and video recorded. Again, no, I think you know why I stopped you. You ran the red light.

What actually happened was I was stuck in the middle of the intersection. Yeah, I was behind you the whole time. Yeah. time yeah yeah but never even occurred to me that that was actually something wrong i'm actually just from a very rural area so we just don't have crosswalks oh unless i visit an area where there are crosswalks and then it's it's not very frequent yeah i do apologize if i was asking you too many questions about the law. I wasn't trying to like. No, no, no, not at all. Like I understand you're not from here. So investigators had Kohlberger's cell phone data and what did they do with it? They tried to see if they could find where that phone was pinging on the night of and the morning after the murders. This is from the affidavit.

On November 13th, 2022, at approximately 2.42 a.m., the 8458 phone was utilizing cellular resources that provide coverage to 1630 Northeast Valley Road, apartment G201, Pullman, Washington, hereafter the Kohlberger residence. At approximately 2.47 a.m., the 8458 phone utilized cellular resources that provide coverage southeast of the Kohlberger residence, consistent with the 8458 phone leaving the Kohlberger residence and traveling south through Pullman, Washington. This is consistent with the movement of the white Elantra. At approximately 2.47 a.m., the 8458 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 phone is turned off. The 8458 phone does not report to the network again until approximately 4.48 a.m., at which time it utilized cellular resources that provide coverage to Idaho State Highway 95 south

of Moscow, Idaho, near Blaine, Idaho. Between 4.50 a.m. and 5.26 a.m., the phone utilizes cellular resources that are consistent with the 8458 phone traveling south on Idaho State Highway 95 to Genesee, Idaho, then traveling west toward Uniontown, Idaho, then north back to Pullman, Washington. At approximately 530 a.m., the 8458 phone is utilizing resources that provide coverage to Pullman, Washington, and consistent with the phone traveling back to the Kohlberger residence. The 8458 phone's movements are consistent with the movements of the White Elantra that is observed traveling north on Stadium Drive at approximately 5.27 a.m. Based on a review of the 8458 phone's estimated locations and travel, the 8458 phone's travel is consistent with that of the White Elantra.

Further review indicated that the 8458 phone utilized cellular resources on November 13, 2022 that are consistent with the 8458 phone leaving the area of the Kohlberger residence at approximately 9 a.m. and traveling to Moscow, Idaho. Specifically, the 8458 phone utilized cellular resources that would provide coverage to the King Road residence between 9.12 a.m. and 9.21 a.m. The 8458 phone next utilized cellular resources that are consistent with the 8458 phone traveling back to the area of the Kohlberger residence and arriving to the area at approximately 9.32 a.m. Investigators found

that the 8458 phone did connect to a cell phone tower that provides service to Moscow on November 14, 2022, but investigators do not believe the 8458 phone was in Moscow on that date. The 8458 phone has not connected to any towers that provide service to Moscow since that date. We'll get back to the affidavit in a bit. So that's where things stood as of the end of November, or at least as the end of November approached. Christmas was nearing, and the police did not believe that they had enough yet to make an arrest. And now, as Howard Bloom puts it, the discovery that Kohlberger had apparently turned off his phone during the time when the murders occurred was further tantalizing knowledge. But it was not enough, they also sourly realized,

to persuade a judge to issue an arrest warrant. All they could do for now was store this intelligence away until another vital part of the puzzle could be unearthed. The crucial eureka moment that would allow them to tie all the disparate pieces into a firm knot. A knot that not even the most industrious defense attorney could ever hope to unravel. The entire country, or so it often seemed, was complaining that the case was dragging on and on without resolution. It would be a disaster, not just professionally, but also for their own peace of mind, because Moscow was, for many of them, a hometown too. If Kohlberger slipped out of the police's grasp before handcuffs could be

firmly locked around his wrists. And that brings us to the journey that was to come as Brian Kohlberger was set to begin a cross country journey with the FBI and other law enforcement monitoring closely, or at least trying to. And he would have a guest on this journey, his father. As Bloom writes, Michael Kohlberger, the father, was worried about the snow. Only days earlier, he had flown from Philadelphia to Seattle, then caught a twin-engine Embraer 170 jet for the one-hour or so shuttle flight into the frigid Pullman Moscow Regional Airport. And now, December 13th, he was already heading back home. Only this time, it would be a road trip. It was a fatiguing back-and-forth cross-country jaunt, especially for a 67-year-old. But Kohlberger had promised his son Brian,

who had nearly a month off before classes resumed at Washington State University, that he would accompany him on the drive back home for the Christmas break. And he was determined to make good on his pledge. The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel by Doug Brunt. It's officially a New York Times bestseller, as well as an Apple Book of the Year, an Audible Book of the Year. It's even been optioned for a movie. Rave reviews from The Times, The Journal,

Publishers Weekly, and more calling Diesel a wildly enjoyable ride. It is a page-turning thriller about the greatest caper of the 20th century, all involving a man whose name you likely see at the gas station every day, but probably had no idea was at the center of one of the greatest mysteries of all time. Don't miss out on the book everyone's talking about. It will make the perfect gift, The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel. Over the years, there had been some rough combative times between the two of them. He'd even had to get Brian into rehab to kick his teenage heroin habit. But now the young man seemed on a good path. Studying for a PhD in criminal justice offered a promising career trajectory for Brian, and it can be imagined

it must have puffed up a father with a prideful sense of parental accomplishment. After all, Michael's own life had been tarnished by not one but two embarrassing bankruptcies, and his work days were a drudgery, spent as a maintenance man at the dreary high school his three children had attended. Perhaps he was even looking forward to this road trip as a way to revitalize his relationship with his son, a way to bury once and for all any lingering remnants of their old antagonisms. But now Michael, as he'd later recount to an associate, was largely focused only on the forecast. When it snowed in the Northwest, the accumulations were routinely measured in feet, not inches, Michael knew.

And so he wanted to get going. When the weather came in, it would be rough traveling in a seven-year-old Hyundai Elantra without four-wheel drive. You'd be slipping and sliding all over the road. So he urged Brian that they should pack up and get going now. His son agreed. Only once they were on the road, Brian did something his father would later casually share with one of the mechanics at the garage near their home in Albrightville, Pennsylvania, who had serviced the car after the trip, that it caught him by surprise. Before Michael had headed out to Washington, he had Googled the route back home. The quickest, most logical drive was pretty much a straight line plowing across the country along I-90. Brian, however, button hooked south toward Colorado, where he'd pick up I-70. It seemed to make little

sense. Colorado in mid-December was snow country. There was no telling what might suddenly come blowing down from the Rockies. But Brian, according to what his father told people, insisted the northern route across I-90 promised wintry conditions, better to head away from the weather, even if it added hours or even a day to the trip. It was a strategy that when explained that reasonable way was practical, even prudent. But it seemed like something more devious to the FBI. Unknown to either the father or the son, the Bureau had been determined to keep a watchful eye on that white Hyundai's track across America. Only sources and law enforcement would confide with a bristle of embarrassment not long after the car had pulled out of its space in the Graduate Housing parking lot

fronting 1630 Northeast Valley Road in Pullman, Washington. They lost it for several alarming hours or more. The authorities are keeping the precise details of the screw-up very close to the vest for reasons you could understand. The chief suspect in a quadruple homicide that had shocked the nation had seemingly vanished. The Bureau's watchers called it a hatbox operation, and the jargon was a throwback to an era when G-men sporting fedoras would be out in force on the street to monitor a target's every move. A sea of hats would box the suspect in. These days, the watchers have a few more tricks at their disposal. Undercover vehicles, surveillance vans, low-flying fixed-wing planes, and that's just for starters. But the name has

stuck. And the surveillance on Brian Kohlberger, according to published reports and interviews with officials, was hatboxed all the way. But as Kohlberger headed across the country, in the very car they believed had been captured in the blurry surveillance footage, his father mystifyingly at his side, they had lost him even before the hat box op could get underway. A mood of panic rapidly escalated into one of despair. Frantically, they began to search the records of automated license plate readers or ALPRs in nearby states. It was an exercise in futility. Nothing. Not a single hit. Then they got lucky. U.S. Route 6 passes straight through the small town of Loma, Colorado.

And eight years ago, the Colorado Department of Transportation thought it was high time to install Loma's first traffic light. It went up in 2015 at the bustling, things being relative, of course, intersection of Route 6 and Highway 139. It wasn't long after that when the engineers decided they might as well affix an ALPR to the light pole. And on December 13th, it caught Washington State Plate CFB 8708, the white 2015 Elantra, registered to Brian Kohlberger. And we should pause here in Bloom's reporting to note that the FBI disputes that they ever lost Kohlberger during his trip across the country. Quote, the FBI is aware of reports detailing alleged FBI surveillance on Brian Kohlberger.

An FBI spokesperson said there are anonymous sources providing false information to the media. For his part, Bloom points to the affidavit itself and its curious wording, which notes the following, quote, Investigators believe that Kohlberger is still driving the 2015 white Elantra because his vehicle was captured on December 13th, 2022, by a license plate reader in Loma, Colorado. Bloom says his sources were within the FBI, that he trusts them, and he stands by his reporting. Speaking of Bloom's reporting, back to it here. With this sighting, the hatbox op was once again underway. The watchers would keep their eyes covertly on the car all the way to Pennsylvania. Fate had mercifully bestowed on them a second chance, and they were determined not to stumble. Still, they were not prepared for what happened next. The interstate was as flat and

empty as the landscape. Any threat of snow had vanished. The dome of sky above I-70 was reassuringly blue. In Michael Kohlberger's calm and steady universe, there was no reason to suspect that the FBI was lurking in the shadows. Even the suggestion of such clandestine goings-on would likely have struck him as preposterous. But then, as the Hyundai crept through Hancock County, Indiana, something changed. At 1041 on the morning of December 15th, as the car approached the 107-mile marker on the interstate, Brian Kohlberger saw red and blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror. Can you imagine? A sheriff's car was demanding that the vehicle pull over. Brian obeyed. He waited behind the wheel as the officer approached. What would happen next seemed destined to play out as high drama.

At the very least, the car approximately fit the description of a vehicle observed in the aftermath of a quadruple murder. The driver the Moscow Police Department had alerted the nation was to be considered a person of interest in their investigation. As Deputy Nick Ernstis walked with slow, measured steps toward the passenger side of the Hyundai, where Michael sat, there seemed to be no escape. There would be no springing free. The time of reckoning had arrived, only as the tape from Ernstis' body cam revealed. The ensuing confrontation was all denouement, more farce than tragedy. The conversation between the Kohlbergers and the deputy moved forward with its own abstruse logic, a litany of non sequiturs that seemed as

if it had been inspired by a madcap Abbott and Costello routine. When the deputy officiously demands where they are heading, Brian's response suggests nothing more than a casual drive. We're going to get some Thai food right now. That's when the father decides it's his turn to play the straight man. Well, we're coming from WSU. Here's some of that incredible encounter captured on Bodycam. Oh, okay. So y'all work at the university there? To the Indiana deputy, the initials have no meaning. It's all beyond him. So both the father and son, eager to please, attempt to remedy the confusion, and in the process only add to the officer's puzzlement. He can't decide whether both of them work at the university or who, in fact, is the student, or if they've headed out from Washington state on a cross-country road trip

to get Thai food in Pennsylvania. In the end, perhaps eager to escape from this madness, he warns them not to tailgate and lets them go without a ticket. As the body cam footage ends, it is difficult to discern who's happier to be driving off, the Kohlbergers or the deputy. Yet a quick nine minutes after they're back on the interstate, Brian once again sees flashing lights in his rearview mirror. The Kohlbergers are stopped again. This time, it's a state trooper who pulls them over. And here again, we can watch some of the body cam of that remarkable interaction. stopped me when you're driving by me there. You're a little bit back at semi. I'm not going to give you guys another ticket or warning if you just got stopped. Just make sure you give me some money. Once more, at the very least, their car should create a shock of recognition

after the nationwide Moscow PD vehicle alert. It's a ticking bomb. Only against all odds, they're again simply reprimanded for tailgating and sent on their way without a ticket. Former CIA analyst and the creator of the CIA's deception detection program, Phil Houston, he's actually a human lie detector, joined us earlier this year about these traffic stops. He gave his expert opinion on Kohlberger's exchanges in them. Watch this. When he asked, where are you going? When a police officer stops you on the side of the road and says, where are you going? He's looking for your destination, so to speak.

And Brian lies about, conceals the destination and really lies about what they're actually doing, which is traveling all the way across country, you know, from Washington to Pennsylvania. He says instead, he answers, we're just going to get some Thai food right now. Brian clearly doesn't want to engage the officer at all. He doesn't want to give him any information. His dad recognizes, I think, how bad Brian's answer sounded. And therefore, he's the one that got them back on the right path saying, look, we're from Washington state and, you know, and we're going elsewhere. You know, we do have a destination. More from Bloom here and his reporting that draws from his

conversations with sources inside the FBI. Yet unbeknownst to either the father or the son, it will be only a matter of time before their luck runs out. And while Michael's previous worries did not come to fruition, this one will. And what were the FBI thinking as they, from a discreet distance, observed their targets being pulled over not only once, but mind-bogglingly twice by the authorities? There is an iron rule, law enforcement veterans will tell you, that in any long-running op, the unexpected is to be expected at any time. The outrageous, in fact, must be regarded as inevitable. Yet, according to sources familiar with the Bureau's skittish temperament, as these two unanticipated traffic stops played out, knowing patience was not the guiding standard that

December day. The agents were frustrated and they were angry. The possibilities were too dangerous. The main problem, shared law enforcement officials with an arm's length familiarity with the FBI surveillance operation, was the watchers' helpless passivity. All they could do was observe from a distance and wonder, had diligent Indiana lawmen spotted the car traveling down the interstate and immediately connected it to the white Hyundai that was wanted by the Moscow PD? Were the locals about to make an arrest before the final incriminating piece had been fitted into the puzzle? If that happened, it had the potential to be a catastrophe.

The suspect would be alerted, and perhaps then, if he was advised by a canny lawyer, the army of investigators would never have the opportunity to make their airtight case. Their second concern, however, was an even more dangerous prospect. Was the suspect armed? Would someone who they believed had killed four people hesitate to kill again? Would the highway cops become victims too? Or would the suspect simply gun the Hyundai and race down the highway? The spectacle of another OJ-like chase might be imminent. In the end, none of the apprehensive watcher's anxieties came to fruition. But a hard lesson, according to what other law enforcement officials heard, had been learned. This case had to be wrapped up soon. If not, anything could happen.

There were too many imponderables. Time was not on their side. In the antsy days following the Kohlberger's arrival, at last, in the Poconos, on the afternoon of December 16, the Moscow police suffered through variable moods. There were bursts when there was no denying that a great push forward was underway. Corporal Brett Payne, the PD's lead investigator, obtained a search warrant. And then a day later on December

23rd, he received those records of Kohlberger's cell phone for the 24 hours before and after the homicides, the ones we told you about earlier when we were quoting from the affidavit. Just as the case was nearing the finish line, cops in Moscow moaned they had no choice but to hand it off to the Pennsylvania State Police. Kohlberger was now on the state's playing field. They'd be the ones who would take the ball over the goal line. Major Chris Paris had been handpicked by the FBI to run the op for the stateies, and he was a shrewd choice. He looked like a linebacker, and he had a gruff, no-nonsense edge. But he was also a thoughtful, scholarly man. He'd graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton, and he went on to get a law degree from Temple. And perhaps most valuable given the circumstances, Paris possessed

a lawyerly sense of discretion. He shared the secret that a suspect was in the crosshairs with just an eight-person working group. A leak, a promiscuous whisper, and the whole case might be blown. For although Kohlberger was unaware, apparently, of it, at the time, the Stadys and the suspect were playing an intricate game of cat and mouse. There was Kohlberger, observed taking his Hyundai in for servicing at a garage in Effort, Pennsylvania, not far from his parents' home. Next, he spotted wearing gloves as he gives the vehicle a meticulous cleaning. And, of course, these are actions that can mean nothing or everything. It just depends on the preconceived notions that influence your judgment. A little harder to dismiss, though, is Kohlberger's sneaking over to deposit some trash in a neighbor's garbage pail at around 4 a.m. one morning.

Getting rid of incriminating evidence or just a bit of mischief. Once again, evil is in the eye of the beholder. But all this was before the great trash robbery. That was what some wags at Troop N, the state police barracks that was running the surveillance op, later dubbed pilfering. On December 27, Major Paris received a request from the FBI to plunder the trash bins outside the Kohlberger residence. That same day, once the stateys were certain no one was looking, two troopers swooped in and made off with a pile of the Kohlberger's family distritis. The purloined parcel was quickly shipped across the country to Meridian, Idaho. There, at the Idaho State Police Crime Lab on South Stratford Drive, a forensic team

went to work sorting through the trash. It turned out to be a treasure trove. For all along, the Moscow police had been holding on tight to a second secret, one that was no less charged than the statement from the eyewitness. A knife sheath stamped with the U.S. Marine Corps Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia had been found lying on the bed next to Maddie Mogan's bloody corpse. And from the sheath's button snap, a speck of male DNA had been recovered. It was a minuscule sample, but it was all that was needed. When compared to Michael Kohlberger's DNA lifted from the garbage that had been clandestinely carried off, it proved nearly conclusively, the techies confidently rejoiced, that it was his son's DNA on that knife sheath.

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The next day, December 29, a triumphant Brett Payne sat down to finalize the arrest warrant for Brian Kohlberger. When he was done, he had no time to enjoy the moment of high achievement. Instead, full of a tense urgency and animating conviction that every moment counted, he hand-delivered the 18-page document to the courthouse. Moments after Judge Megan Marshall signed off, a call was made to Pennsylvania. It's a go, Major Paris was told. Here's how Payne wrote about the discovery in the affidavit. On December 27th, 2022, Pennsylvania agents recovered the trash from the Kohlberger family residence located in Albrightville, PA. That evidence was sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing. On December 28th, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA

profile obtained from the sheath identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of suspect profile. At least 99.9998% of the male, would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect's biological father. And here is CeCe Moore on the trash pull. This is pretty common when investigative genetic genealogy has pointed law enforcement toward a certain individual or family. And they'll do what's called a trash pull. If they can't just follow that person and pick something up that they dropped, then they'll typically resort's called a trash pull. If they can't just follow that person and pick something up that they dropped, then they'll typically resort to waiting for that person to put their trash out on the curb. And most states allow this.

It's considered abandoned at that point. And then they go through the trash and try to find an item that might have DNA on it. But when it's a home like this, a household where there's multiple people, they don't know exactly whose DNA they're going to get. More from Bloom. Dynamic entry is only used to serve an arrest warrant when the threat matrix is code red. You go in with overwhelming force, pounding down the doors, breaking windows and setting off explosive devices. The strategy is meant not just to surprise the suspect, but also to scare the living daylights out of him. Because there's one thing that's always rising up in the mind of any tactical cop charging through the front door.

If the target's waiting inside to ambush you, it doesn't matter too much what sort of tactics you use. This is his turf. He has the advantage. And if he's determined not to give up without a fight, bad things can happen. At just after midnight on December 30, a Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team, or CERT, S-E-R-T, assembled at the gray barn-like Troop N Barracks in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. There were about 24 of them, the usual 16 entry team members and maybe eight sharpshooters. And they were packing. Glock 40 caliber pistols were generally the weapon of choice, and the point men, as a rule, carried two pistols. Those who would be the first through the door were also armed with stubby black HK MP5

submachine guns. It was a brutal weapon, particularly in an enclosed space. The backups had short-barreled Remington 870 12 gauges. It was a shotgun meant for killing, not wounding. And over military-style camo uniforms, they wore heavy, load-bearing, tactical body armor, fitted out with level four strike plates. The early morning arrest of Brian Kohlberger would be a code red op, dynamic entry all the way. It was so quiet, it seemed as if the cocking of a single rifle would rouse people from their slumber. But then all hell broke loose. A door flew off its hinges, windows shattered, explosive charges boomed. The CERT team stormed the stunned Kohlberger's white clappered home. In the end,

without a single shot being fired, Brian Kohlberger was white clappered home. In the end, without a single shot being fired, Brian Kohlberger was let off in handcuffs. I recognize the frustration with the lack of information that's been released. However, providing any details in this criminal investigation might have tainted the upcoming criminal prosecution or alerted the suspect of our progress. Mr. Kohlberger was taken into custody without incident. The scene was turned over to the FBI evidence response team for processing. Mr. Kohlberger was then turned over to the Monroe County Prison, where he has remained in their custody since. On January 4th, shackled and in a red jumpsuit, Kohlberger was flown in a tiny fixed-wing single-engine Pilatus across the country.

The plane landed at Moscow-Polman Regional Airport, the same airport where, only about three weeks earlier, Michael Kohlberger had arrived in anticipation of a convivial road trip with his son. But as Bloom writes, nothing in this case would be easy. There existed quite a few bad facts. Bad facts is a phrase defense lawyers like to bandy about cause affidavit that police used to obtain Kohlberger's arrest, as well as those in the laundry list of seemingly provocative items found in a search of Kohlberger's apartment in Washington, are indeed disturbing. Item. The affidavit cites a shoe with a diamond-shaped pattern

similar to the pattern of a Vans-type shoe style found at the scene of the crime. Well, does Kohlberger own a pair of Vans? And even if it is established that he does, there's a photo that shows at least one person in the house on King Road wearing Vans prior to the murders. Item. The cell phone tower data that links Kohlberger to the scene

of the murders is more an approximation of his whereabouts than an exact location. And being in the vicinity is not at all the same as being at the scene of the crime. More damaging, the affidavit with a remarkable candor admits to some confusion in this sort of analysis. Quote, investigators found that the phone did connect to a cell phone tower that provides service to Moscow on November 14th, 2022. But investigators do not believe the phone was in Moscow on that date. What? The prosecution is stating that the cell phone evidence is correct only some of the time. How's that going to fly with a jury? Item, the white Hyundai Elantra. While there are photos of the car zooming through the Moscow streets on the night of the murder,

there is no clear photo of Kohlberger at the wheel that evening. Not a single one. Item, the DNA on the knife sheath snap. It is apparently touch DNA. That is, it's derived from a fingerprint rather than a drop of blood. And that's pretty shaky evidence, often more guesswork than science. The courtroom reality is that in case after case, touch DNA has been tarnished by a motley collection of false positive results. A smart defense attorney might argue that there's just as much likelihood of touch DNAs being accurate as a jurors winning the lottery. Who would want to condemn someone to execution based on those odds? Item, the eyewitness identification. Well, a lot of people have bushy eyebrows and the testimony from a witness who was in quote frozen shock phase, as she put it,

might be problematic at best. And that's without even getting into why she waited seven hours or so before making sure the police were notified. the poignant truth might very well be that Dylan Mortensen, although she was not physically attacked, was another victim that night and that she is in no shape to take the witness stand to face a rapid firing, if not mean-spirited, defense counsel. Item, the murder weapon. Where is it? The police have not found the long bladed knife used in the killings and they have so far not been able to establish that Kohlberger owned such a weapon. But arguably the most perplexing question that the prosecutors will have to wrestle with if they hope to persuade a jury is why? Why? What was the motive for someone to kill four college students in cold blood? And so far there isn't an answer, but the exploration for a motive needs to take us

into an examination of Brian Kohlberger himself, who he was at an early age, who he became, an attempt to get inside his head and really learn about what makes this guy tick. As it turns out, the trip into the psyche of Brian Kohlberger would be a fascinating and deeply disturbing one. And that is where we will pick up next episode. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.