Police in Moscow, Idaho, were portrayed as in over their heads throughout their murder investigation into the slaying of four college students, but it appears the department was merely keeping its cards close to its vest so as not to alert now-arrested suspect Bryan Kohberger.
“[Moscow police] were willing to take it on the chin, from the public, from the press, from local critics, in order to keep the case clean and keep the investigation going,” John Miller, a CNN law enforcement analyst and former New York Police Department deputy commissioner, told the network.
Doubt in local law enforcement quickly ballooned as the probe stretched from days to then weeks after the Nov. 13 killings.
Moscow police’s statement that this was a targeted killing and there was no threat to the greater public — a stance they would reverse days later — affected the public’s confidence, according to the Daily Mail.
Multiple outlets began to report on the possibility of the case going cold, such as Business Insider and Newsweek, as a suspect went unnamed for a month after the slayings. And the parents of the deceased University of Idaho students criticized the department for keeping them in the dark about the investigation, according to NBC News.
Mr. Kohberger’s arrest on Dec. 30 in Pennsylvania, and the unsealed affidavit during his first court appearance in Idaho last week, revealed that police in Moscow had a bead on their suspect soon after the killings, contrary to public opinion.
“There’s a lot of people in the public that need to apologize to the police department,” Joe Giacalone, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired NYPD sergeant, told CNN.
For instance, police had already tied the white Hyundai Elantra to Mr. Kohberger by the time that notice was put out to the public in early December.
Details about one of the surviving roommates seeing a suspect on the night of the killings that matched Mr. Kohberger’s profile — “5’ 10” or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to the affidavit — was also not known until last week’s court hearing.
And the DNA sample taken from the sheath of the suspected murder weapon that further solidified Moscow police’s case against Mr. Kohberger was kept under wraps until the affidavit went public on Jan. 5.
Torrey Lawrence, the University of Idaho provost and executive vice president, told CNN that he was grateful Moscow police were tight-lipped about their leads, despite the criticism.
“I’m just so thankful that they stayed committed to that case and to sharing only what they could share so that they didn’t disrupt the investigation,” Mr. Lawrence said. “If they had shared more, we could wonder would Mr. Kohberger have been able to elude them.”
Mr. Kohberger is accused of murdering Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, at their off-campus home near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13.
He was extradited to Idaho and booked at the Latah County jail last Wednesday. The suspect was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary at his initial court hearing a day later. Mr. Kohberger did not enter a plea at the hearing.
He will have a status hearing before the court on Thursday.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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