Police issued 60 warrants while investigating Bryan Kohberger
Cops investigating Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger have issued more than SIXTY warrants to major firms including Amazon, Doordash, Reddit and Tinder
- More than 60 warrants were issued to companies while police investigated Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger
- The companies included in the list are: Amazon, Doordash, Meta, Reddit, and Tinder, among others
- Kohberger is accused of killing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13 in Moscow, Idaho
Police have issued more than 60 warrants to companies including Doordash, Verizon, Tinder, and Reddit while investigating Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger – but the findings remain under lock and key.
Shortly after the alleged murderer, 28, was extradited to Idaho for the November 13 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, a gag order was put in place, barring attorneys, law enforcement agencies and others associated with the case from talking or writing about it.
Among the 750 pages of documents are warrants to more than 60 companies, including Doordash, Verizon, Reddit, Amazon, Match Group – which owns Tinder – and Meta, among many others.
Early on in the case, internet sleuths claimed they found a Reddit account that made accurate predictions about the case reportedly before the information was released publicly. He also allegedly used as student to conduct a study of criminals’ decision-making.
The documents under the gag order ‘contain highly intimate facts or statements…which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person,’ the judge said. The documents are also sealed due to the fact that it ‘might threaten the safety of or endanger the life or safety of individuals.’
More than 60 warrants were issued to companies like Doordash, Verizon, Tinder, and Reddit while police investigated Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger, but what was found in the reports remains under lock and key due to the gag order
Shortly after the alleged murderer, 28, was extradited to Idaho for the November 13 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, a gag order was put in place , barring attorneys, law enforcement agencies and others associated with the case from talking or writing about it
Goncalves’ family’s attorney Shanon Gray filed an appeal against the gag order earlier last month, calling it ‘facially overbroad and vague’ and unconstitutional, claiming it violated their right to free speech.
‘As [an] attorney for one of the Victim’s families, I am allowed to relay to the media any of the opinions, views, or statements of those family members regarding any part of the case,’ Gray said.
Kohberger’s lawyer, public defender Anne Taylor, filed an objection to the appeal, saying it doesn’t violate First Amendment rights and is not ‘facially vague.’
‘If Mr. Gray truly intends only to voice his clients’ thoughts and opinions, then the Court’s previous exemption has already cured the supposed First Amendment infirmity – Mr. Gray’s clients may voice these thoughts and opinions themselves – as they have clearly been doing,’ wrote Jay Weston Logsdon, an attorney with Taylor’s office.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson noted that the victims’ families, particularly the Goncalveses, could take the stand.
‘The members of the Goncalves family, who are represented by Gray, are potential witnesses in this case, including at trial and/or sentencing,’ he wrote in an affidavit Wednesday.
Thirty news organizations have also asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the gag order.
The coalition of news organizations contends that it violates the right to free speech by prohibiting it from happening in the first place.
‘Justice cannot survive behind walls of silence. For that reason, “a responsible press has always been regarded as the handmaiden of effective judicial administration, especially in the criminal field,”‘ coalition attorney Wendy Olson wrote in the court filing, quoting historic court rulings about prior restraints on free speech.
Internet sleuths found an account on Reddit that appeared to know information about the case before it was released, which many believed was Kohberger
Despite the public interest in the case, there have not been any notable leaks of information that would prejudice Kohberger’s right to a fair trial, Olson said.
The news organizations in the coalition would have published additional information about the slayings if the gag order wasn’t in place, she wrote.
For instance, police in Pennsylvania told one reporter they can’t say whether they are reviewing unsolved cases that could be linked to Kohberger because of the gag order, and the mayor of Moscow told another reporter he can’t talk about overall community healing.
Several journalists have had public record requests rejected or left unfilled because agencies in Idaho and Washington fear they would run afoul of the order.
‘Petitioners do not make the news; they report the news. They cannot report what they cannot gather,’ Olson wrote.
Kohberger was arrested on December 30 by a SWAT team at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania as they moved to search his apartment at Washington State University.
He has previously indicated that he believes he will ‘be exonerated’, though his family is unable to pay for him to have private representation.
Kohberger is yet to enter a plea for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Authorities released the probable cause affidavit against Kohberger just before his first hearing in Moscow, Idaho, on January 5.
It reveals how he turned his phone off on the night of the murders in an alleged attempt to cover his tracks.
He is even alleged to have returned to the scene of the crime at 9am on November 13 – just hours after police believe he committed the quadruple murder.
The documents say that the criminal justice graduate stalked the property at least 12 times.
Among the 750 pages that are under lock and key are warrants to more than 60 companies, including Doordash, Verizon, Reddit, Amazon, Match Group – which owns Tinder – and Meta, among many others
Kohberger has yet to enter a plea for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin
The group of four were killed in their off-campus home on November 13
Officials have not revealed the exact dates they believe he canvassed the three-story property but confirmed that, in August, he was pulled over just two minutes after leaving the area covered by the cell phone tower closest to the home.
A Latah County Sheriff’s deputy pulled him over on August 21 at 11.37pm as part of a traffic stop – in which he provided his number.
During the stop, which was recorded on the officer’s body cam, Kohberger was driving his white Hyundai Elantra.
The papers also included details on how Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath close to the bodies of Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Authorities are still hunting for the murder weapon.
Companies that were issued warrants in Bryan Kohberger case
Amazon
American Express
Apple
AT&T
Bank of America
Banner Bank in Spokane, Washington
Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.)
Blue Ridge Knives in Marion, Virginia
Charter Communications
Cloud networking company Extreme Networks
Coeur d’Alene Police Department Forensic Lab
Discover Bank
DoorDash
Ebay
Elan Financial Services
Idaho Central Credit Union
Idaho Department of Labor
Inland Cellular
KA-BAR Knives
Match Group LLC
Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company
Moscow Police Department Forensic Lab
Numerica Credit Union
Paypal/Venmo
Potlatch No 1 Financial Credit Union
Snapchat
Umpqua Bank
Umpqua Bank
UPS
Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Wal-Mart
Washington State University
Wells Fargo
Yahoo
Yik Yak
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