Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger’s Defense Expert Makes a Stunning Reversal (8/3/26)

Transcript

Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger’s Defense Expert Makes a Stunning Reversal (8/3/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the lead up to Brian Colberger's trial, there was an
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: expert that was hired by the defense and his name
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is Siree. Now, Siree is a former Arizona homicide investigator,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: but now he deals in digital forensics and geolocation. And
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: as we were marching towards the trial, he was one
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of the experts that was relied heavily upon by the defense. Well,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: now that Brian Colberger has attempted to withdraw his plea,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: mister Sirae is coming out and saying that if Brian
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Colberger gets a new trial, that he should face the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: death penalty. And that's because, according to Siree, the prosecution
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: missed some forensic evidence during their investigation. So let's dive
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: into this article from box News and let's see what
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: they have to say. Headline, Brian Colberger's former defense expert
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: calls for death penalty, says investigators missed key evidence. This
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: article was authored by Michael Ruiz, admitted Idaho murderer Brian
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Colberger should get a new trial and face the death penalty.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: According to a digital forensics expert hired by the defense
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: who says investigators miss damning evidence against the thirty year
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: old former criminology PhD student. Evidence, he told Fox News
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: digital investigators never properly analyzed or incorporated into the prosecution's case. Well,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that's not very reassuring, not exactly what you want to hear, right,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: And look, I know that there's a lot of evidence
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and there's a lot of information that the prosecution has
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to go through, but how do you miss something that's damning?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, you would think with all the people that
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: were involved FBI, etc. That they'd have everything on the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: up and up, But according to Siree, there was some
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: stuff they missed. Siree is a former Arizona homicide investigator
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: who is now an expert on digital forensics, geolocation, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: similar data. Colberger's lawyers hired him as an expert witness
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: for the defense before Colberger pleaded guilty to avoid the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: death penalty for the home invasion murder of Kailee Gonsalvez,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Madison Mogan, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. Colberger, now serving
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: four consecutive sentences of life in prison without parole, petitioned
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the court last week to withdraw his guilty plea and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: seek post conviction relief, which could send the case to
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: trial and put the potential death penalty back in play.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Like this is a big gamble, right if Colberger gets
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: a new trial, which I have my doubts about, but
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: if he does, he's literally playing with fire. And I
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: think that if he does get a new trial, he's
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: going to end up with the death penalty because I
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: believe that Brian Colbert is guilty. Now, with that said,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to look at whatever evidence is provided. If
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: there's some evidence saying that Coburger's not the guy, I'd
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: love to see it. But as of now, I haven't
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: seen that evidence. Bring back the death penalty. Ray told
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: journalist Brian Enton in a new podcast, I'm all for this.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: He said he is confident that Coburger would be convicted
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and claim that Coburger's smartphone data is much more incriminating
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: than was revealed previously when police in the courts un
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: sealed thousands of pages of evidence in the case. Yo,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I want to see it. I would love to see
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the documents. Right, Let's dive into him and see what's what.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And remember, when we're going through a trial, we only
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: get a fraction of what the prosecution has, and then
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: later on down the road maybe we get some more,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: but for the most part, we're not getting even a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: fraction of what they have, right, especially when it comes
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: to video and shit like that. I one hundred percent
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: believe that the offender who is Brian Coberger. There is
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: no alternative theory in my head at this point, Ray
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: said in the eighty two minute episode, which also included
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Gonsalva's parents, Christy and Steve, and their older sister Olivia.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I have one hundred percent believe he's been in the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: house before. That's possible, but I think he would have
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: stood out like a sore thumb. I mean, Brian Colberger
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: is not exactly what you would call a popular guy,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: not somebody that's showing up the frat parties, right, So
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: he would have been somebody that stands out, and I'm
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: pretty sure somebody would have been like, who's this dude
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: hanging out here that nobody knows? Hey, Mike, you know
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: this dude is I know when I was younger, that's
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: how our frat parties were. Oh so and so is
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: here with so and so, And if there was somebody
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: at the house. You didn't know. You find out who
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: they are. But I guess maybe things were different up
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: in Moscow. I don't know, a much more trusting environment.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Perhaps I want to college at UNLV, things were a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: little bit different. Ray told Enton that the evidence he
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: reviewed shows Coburger potentially inside the victim's home or at
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: least in proximity outside, and at other places when they
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: were present prior to the murders. He also told Fox
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: News Digital that he didn't have to address this evidence
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: in his own expert report filed by the defense in
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: January of twenty twenty five, because he based it only
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: on the contents of the reports produced by prosecution experts,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: which left out something called a Location Database of Record
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: or locdboor report that he alleges contains damning new information
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: about Coburger's movements in his semester at Washington State University. Look,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I've said from the jump, I think he cased the house.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: He was somebody that was around the house quite a bit.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Now was he inside, I don't know. According to mister Ray,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: he believes he was. I don't know if I buy that,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: but maybe I'm not saying no, but I I would
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: think that somebody would remember Brian Kolberger if he was
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: at that house, you know, one of the other fraternity
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: brothers or sorority sisters or somebody. Ray acknowledged that his
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: January twenty twenty five report appears different from his current
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: public comments, but said the report evaluated only the prosecution's
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: work product, not the underlying AT and T records. He
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: says investigators never mapped Why wouldn't they do that? Were
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: they too busy? Why aren't you mapping everything, especially considering
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you have a guy that was working for the defense
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: who's pointing out how bad that was and how damning
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: those records could have been. My summary of no evidence
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: is based on that work product and the work product
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that the state had put together at the time. He
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: told Fox News Digital, I can't put in my defense report. Hey,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: if you guys would just look at the loc DBOR
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: report here, you'll solve your case and have a really
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: rock solid case. But I can put here are some
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: follow up by it that I would expect you guys
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: to do. And one of the things is you'll see
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: repeated over and over, you have to map all the data.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Please go map the data. Speaking on the podcast. Ray
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: said the locd bo R report contains location data that
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: he believes shows coburger stalk the victims. Fox News Digital
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: has not independently reviewed the locd bo R report either,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: as it's not among thousands of pages of unsealed core
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: documents in the case. So we have to take his
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: word for it, okay, But like usual, I'll take it
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: with a grain of salt until I see the report
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: for myself. I'm not going to say one way or
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the other that it's guaranteed or not. We have to
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: see the paperwork, right. If you look at the precise measurements,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: there's probably five that land directly on what would be
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the living room of the house. Ray told Entin, like
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the latitude longitude is the physical house itself, and if
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you put the house back on the map and you
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: map those the hits or inside the house. So look,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: maybe he was at the house when nobody was there,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: that's possible. Did he break in and rifle around a
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: little bit and get familiar with the layout, that's definitely possible.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: But I don't think he was invited there, you know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: as part of a party or something like that. I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: think people would remember, so he might have broken into
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: this house when nobody was there and did god knows what.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: But besides that, I don't know if he was in
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the house as far as you know, invited out for
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a party or something. I think that's a bit of
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: a stretch. But all of that said, if what mister
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Ray is saying is true here, then the data puts
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Brian Colberger at the house. I just want to make
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: sure I understand correctly because I haven't heard this before.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So you're saying, based on the data that you saw
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the latitude longitude of Brian Colberger, Samsung was in the
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: living room, and NAST the AT and T derived latitude
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: longitude from the AT and T network that it estimates
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a location. It lands in the house, and it's a
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: twenty five meter range, so we're talking seventy five feet,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: so it could be anywhere in the house, on any floor.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Ray said, It could technically be outside the house, it
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: could be on the property, but it's showing in the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: immediate area. My personal opinion is when I look at
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: those and I map what's happening before and after, and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at all the other evidence, I think that
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: these are accurate locations. Speaking with Fox News Digital, He
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: said he couldn't be certain what Coburger was actually or
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: actually went inside, but the geolocation data is damning in
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: other ways. So my guess is if he did go
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: in the house, like I just said, he broke in
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: one way or the other. The door was left open,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: you know, something happened. Speaking with Fox News Digital, he
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: said he couldn't be certain that Coburger actually went inside,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: but the geolocation data is damning in other ways. What's
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: really telling is there times where he's in that area
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: and then you'll see one of the victim's phones move
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: over to this little A and W place, and then
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: his phone moves over. Ray told Fox News Digital and
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the idea that you know, these are just total random
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: and there's no accuracy to it. We're actually seeing phones
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: tracked together. Ray said on the podcast that his theory
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: is that Mogan was Coberger's primary target due to the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: number of times he could trace their phones to similar locations,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: but he noted later that Mogan was often with Gonsalves
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and their phones moved together a lot. Look, that's been
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: my assessment, and the reason I say that is because
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that's where the evidence has led us. Now, granted we
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: don't have rock solid evidence, and that's just my theory.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I believe that Maddie was the target, he said, adding
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that repeated collisions between their phones placed them in roughly
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the same area at the same time, including out a
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Pullman party the first week of school, and at the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: A and W store near the King Road crime scene.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: He also flagged what he described as Coburger's broader pattern
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of life, pointing to evidence of stalking before the murders. Yeah,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: that was Brian Kolberger. Mister, O'm innocent out here stalking people.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Because the state's work product didn't use the data, he said.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: His report only pushed back on what the state's witnesses used,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: which he said is lacking and missed the phone collisions entirely.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: I'm unable to locate any period of time between June
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: twenty third, twenty twenty two and November thirteenth, twenty twenty
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: two where mister Colberger's mobile device is in the same
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: specific area as any of the deceased mobile devices. He
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: wrote that pattern of life was also broken on the
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: night of the murders, when Ray said he believes the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: plant to target Mogan went awry and resulted in him
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: fleeing south, where he'd never driven before. Sure sounds a
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: lot like my theory, huh, And listen, the only reason
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I think that is because it's the most logical theory
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: when we use the evidence we have. But I'm open
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: to the evidence wherever it leads us. While prosecutors alleged
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: that Colberger had visited the crime scene a dozen times
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: before the murders and at least once the morning after,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: they have not pointed to collisions with any of the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: victims the way Ray described in the podcast. In a
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: news briefing after Coburger's guilty plead, the case lead investigators
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: said they didn't know who the target was. The evidence
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: suggested that there was a reason that this particular house
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: was chosen. Said then Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne, what
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the reason is? We don't know. We don't know who
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the target was, and we're not going to speculate on
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: that up here today, but we can tell you that
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, mister Coburger chose that residence. Perhaps it's
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the location layout, we don't know. And when they were
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: asked by Fox News Digital if they had a motive,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: lead investigators replied, we don't. Ray has maintained that investigators
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: missed the evidence and should go back into take another
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: look in case Coberger's attempt to withdraw his plea and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: appeal his conviction succeeds. They need to get experts who
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: actually know what the hell they're looking at, and they
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: need to rebuild the case now, he said. Morgan Wright,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: another expert on digital forensics who's not connected to the case,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: said he's skeptical without seeing the locd BOR data firsthand.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Show me the report, show me the map, said right,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the host of Crime Reconstructed and the CEO and founder
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, don't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: tell me, show me. Look. I'm with them on that.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Let's see it. The days of me just trusting people
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: are long over. Wright, who's been following the case, that
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: he hasn't seen LOCDBOR references in connection with the investigation
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: prior to the podcast interview. Ray argues that the records
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: speak for themselves if investigators are willing to revisit them.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: After Coburger's guilty plea, Ray said he offered to do
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a debrief with the FBI to show the evidence. He
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: said he found and they missed. He said he got
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: no response, but added that he has presented before hundreds
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of law enforcement agencies around the country going back to November.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: He said, last week, Coburger filed a petition for a
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: post conviction relief, claiming he had ineffective counsel from his
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: defense team. So ridiculous, I mean, come on, absolutely ridiculous.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Ray also speculated that Coberger's post conviction petition was part
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: of a broader legal strategy by his lead defense attorney,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Anne Taylor. Despite the plea agreements waiver of most appeal rights.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: That's possible because Ann Taylor knows her shit. Coburger pleaded
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: guilty to avoid the death penalty. This can never be
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the standard investigation that we see in cases. Ray said,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: this can never be acceptable. However, he said he's confident
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Colburger would be convicted any way at trial if investigators
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: introduced the evidence he found while working with Taylor. The
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: time is now to start this investigation over. Ray said
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Colberger had followed other people in Moscow, Pullmon area. He said,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a pair of college towns on the border of Washington
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: and Idaho. I think he had multiple targets throughout the
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: entire Moscow Pullmon area. Ray said, location information and pattern
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: of life is by far the most telling. Ray said
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: he had no doubt that Coburger committed the murders. If
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: he ever does walk, he will kill again. He said, Yo,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I agree with that, But as far as the other stuff,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: we'll have to wait and see, because I think that
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: it's pretty important that we see the documentation, right, So
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: will we? I guess that's the question. And like usual,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: we'll continue to follow along and when we have some
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: more information, we'll get it added to the catalog. All
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: in the description box.