Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Mega Edition: Bryan Kohberger's Family And The Backlash Due to His Arrest (8/24/26)

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Mega Edition: Bryan Kohberger's Family And The Backlash Due to His Arrest (8/24/26) · Beyond The Horizon

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the program. On Friday, Dateline, NBC had
0:06
Speaker 1: a special about the Moscow murders, and we learned some
0:10
Speaker 1: pretty interesting stuff during that presentation by Dateline. Now, usually
0:17
Speaker 1: we just get a rehash of everything that we know
0:19
Speaker 1: already and they repackage it and serve it back up.
0:24
Speaker 1: But in this case, we learned some pretty interesting stuff.
0:27
Speaker 1: And previously we talked about the allegations that Brian Coohberger
0:32
Speaker 1: broke into a colleague's home in order to move her
0:35
Speaker 1: furniture around and freak her out so that she'd reach
0:38
Speaker 1: out to him so that he'd come and help her
0:41
Speaker 1: secure her residence. Now, of course, these are just rumors
0:45
Speaker 1: for now. We haven't heard that from any official source,
0:49
Speaker 1: so we have to make sure that we keep that
0:50
Speaker 1: in mind. But with everything that we've learned about Brian
0:53
Speaker 1: Cohberger and everything we know about him, it certainly attracts
0:57
Speaker 1: with me that he would do something like that. And remember,
1:00
Speaker 1: the source that NBC is talking about is the woman
1:04
Speaker 1: that this happened to, so why would she lie about that?
1:07
Speaker 1: As far as I'm concerned, most of these accounts of
1:10
Speaker 1: Brian Colberger and what he was like and how he
1:13
Speaker 1: conducted himself. I find them to be truthful, and that's
1:17
Speaker 1: because we've heard basically the same stuff from a bunch
1:20
Speaker 1: of different people. But now we're hearing that Brian Coberger's
1:24
Speaker 1: sister feared that Brian might have been involved in the murders,
1:28
Speaker 1: and they were so concerned that they dove into the
1:32
Speaker 1: white Hondai alantra dig in for clues. Today we have
1:35
Speaker 1: an article from The Independent and the headline Brian Coberger's
1:40
Speaker 1: sister feared he could be involved in Idaho murders before
1:44
Speaker 1: sudden arrest. Sources told NBC's Dateline that the accused killer's
1:49
Speaker 1: family searched as white Hondai alantra for possible evidence of
1:53
Speaker 1: the crime. Now, imagine your own family thinks you're capable
1:57
Speaker 1: of something like this. If anyone ever came to the
2:00
Speaker 1: house and told my parents that I murdered four people
2:03
Speaker 1: in their home, they would not believe it for one
2:05
Speaker 1: single second. Certainly not enough to dive into the Hondai
2:08
Speaker 1: a lantra and start looking for evidence. Now, of course,
2:12
Speaker 1: if the police showed up with evidence, oh, my parents
2:15
Speaker 1: would believe them, believe that, and I wouldn't have to
2:18
Speaker 1: worry about the police. Forget it, my mom would kill me.
2:21
Speaker 1: But for me, the family members saying oh, we better
2:23
Speaker 1: look in the car to see if there's evidence is
2:26
Speaker 1: a huge tell. This article was authored by Rachel Sharp.
2:31
Speaker 1: Brian Coberger's sister feared that her brother was involved in
2:34
Speaker 1: the stabbings afore University of Idaho's students before police swooped
2:40
Speaker 1: on their parents' home and arrested him for murder. According
2:43
Speaker 1: to a Bombshell report, So again, look, that's bad, right,
2:47
Speaker 1: not a good look. How many of you out there
2:50
Speaker 1: would have your sister jumping into your car looking for evidence.
2:54
Speaker 1: I'm sure not many of you. Maybe some of you,
2:56
Speaker 1: some of you might not have a good relationship with
2:58
Speaker 1: your brother or sister or whatever. Okay, but the vast
3:01
Speaker 1: majority of people, their parents and their siblings aren't gonna
3:05
Speaker 1: just think right out of the box that their loved
3:08
Speaker 1: one is the one responsible for these kinds of heinus murders.
3:12
Speaker 1: Unless there's a reason for your sister to feel that way,
3:15
Speaker 1: or for your parents to feel that way. That's not
3:18
Speaker 1: a normal emotion. That's not what normal people think of
3:21
Speaker 1: their children. Sources told NBC's Dateline that one of the
3:26
Speaker 1: accused killer's older siblings grew increasingly suspicious of her brother
3:30
Speaker 1: and his behavior when the family gathered to spend the
3:33
Speaker 1: holidays together. Her suspicions were so great that at one point,
3:38
Speaker 1: several family members searched mister Kohlberger's white Hondai a Lantra
3:42
Speaker 1: for a possible evidence of the crime. They said Madison Mogan,
3:47
Speaker 1: Kaylee Gonsalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found brutally
3:51
Speaker 1: stabbed to death in the Off Camps home in Moscow, Idaho,
3:55
Speaker 1: that the three women shared with two other roommates, back
3:59
Speaker 1: on the thirteenth of November, so over the Christmas holiday.
4:03
Speaker 1: This is what his sister was doing digging through his
4:06
Speaker 1: car because she had her own suspicions that old Coburger
4:10
Speaker 1: was involved. Meanwhile, you have a bunch of goofballs sitting
4:13
Speaker 1: on the Internet talking about how Brian Kohberger is innocent
4:17
Speaker 1: and he is not the right guy. Well, this is
4:20
Speaker 1: bad news for people like that. If his own family
4:23
Speaker 1: thought he was capable of doing something like this, chances
4:26
Speaker 1: are we got the right guy here, folks. And look,
4:29
Speaker 1: of course, nothing is set in stone right until Brian
4:33
Speaker 1: Colberger has been convicted. He is innocent of these crimes,
4:37
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that he's not the prime suspect.
4:40
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that he's not basically the only one
4:43
Speaker 1: that could be responsible for this as far as we know,
4:47
Speaker 1: And the more information we get by the day, the
4:50
Speaker 1: more I'm convinced that he is the killer. And hearing
4:53
Speaker 1: stuff like this about his sister and her reaction, it
4:56
Speaker 1: makes me even more confident that we're on the right
4:59
Speaker 1: path here. For more than six weeks, no suspects were
5:04
Speaker 1: publicly identified, and leads appeared to have gone cold, and
5:08
Speaker 1: that really wasn't the case, was it. They were hard
5:11
Speaker 1: at work behind the scenes, putting together a profile and
5:14
Speaker 1: building a case against Brian Kolberger, and I was critical
5:18
Speaker 1: of them. I'll be the first to admit I wanted
5:20
Speaker 1: to see some action. I knew that having all of
5:22
Speaker 1: those FBI agents, having the BAU, and all of those
5:26
Speaker 1: other resources that were available to them, I knew that
5:29
Speaker 1: that should accelerate things and there should be no reason
5:33
Speaker 1: why they shouldn't be able to find somebody responsible for
5:36
Speaker 1: what happened. And looking back on it all with hindsight,
5:40
Speaker 1: the police did a masterful job here, and it certainly
5:42
Speaker 1: didn't take all that long when you're looking at it
5:45
Speaker 1: in context, but at the time it seemed like it
5:48
Speaker 1: was taking forever. Remember, we had a murderer on the
5:51
Speaker 1: loose who was capable of killing four people in cold
5:54
Speaker 1: blood in their home, so of course people wanted that
5:57
Speaker 1: person brought to justice. In In mid December, mister Coburger,
6:01
Speaker 1: a twenty eight year old criminology PhD student at Washington
6:05
Speaker 1: State University, embarked on a cross country trip with his
6:08
Speaker 1: father from his student rental home in Pullman, Washington, back
6:12
Speaker 1: to the family home in all Brightsville, Pennsylvania, to spend
6:15
Speaker 1: the holidays together. But during this time at home, his
6:19
Speaker 1: family members noticed that he was behaving somewhat bizarrely. The
6:23
Speaker 1: source said that mister Coburger was constantly wearing latex gloves,
6:27
Speaker 1: including inside their own home. Imagine your brother comes home
6:31
Speaker 1: from college and he's never done anything like that before,
6:35
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, dudes running around wearing latex gloves,
6:39
Speaker 1: not wanting to touch anything. He has the white Hondai
6:42
Speaker 1: a Lantra. You start to put the pieces together. Imagine
6:45
Speaker 1: what that realization must be like, how it hits you,
6:48
Speaker 1: like ten thousand pounds of bricks. I feel real bad
6:51
Speaker 1: for Brian Coberger's family. I've said this before, and I
6:55
Speaker 1: feel bad for his sisters who lost their jobs. One
6:59
Speaker 1: of his two older sisters began to wonder if he
7:01
Speaker 1: could have played a part in the murders, and at
7:03
Speaker 1: one point she raised her concerns with other family members.
7:07
Speaker 1: She loudly pointed out that at the time of the murder,
7:11
Speaker 1: her brother was living just a few miles from the
7:13
Speaker 1: crime scene, and that he could have drove a white
7:16
Speaker 1: Hondai a Lantra and the make and the color of
7:18
Speaker 1: the vehicle at the center of the investigation. And kudos
7:21
Speaker 1: to the sister here, but man, imagine having that opinion
7:24
Speaker 1: of your brother that he is capable of doing something
7:27
Speaker 1: like this, along with his bizarre tendency to wear latex
7:31
Speaker 1: gloves all the time. She believed that the family should
7:34
Speaker 1: consider that mister Coburger might have killed the four victims,
7:38
Speaker 1: The source said. Mister Coberger's father allegedly defended his son
7:42
Speaker 1: and insisted he could not have been involved. Who wants
7:46
Speaker 1: to believe that their son could be a killer, Right, Hey, Dad,
7:50
Speaker 1: I think Brian is the one who murdered all the
7:52
Speaker 1: kids in Moscow. You think, what what are you talking about?
7:55
Speaker 1: Right now? Get out of my kitchen with that shit.
7:57
Speaker 1: That's a parent's reaction. That is the automatic reaction, right
8:02
Speaker 1: that nobody wants to believe that their kids capable of
8:05
Speaker 1: doing something like this. But obviously his sister had a
8:09
Speaker 1: more sober view of who Brian Colberger was, but the
8:14
Speaker 1: concerns were clearly big enough for several of the family
8:17
Speaker 1: members to reportedly decide to search the twenty eight year
8:20
Speaker 1: old's vehicle to look for possible evidence. That must have
8:23
Speaker 1: been a fun conversation. Hey, Brian, give me your keys.
8:26
Speaker 1: I need to go look in your car to see
8:28
Speaker 1: if I can find any evidence of you being a murderer.
8:31
Speaker 1: Hand over those keys. Pal. By that point, police said,
8:35
Speaker 1: mister Colberger had already been spotted cleaning his car out
8:39
Speaker 1: with bleach, and so the family members didn't find anything
8:42
Speaker 1: of note, the source said, and the bleach is going
8:44
Speaker 1: to come back to haunt them. Oh, you might have
8:47
Speaker 1: cleaned some stuff up, but the journey is going to
8:50
Speaker 1: want to know why you're using bleach inside of your car. Okay,
8:54
Speaker 1: They're going to want to know why you the man
8:56
Speaker 1: who is being accused of these murders with all of
8:59
Speaker 1: this evidence piled up against you, was using bleach to
9:03
Speaker 1: clean out the interior of their car. That's going to
9:06
Speaker 1: be a question that the jury certainly is going to
9:09
Speaker 1: want to have answered, and that Brian Kolberger is not
9:12
Speaker 1: going to be able to answer. It's not clear if
9:15
Speaker 1: mister Coburger was aware of his family member's suspicions that
9:19
Speaker 1: he could have been behind the murders, or what potential
9:22
Speaker 1: prior behavior may have led his sister to suspect him
9:25
Speaker 1: capable of carrying out such a brutal crime. Exactly. That's
9:29
Speaker 1: what I've been saying. You have to have exhibited some
9:32
Speaker 1: kind of behavior in the past for people to say
9:35
Speaker 1: to themselves, hey, that could be Brian who did this? Okay.
9:39
Speaker 1: In the early hours of December thirtieth, law enforcement swooped
9:42
Speaker 1: on the family home and arrested him for the murders.
9:45
Speaker 1: At the time of his arrest, the source said, mister
9:48
Speaker 1: Coburger was wide awake, standing in the kitchen, wearing latex
9:52
Speaker 1: gloves and putting his personal trash in plastic bags to
9:55
Speaker 1: take it out to a neighbor's trash can very normal behavior, right,
10:00
Speaker 1: This is what normal people do in the middle of
10:02
Speaker 1: the night in their living room when they're home on
10:04
Speaker 1: Christmas vacation at their parents' house. An attorney close to
10:08
Speaker 1: mister Coberger's family declined to comment on the revelations outlined
10:12
Speaker 1: in date lines the killings on King Road. On Monday,
10:16
Speaker 1: May twenty second, he will appear in court for his
10:18
Speaker 1: arraignment on four counts of first degree murder and burglary.
10:23
Speaker 1: The twenty eight year old is scheduled to be arraigned
10:25
Speaker 1: in Letah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, where he is
10:29
Speaker 1: expected to enter a plea on the charges. Mister Colberger
10:34
Speaker 1: had been due to appear in court for a week
10:36
Speaker 1: long preliminary hearing on June twenty sixth, where the prosecution
10:40
Speaker 1: would lay out the case and evidence against the suspect. However,
10:45
Speaker 1: last Tuesday, a grand jury indicted mister Colberger on the charges,
10:50
Speaker 1: paving the way for the case to proceed without and
10:53
Speaker 1: leading to the cancelation of the preliminary hearing. Mister Colberger
10:58
Speaker 1: is accused of breaking into the student home in the
11:02
Speaker 1: early hours of November thirteenth and stabbing the four students
11:05
Speaker 1: to death in a horror attack that rock the college
11:08
Speaker 1: town of Moscow and send shockwaves across America. The motive
11:13
Speaker 1: remains unknown, and it is still unclear what connection the
11:18
Speaker 1: Washington State University PhD student had to the University of
11:22
Speaker 1: Idaho's students, if any, prior to the murders. Well, what
11:26
Speaker 1: about the connections of Instagram? What about the connections of
11:30
Speaker 1: the mad Greek. Let's not act like those don't exist. Okay,
11:34
Speaker 1: they do. You can state them and then just say, hey, look,
11:37
Speaker 1: these are rumors. These are solid rumors that have been
11:41
Speaker 1: put out there by people close to the case. And
11:44
Speaker 1: then if people want to believe it, fine, If they
11:46
Speaker 1: don't want to believe it, that's fine too. But those
11:48
Speaker 1: are the rumors that are out there, and they're not
11:50
Speaker 1: rumors that were started on like four Chan or something
11:53
Speaker 1: like that. They come from relatively reliable sources as far
11:57
Speaker 1: as we know. However, the affid David released in January
12:03
Speaker 1: revealed that mister Coberger's DNA was found on a knife
12:06
Speaker 1: sheath left behind at the scene of the murders. It
12:09
Speaker 1: was also revealed that his white Hondai Lantra was caught
12:12
Speaker 1: on surveillance footage at the crime scene, and that one
12:16
Speaker 1: of the surviving roommates came face to face with the killer,
12:19
Speaker 1: who was masked and dressed from head to toe in
12:22
Speaker 1: black and with bushy eyebrows as he left the home.
12:26
Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the murders, new details have also
12:30
Speaker 1: emerged about what was found during the initial search of
12:33
Speaker 1: his apartment and a rental storage unit. The court documents
12:37
Speaker 1: showed that two items found in his apartment tested positive
12:41
Speaker 1: for blood. Now we don't know if that blood was his,
12:44
Speaker 1: just to reiterate, or if it was the blood of
12:47
Speaker 1: one of these victims or from somebody else. We don't
12:50
Speaker 1: know yet. The two items were a mattress cover on
12:54
Speaker 1: the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which had
12:57
Speaker 1: visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who
13:01
Speaker 1: the blood belongs to. Investigator sees the string of other
13:05
Speaker 1: items from his home, including possible human and animal hair strands,
13:10
Speaker 1: a disposable glove, and a computer. The murder weapon, a
13:14
Speaker 1: fixed blade knife, has still never been found. As a
13:18
Speaker 1: criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, mister Coberger
13:23
Speaker 1: lived just fifteen minutes from the victims over the Idaho
13:27
Speaker 1: Washington border in Pullman. He had moved there from Pennsylvania.
13:31
Speaker 1: And began his studies there that summer, having just completed
13:35
Speaker 1: his first semester before his arrest. Before this, he studied
13:39
Speaker 1: criminology at the Sallas University, first as an undergraduate and
13:44
Speaker 1: then finishing his graduate studies in June of twenty twenty.
13:49
Speaker 1: While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland,
13:54
Speaker 1: who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co wrote the
13:57
Speaker 1: book Confession of a Serial Kis Killer, The Untold Story
14:01
Speaker 1: of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him. My guess
14:05
Speaker 1: is Ramsland will get the offer to write a book
14:09
Speaker 1: about Brian Coohberger as well, and I'm sure she'll get
14:12
Speaker 1: access to him the same way she did the BTK.
14:16
Speaker 1: He also carried out a research project to understand how
14:19
Speaker 1: emotions and psychological trades influence decision making when committing a crime. Now,
14:26
Speaker 1: the criminology PhD student is set to appear in Leayta
14:30
Speaker 1: County Courthouse in Idaho for his preliminary hearing on June
14:34
Speaker 1: twenty sixth. He is facing life in prison or the
14:37
Speaker 1: death penalty for the murders that have rocked the small
14:41
Speaker 1: college town of Moscow and hit headlines around the globe.
14:45
Speaker 1: Anytime we have one of these specials like Dateline or
14:49
Speaker 1: you know, anything like that that's based on these murders
14:53
Speaker 1: or any case, there's always a few nuggets inside of
14:56
Speaker 1: those documentaries or presentations that end up being pretty damn interesting.
15:02
Speaker 1: And here we certainly have an interesting scenario playing out
15:06
Speaker 1: where Brian Colberger's own family members, at least some of them,
15:09
Speaker 1: thought that he was the man who might possibly be
15:12
Speaker 1: responsible for these murders. And if his own family feels
15:16
Speaker 1: that way, why should I be giving him the benefit
15:19
Speaker 1: of the doubt? All Right, folks, that's gonna do it
15:22
Speaker 1: for this one. All of the information that goes with
15:24
Speaker 1: the episode can be found in the description box. What's
15:28
Speaker 1: up everyone, and welcome back to the program. So we're
15:32
Speaker 1: getting some reports now that Brian Kolberger's sisters have lost
15:36
Speaker 1: their jobs due to their brother being incarcerated for these
15:40
Speaker 1: heinous murders, and I have to say I'm not down
15:43
Speaker 1: with it. You can't blame somebody's family for their behavior.
15:47
Speaker 1: And it's not like Coburger's family has acted like Brian
15:50
Speaker 1: Laundry's or anything like that. So for me anyway, at
15:54
Speaker 1: least as far as I know, I don't think that
15:56
Speaker 1: the Coburgers, his family, his mom, dad, sisters, I don't
16:01
Speaker 1: think they should pay for what he has done. And
16:04
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of ridiculous that a job would
16:07
Speaker 1: fire somebody who is related to this dude. Now, unless
16:10
Speaker 1: you're sitting at work and you're talking about how innocent
16:12
Speaker 1: your brother is all the time or something like that,
16:15
Speaker 1: then okay, I can understand how a job would be like, look,
16:18
Speaker 1: we don't need this at work, we don't need the contention.
16:21
Speaker 1: You gotta go. But if they're just fired because of
16:23
Speaker 1: their connection to Brian Kolberger, that's wrong. These people need
16:28
Speaker 1: to survive, right, How are they going to feed themselves,
16:31
Speaker 1: how are they going to pay their rent? And just
16:34
Speaker 1: because their brother is an absolute scumbag, well, I don't
16:38
Speaker 1: think that they should have to pay this sort of
16:40
Speaker 1: price for that. Now, as far as journalists contacting them
16:44
Speaker 1: stuff like that, that's unavoidable, But as far as suffering
16:48
Speaker 1: professionally for something that your brother or your dad or
16:51
Speaker 1: your mother does, I'm not down with it. I think
16:54
Speaker 1: it's wrong. And I hope that his sisters are able
16:57
Speaker 1: to land on their feet and you know, keep it moving,
17:00
Speaker 1: because it's hard enough. I would guess to have your
17:03
Speaker 1: brother be accused of something like this, but now to
17:06
Speaker 1: have your job ripped out from underneath you as well,
17:09
Speaker 1: I can't really get down with it. So let's get
17:12
Speaker 1: into this article from the US Sun and let's get
17:15
Speaker 1: caught up chilled relationship. Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger's sisters
17:20
Speaker 1: have lost their jobs as family avoids showing key sign
17:24
Speaker 1: of support. And again we have to remember Brian Colberger
17:29
Speaker 1: has not been convicted of anything yet. These are all accusations.
17:33
Speaker 1: So if you're firing somebody on an accusation about what
17:37
Speaker 1: one of their family members might have done, it's my
17:40
Speaker 1: opinion that you're jumping the gun a bit. This article
17:44
Speaker 1: was authored by Noah Zucker. Accused murderer Brian Colberger's two
17:48
Speaker 1: sisters have been fired from their jobs in the wake
17:51
Speaker 1: of the killings, according to reports. Now the family is
17:54
Speaker 1: struggling financially as Coburgers incarcerated and waiting child and ida
18:00
Speaker 1: for the murders of friends Kaylee Gonsalvez, Madison Mogan, Xana Kernodle,
18:05
Speaker 1: and Ethan Chapin. The older of the two sisters, was
18:09
Speaker 1: a school counselor while the younger one, Amanda, worked as
18:12
Speaker 1: an actress. News Nation reported their parents are retired. There's
18:17
Speaker 1: no evidence that any other family member were involved with
18:20
Speaker 1: Coburger's alleged crime, and for me, that's where it's at.
18:24
Speaker 1: If you're not involved, I can't put blame on you.
18:28
Speaker 1: So your dad kills somebody, now you're a scumbag because
18:31
Speaker 1: your father killed someone. No way, I'll never do that.
18:33
Speaker 1: If other people want to act like that, then fine,
18:36
Speaker 1: that's their business. But me personally, I'll never blame somebody
18:40
Speaker 1: for the actions of somebody else. We have to have
18:43
Speaker 1: personal responsibility in our lives, right, and we're not responsible
18:46
Speaker 1: for the actions of our brother, or our mother or
18:49
Speaker 1: our father. Of course it's embarrassing, right, and you'll distance
18:52
Speaker 1: yourself from it, But you can't be held responsible for
18:55
Speaker 1: the actions of others unless, of course, you're taking part
18:58
Speaker 1: in some way. And if it out later on that
19:01
Speaker 1: they did that, well my opinion will change. But if
19:04
Speaker 1: they didn't take part in the murders or covering it
19:07
Speaker 1: up or anything like that, why should they have to
19:09
Speaker 1: suffer professionally when they're already suffering personally. The Coburger family
19:15
Speaker 1: has also avoided showing a key sign of support. None
19:18
Speaker 1: of them have visited the twenty eight year old suspect
19:21
Speaker 1: since he was arrested in Pennsylvania on December thirtieth, sources
19:25
Speaker 1: told News Nation, and still that wasn't good enough. I
19:28
Speaker 1: guess these jobs were like, look, we can't have the
19:31
Speaker 1: funk of Brian Coberger on us, so we're gonna have
19:33
Speaker 1: to fire you. This came after Coburger's father, Michael, helped
19:37
Speaker 1: drive his son from Idaho back to the family's hometown
19:41
Speaker 1: in the wake of his alleged crime. And again, look,
19:43
Speaker 1: that was something that was planned. I'm not going to
19:46
Speaker 1: sit here and put the blame on Coburger's family. There's
19:50
Speaker 1: enough lives already ruined, right and I'm sure that they're
19:53
Speaker 1: not feeling great about themselves as it is. And unless
19:56
Speaker 1: there's some kind of evidence that they were involved in
19:59
Speaker 1: some way, I think it's a bit abhorrent, honestly for
20:02
Speaker 1: anybody to target this dude's family. Has there not been
20:05
Speaker 1: enough pain and suffering throughout this whole entire thing. The
20:09
Speaker 1: family has only made one public statement in the wake
20:12
Speaker 1: of the killings. We will continue to let the legal
20:14
Speaker 1: process unfold, and as a family, we will love and
20:18
Speaker 1: support our son and brother. They said. We have fully
20:21
Speaker 1: cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek
20:24
Speaker 1: the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than
20:28
Speaker 1: judge unknown facts and make Erranus assumptions. And that's the
20:32
Speaker 1: thing that I'm keeping in mind here. Right, he is
20:34
Speaker 1: not guilty yet, so I think that firing family members
20:38
Speaker 1: and all of that is way jumping the gun. There's
20:42
Speaker 1: a lot of ground to cover here. And while it
20:44
Speaker 1: certainly looks like Brian Colberger is the person guilty of
20:48
Speaker 1: these crimes, we have to let the whole process play out.
20:51
Speaker 1: That's how it works. Coberger has been charged with four
20:55
Speaker 1: counts of first degree murder and burglary following the brutal
20:58
Speaker 1: murders of Kayley Madison, Zana and Ethan at their off
21:03
Speaker 1: campus apartment near the University of Idaho in Moscow on
21:07
Speaker 1: November thirteenth, twenty twenty two. At the time, Coberger was
21:11
Speaker 1: pursuing a PhD in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman,
21:17
Speaker 1: less than nine miles from the University of Idaho. Two
21:21
Speaker 1: other people in the apartment at the time, Dylan Mortenson
21:25
Speaker 1: and Bethany Funk, were not killed. Their testimony will likely
21:29
Speaker 1: be important at the upcoming trial, said forensic expert Joseph
21:33
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, who was not working on the case and
21:36
Speaker 1: has no direct knowledge of the investigation. It gives insight
21:40
Speaker 1: into talking about the people that the victims were because
21:44
Speaker 1: they lived with them, they knew them, probably more intimately
21:47
Speaker 1: than anybody else, he said. And remember, those witnesses are
21:51
Speaker 1: going to get on the stand more than likely, at
21:53
Speaker 1: least that's the way it's looking. So they're going to
21:56
Speaker 1: get up there and they're going to talk about their roommates.
21:58
Speaker 1: And then obviously the get to the point, or at
22:01
Speaker 1: least Dylan will where she talks about what she saw
22:05
Speaker 1: and while she didn't see Brian Colberger's face, it's just
22:09
Speaker 1: more circumstantial evidence, strong circumstantial evidence to build that foundation
22:14
Speaker 1: right on top of And we saw it in the
22:16
Speaker 1: Alec Murda trial. Remember all of the people out there
22:19
Speaker 1: talking about how all this is all circumstantial. It all
22:23
Speaker 1: has to do with coordinates from cell towers and technology. Well,
22:28
Speaker 1: guess what how did it work out for dumb dumb
22:31
Speaker 1: down there in South Carolina? Not so well? Right? And
22:34
Speaker 1: this day and age, if you're going to be a criminal,
22:37
Speaker 1: and you carry a cell phone with you, you deserve
22:40
Speaker 1: everything that's coming your way. The Jacksonville State University professor
22:46
Speaker 1: and host of the true crime podcast Body Bags, had
22:49
Speaker 1: a few ideas about the questions Mortensen and Funk will
22:52
Speaker 1: face from an evidentiary standpoint. They're going to be asked,
22:56
Speaker 1: what can you tell us about that day, that evening,
22:59
Speaker 1: or maybe the day's proceeding, said Morgan, who also hosts
23:02
Speaker 1: the true crime podcast Body Bags. He also anticipates queries
23:07
Speaker 1: like did you know of any kind of threat to
23:09
Speaker 1: your roommates? Had they said anything in passing, had any
23:13
Speaker 1: comment been made about some weird person stalking them? Morgan
23:17
Speaker 1: believes that the killer likely left ample evidence for investigators
23:20
Speaker 1: to work with. I agree with that, and when we
23:23
Speaker 1: go through those warrants, my opinion is getting solidified by
23:26
Speaker 1: the day they found the whole bunch with those digital warrants, folks,
23:31
Speaker 1: And my guess is those digital warrants, coupled with the
23:34
Speaker 1: DNA found at the scene, are going to tell the
23:37
Speaker 1: tale come trial time, and it's not gonna look good
23:40
Speaker 1: for Brian Coberger. There are a lot of biological tie
23:44
Speaker 1: backs and threads that will be very significant. He said.
23:47
Speaker 1: That includes a knife sheath the killer left at the apartment,
23:50
Speaker 1: and evidence gleaned from Coburger's car, which Morgan called a
23:54
Speaker 1: rolling crime scene. Police search Coburger's vehicle when he was arrested,
23:59
Speaker 1: and he is the door panel, seat cushions, break and
24:03
Speaker 1: gas pedal. There's no doubt that if there is any
24:06
Speaker 1: DNA in that car, they are going to find it.
24:08
Speaker 1: We talked about this previously when the other article came
24:12
Speaker 1: out about the car, and there's no doubt that if
24:15
Speaker 1: Brian Coolberger had any sort of DNA on him, or
24:18
Speaker 1: blood and any of that, any of it got into
24:22
Speaker 1: his vehicle and stained it or left the droplet somewhere,
24:25
Speaker 1: they are going to find it. And if they do,
24:29
Speaker 1: as I've said before, then this is all just going
24:32
Speaker 1: through the motions, and if they have that kind of
24:34
Speaker 1: DNA evidence, forget it. Unless there's some sort of technicality
24:39
Speaker 1: or the prosecution steps out of line something like that,
24:42
Speaker 1: I don't see any pathway to victory for Brian Cohberger.
24:46
Speaker 1: Morgan said there is physical connectivity between what Coburger allegedly
24:50
Speaker 1: brought out of the Moscow house and what was left
24:53
Speaker 1: in the car. He said, Coburger may have sat down
24:57
Speaker 1: in that seat, cranked that car up, and he left,
25:00
Speaker 1: and he essentially inoculated the environment with all of his
25:04
Speaker 1: physical evidence that he brought out of the house, and
25:07
Speaker 1: then when he got out of that car, he introduced
25:10
Speaker 1: potential evidence into his own dwelling. Coberger's next court appearance
25:15
Speaker 1: will be on June twenty sixth. So we know that
25:18
Speaker 1: they raided his house as well. We know that they
25:20
Speaker 1: raided his office in Pullman, but it doesn't look like
25:23
Speaker 1: they had anything consequential as far as the list of
25:27
Speaker 1: what they brought out. However, we don't know how that
25:30
Speaker 1: stuff all tested, and all of that stuff was sent
25:33
Speaker 1: to the lab. They're running all kinds of diagnostics on
25:36
Speaker 1: it and then, hopefully for them and their perspective, anyway,
25:40
Speaker 1: it comes back with a hit to Brian Cooberger. But
25:43
Speaker 1: the chances of them finding DNA evidence if Brian Kolberger
25:48
Speaker 1: is the man who the government tells us he is,
25:51
Speaker 1: it's sky high, folks, sky high. But as for the sisters,
25:56
Speaker 1: I'm not down with them getting fired or them facing
25:59
Speaker 1: penalties because they're simply related to this douchebag. They didn't
26:03
Speaker 1: go into that house and commit murders. So I think
26:06
Speaker 1: it's a bad look for companies to do something like this,
26:08
Speaker 1: but you see it a lot. Honestly, companies are going
26:11
Speaker 1: to try and protect their brand, try and protect their image,
26:14
Speaker 1: and they're gonna do whatever they have to do in
26:17
Speaker 1: their opinion to do that. And if that means firing
26:20
Speaker 1: Brian Colberger's family members, well I guess that's what they're
26:23
Speaker 1: going to do. But personally I find it arbitrary and
26:27
Speaker 1: I don't find it necessary. But like usual, you can
26:30
Speaker 1: take my opinion and a buck seventy five down to
26:33
Speaker 1: the gas station and get yourself a cup of coffee.
26:36
Speaker 1: All right, folks, that's gonna do it for this one.
26:38
Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with the episode can
26:41
Speaker 1: be found in the description box. What's up, everyone, and
26:45
Speaker 1: welcome back to the program. Yesterday we heard about Brian
26:50
Speaker 1: Kolberger's parents and a grand jury summons that they responded
26:55
Speaker 1: to in their home county. Well, we learned a little
26:58
Speaker 1: more information about it, yes, and that information was spotty
27:03
Speaker 1: at best. Now today we're getting some more definitive information
27:08
Speaker 1: about what went down, and in fact, Brian Colberger is
27:12
Speaker 1: not connected to Dana Smithers and this comes from her sister.
27:16
Speaker 1: So yesterday there was a lot of speculation that Brian
27:19
Speaker 1: Colberger possibly could be connected to this lady's disappearance and murder.
27:25
Speaker 1: Well it's looking like that's not the case. However, it's
27:29
Speaker 1: still unclear why Brian Colberger's parents would be called before
27:32
Speaker 1: Grand Jerry. So let's dive into this article from The
27:36
Speaker 1: Independent and let's try and get things cleared up. Headline
27:40
Speaker 1: Dana Smithers' sister responds to strange link between her death
27:44
Speaker 1: and Brian Colberger. This article was authored by Rachel Sharp
27:49
Speaker 1: and like I said, published by The Independent. The sister
27:54
Speaker 1: of a mother of three found dead in Pennsylvania last
27:57
Speaker 1: month has spoken out about the possible connection between the
28:01
Speaker 1: Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger and their siblings' disappearance. Danis Smithers,
28:07
Speaker 1: forty five, was last seen alive on May twenty eighth,
28:11
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, when she left her friend's house to
28:14
Speaker 1: walk a few doors down to her home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
28:19
Speaker 1: Almost one year on. Her remains were finally discovered last month,
28:23
Speaker 1: with her cause of death still a mystery. So if
28:26
Speaker 1: it wasn't Coburger. There's somebody out there who did this right.
28:30
Speaker 1: Not very reassuring if you're asking me. In a bombshell development,
28:34
Speaker 1: this week, it emerged that mister Coberger's parents, Michael and
28:38
Speaker 1: Mary Anne Colberger, had been subpoena to appear before a
28:41
Speaker 1: grand jury investigating Smither's disappearance and death in their home
28:46
Speaker 1: state of Pennsylvania. It remains unclear why the Coburgers were
28:51
Speaker 1: called to testify in the case, with the revelation coming
28:55
Speaker 1: just days after their twenty eight year old son appeared
28:58
Speaker 1: in court charged with quadruple murders of Kaylee Gonsalbis Madison Mogen,
29:03
Speaker 1: Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho. Hell of
29:08
Speaker 1: a coincidence, No, seems like quite the coincidence that his
29:12
Speaker 1: family members, his mom and dad would get called before
29:15
Speaker 1: a grand jury just a few days after he was indicted.
29:19
Speaker 1: Does that mean it's connected. Absolutely not. Sometimes things are
29:23
Speaker 1: just a coincidence. On Thursday, Smither's sister, Stacy addressed the
29:28
Speaker 1: speculation that the two cases are connected, insisting that there
29:32
Speaker 1: is no known link and that mister Kolberger has an alibi.
29:36
Speaker 1: Now we heard a little of this yesterday as well,
29:38
Speaker 1: that Colberger has an airtight alibi for all of this
29:42
Speaker 1: and there's no way that he was the one responsible.
29:46
Speaker 1: Stacey told News Nation that authorities had informed her even
29:49
Speaker 1: before mister Colberger's arrest and therefore before the discovery of
29:53
Speaker 1: Smither's remains, that a grand jury was meeting to investigate
29:57
Speaker 1: her sister's case and other cases. So that's pretty interesting, honestly.
30:02
Speaker 1: Whenever you get a grand jury and paneled like that,
30:05
Speaker 1: usually usually the authorities have some information that they're working
30:09
Speaker 1: off of, and they don't want to tip off the
30:12
Speaker 1: suspect that they're locking onto. So what they'll do is
30:15
Speaker 1: they'll go to a gran jury. They'll get that and paneled,
30:18
Speaker 1: and they might even get a sealed indictment, meaning there's
30:21
Speaker 1: an indictment on the books, but it's sealed and only
30:24
Speaker 1: the court knows about it. Now. I'm not saying that's
30:26
Speaker 1: what happened here, but that's one of the uses for
30:29
Speaker 1: a grand jury. So they might have an idea who
30:32
Speaker 1: killed miss Smithers here, and they might be meeting behind
30:36
Speaker 1: the grand jury doors to discuss that. But the question
30:40
Speaker 1: still remains, where does Brian Colberger or his parents fit in. Then,
30:45
Speaker 1: following mister Coberger's arrest, the grand jury began investigating whether
30:49
Speaker 1: he could have been involved in her disappearance. Stacy said
30:53
Speaker 1: it quickly became clear that the cases weren't connected and
30:57
Speaker 1: that the accused killer was not in the area at
30:59
Speaker 1: the time time Smithers went missing. And it doesn't fit
31:03
Speaker 1: the mo that we saw in the King Road killings.
31:06
Speaker 1: Right snuck into the house and kill them. He didn't
31:09
Speaker 1: abduct anybody. Now, does that mean he wasn't capable of
31:12
Speaker 1: doing that, No, it doesn't. But his past hasn't shown
31:16
Speaker 1: us that he's going to abduct somebody off of the street.
31:19
Speaker 1: The Stroud Area Regional Police Department also released a statement
31:22
Speaker 1: on Thursday insisting that there is no evidence showing a
31:26
Speaker 1: link between mister Colberger and Smithers's disappearance. The Stroud Area
31:31
Speaker 1: Regional Police Department is aware of the many currently reported
31:35
Speaker 1: news articles in which various media outlets have reported connections
31:40
Speaker 1: between the SAARPDS, Danis Smithers missing person investigation, and Idaho
31:46
Speaker 1: murder suspect Brian Koberger. The statement read, and this is
31:50
Speaker 1: kind of what judge Judge was talking about, the media
31:54
Speaker 1: causing irreparable harm. Stuff like this needs to be tracked down.
31:58
Speaker 1: You can't just fire this stuff off if you don't
32:01
Speaker 1: have any kind of concrete information, because you're going to
32:04
Speaker 1: create a buzz and people are going to automatically connect
32:07
Speaker 1: the two. Oh, Brian Colberger's parents are brought before a
32:10
Speaker 1: grand jury. Oh, there's a missing woman near Brian Colberger's house.
32:14
Speaker 1: Has to be Coburger. And I don't blame people for
32:17
Speaker 1: making that leap. Anyone who's capable of going into somebody's
32:21
Speaker 1: house and murdering four people is certainly capable, at the
32:25
Speaker 1: very least of abducting a woman and killing her, right,
32:28
Speaker 1: But I always thought the likelihood of this being something
32:31
Speaker 1: you know that Coleburger did was very, very small. The
32:36
Speaker 1: SAARPD has no evidence that Danas Smithers's disappearance is in
32:41
Speaker 1: any way tied to Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger. Well,
32:45
Speaker 1: they said that pretty definitively. Huh. Officials have offered no
32:49
Speaker 1: explanation as to why the Coburgers were called to testify
32:52
Speaker 1: in the grand jury probe, and they're unlikely to do so,
32:56
Speaker 1: giving grand jury's operate in secret. A source to Old
33:00
Speaker 1: CNN that the accused killer's mother had already given evidence
33:04
Speaker 1: to the grand jury, while his father was expected to
33:07
Speaker 1: testify on Thursday. A lawyer from mister Coberger's parents had
33:11
Speaker 1: reportedly tried to fight the subpoena but was unsuccessful. The
33:16
Speaker 1: grand jury investigation remains ongoing and no findings have been revealed.
33:21
Speaker 1: On May twenty eighth, twenty twenty two, Smithers vanished without
33:25
Speaker 1: a trace from Monroe County, the same county where mister
33:29
Speaker 1: Colberger was living at the time. Her best friend, Taracioni
33:34
Speaker 1: told NBC's Dateline in December that Smithers had called into
33:38
Speaker 1: her home to hang out. The two women lived just
33:42
Speaker 1: a couple doors down from each other and would often
33:44
Speaker 1: just stop by to see each other on an evening.
33:47
Speaker 1: We're best friends. She's been my neighbor for sixteen years.
33:51
Speaker 1: We've raised our children together, Miss Sioni told Dateline, And
33:54
Speaker 1: let's not forget okay, just because Brian Colberger isn't involved here,
33:59
Speaker 1: there's still a woman who was murdered, and Miss Smithers
34:02
Speaker 1: deserves all the attention and all of the police work
34:06
Speaker 1: possible to try and find out who killed her. And
34:09
Speaker 1: I'm glad to see that this Grand Jerry's inn paneled
34:11
Speaker 1: here and that her family might get some answers. It
34:14
Speaker 1: was an open door policy with her, so she came
34:17
Speaker 1: in and she was here for a little bit. Miss
34:20
Speaker 1: Sioni said that in hindsight, she wonders if something was
34:23
Speaker 1: troubling her friend that night. Smithers, who had a history
34:26
Speaker 1: of substance abuse, was smoking something she only did if
34:30
Speaker 1: she was nervous or on edge. Ring video camera captured
34:34
Speaker 1: Smithers leaving her friend's house at around eleven oh five pm,
34:38
Speaker 1: holding her cell phone in her hand. Details she was
34:42
Speaker 1: never seen alive again. Smither's cell phone, wallet and daily
34:46
Speaker 1: medication were all found at her home. Now again, how
34:50
Speaker 1: did her phone get back to her house? She must
34:52
Speaker 1: have went to her home right and put her phone
34:55
Speaker 1: there before she went missing, because she had her phone
34:58
Speaker 1: as she was leaving, it says here, holding her cell
35:00
Speaker 1: phone in her hand. Then she goes back to her
35:03
Speaker 1: house obviously, and we know that because the phone was
35:06
Speaker 1: found out her house. So whatever happened after that, we
35:10
Speaker 1: have no idea. But something bad happened to miss Smithers.
35:13
Speaker 1: And according to the court, and according to this report
35:17
Speaker 1: by the police here, it had nothing to do with
35:19
Speaker 1: Brian Coohberger. Smithers family grew concerned when they realized she
35:24
Speaker 1: hadn't gone home and filed a missing person's report. Stacy
35:28
Speaker 1: told Dayline at the time that they knew something must
35:30
Speaker 1: be wrong when she didn't show up for Memorial Day
35:33
Speaker 1: celebrations with her children, aged twenty five, twenty three, and
35:37
Speaker 1: seven on the thirtieth of May. She would not have
35:40
Speaker 1: missed Memorial Day, said Stacy. She didn't do anything that
35:44
Speaker 1: didn't involve her kids. That was her thing. I mean,
35:47
Speaker 1: she was always there with the kids. In June, the
35:51
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania State Police and local police carried out searches with
35:55
Speaker 1: cadaver dogs in a heavily wooded area close to her home.
36:00
Speaker 1: The search did not turn up anything, and the case
36:03
Speaker 1: went cold for months. Almost one year after she was
36:07
Speaker 1: seen alive. On the twenty seventh of April, smithers remains
36:11
Speaker 1: were found in a wooded area in Stroudsburg. Her cause
36:15
Speaker 1: and manner of death is not yet known. At the
36:18
Speaker 1: time of smithers disappearance in May twenty twenty two, mister
36:22
Speaker 1: Colberger was also living in Monroe County with his family
36:26
Speaker 1: that summer. He then moved cross country to Pullman for
36:29
Speaker 1: a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University.
36:34
Speaker 1: A few months later, on November thirteenth, he allegedly broke
36:38
Speaker 1: into an off campus student home just over the border
36:41
Speaker 1: in Moscow, Idaho, and murdered the four college students. He
36:45
Speaker 1: was back at his parents' home in the Pocono Mountains
36:48
Speaker 1: for the holidays when police swooped in and arrested him
36:51
Speaker 1: for the quadruple murders on December thirtieth. In that case,
36:56
Speaker 1: it remains unclear what motive and what connection mister Coburger
37:00
Speaker 1: may have had to the victims. Well, that clears it
37:03
Speaker 1: up a little bit anyway. As far as the subpoena
37:06
Speaker 1: for Brian Colberger's parents, at least we know it has
37:09
Speaker 1: nothing to do with Brian Kohlberger being responsible for this
37:13
Speaker 1: lady's murder, at least according to what we're hearing. So
37:16
Speaker 1: we'll keep an eye on this one as well, and
37:18
Speaker 1: we'll see what comes of it. But I have a
37:20
Speaker 1: feeling that there is really nothing here that's tangible that
37:24
Speaker 1: has to do with Brian Colberger, and I think we'll
37:26
Speaker 1: have that confirmed, if not today, within the next few days.
37:31
Speaker 1: All Right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
37:33
Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with the episode can
37:35
Speaker 1: be found in the description box.