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Murder In Moscow: Telecommunications Expert Ben Levitan Discusses The Murders · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. Much
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: has been made of the digital evidence compiled in the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: probable cause affid David to arrest Brian Coberger. But how
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  Speaker 1: strong is that digital evidence? Well, today, over at the
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  Speaker 1: Idaho Statesman, they have an article discussing that very topic.
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  Speaker 1: So let's dive into this article from the Idaho Statesman
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  Speaker 1: and let's see what they have rustled up. Headline what
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  Speaker 1: a cell phone record say about Brian Coberger's location, expert explains.
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  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Alex Brizzy. Idaho authorities have
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  Speaker 1: alleged that Brian Coberger's cell phone records showed he was
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  Speaker 1: in the Moscow area less than an hour after four
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  Speaker 1: University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in an
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  Speaker 1: off campus home, and that he visited the coverage area
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  Speaker 1: of the home twelve times before the homicides. But telecommunications
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  Speaker 1: expert and former electrical engineer Ben Levitton, who has analyzed
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  Speaker 1: cell phone data for the well known ad Non Said
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  Speaker 1: case featured in the Serial podcast, told The Idaho Statesman
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  Speaker 1: that while cell phone records can provide someone's estimated location,
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  Speaker 1: they can't pinpoint in individual's exact location and Basically, what
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  Speaker 1: that means is that the cell phone location that they
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  Speaker 1: were able to gather from the data was enough to
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  Speaker 1: get a probable cause Affidavid, but not enough to get
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  Speaker 1: a conviction. Because remember, to get that conviction, you have
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that there is no reasonable doubt left
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  Speaker 1: in the jury's mind. And if you don't have the
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  Speaker 1: data to back up what you're saying as a prosecutor,
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  Speaker 1: that's going to prove pretty problematic. So they got to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that they have all of their ducks in
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  Speaker 1: a row, and hopefully, for the prosecution's sake, they have
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  Speaker 1: some GPS coordinates that play him directly at this house.
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  Speaker 1: And if they do have those GPS coordinates, they could
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  Speaker 1: use those to put him literally inside of that house.
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  Speaker 1: But the phone pings, that's a different matter. And if
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  Speaker 1: that's all they have, then it's going to be an
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  Speaker 1: issue moving forward. There's no doubt. Coburger, the twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: year old former grad student, is charged with four counts
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  Speaker 1: the first degree murder of Madison Mogan, Klee Gonsalves, Xana Kernodle,
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  Speaker 1: and Ethan Chapin. In the eighteen page probable cause affid David,
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  Speaker 1: which must only be detailed enough to give law enforcement
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  Speaker 1: the authority to make an arrest, not support a conviction.
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  Speaker 1: Police said they use DNA evidence, surveillance footage, and vehicle
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  Speaker 1: records to hone in on former Washington State University graduate student,
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  Speaker 1: and all of the information that we saw in that
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  Speaker 1: probable cause affid David was strong as hell, but it
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  Speaker 1: has to be backed up by other things behind the scenes,
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  Speaker 1: because the probable cause Affidavid itself and what they have
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  Speaker 1: in there is certainly not enough to get a conviction.
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  Speaker 1: What it does is it lays the groundwork for the
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  Speaker 1: prosecution moving forward, and it gives them a stabilized case
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  Speaker 1: right from Jump Street. But that doesn't mean that it's
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  Speaker 1: infallible that there are in issues with what they've built,
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  Speaker 1: and if there are, you would have to think that
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  Speaker 1: Brian Coberger's team is going to punch some holes in them.
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  Speaker 1: The Statesman spoke with Levitton to ask about how law
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  Speaker 1: enforcement agency's use of cell phone records in a criminal investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Was Coburger near King Road before stabbings In the Affidavid,
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  Speaker 1: The Moscow Police Department alleged that Coburger used his cell
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  Speaker 1: phone in the coverage area of the King Road Home
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  Speaker 1: at least twelve times before the November stabbings. But Leviton
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  Speaker 1: said a typical cell phone tower covers an area of
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  Speaker 1: twelve square miles. Someone could be miles away from the
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  Speaker 1: nearest cell phone tower, and Moscow is roughly three by
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  Speaker 1: five mile town. You cannot pinpoint a person, Leviton said
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  Speaker 1: about cell phone records. There's no chance any expert in
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  Speaker 1: the world can tell you where that person is located.
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  Speaker 1: So troublesome if they don't have the GPS coordinates and
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  Speaker 1: they don't have something else to help bind this, it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be pretty much worthless when it comes time
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  Speaker 1: for trial. Now they're going to present it, but any
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  Speaker 1: expert where the assault, like Levitin says here, is going
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  Speaker 1: to be able to punch holes in what the prosecution
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  Speaker 1: is trying to assert. Leveton added that the nearest cell
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  Speaker 1: phone tower to the King Road home covers an area
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  Speaker 1: of twenty seven point three square miles, the same size
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  Speaker 1: as nearly fourteen thousand football fields. That certainly leaves a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of room for reasonable doubt. If there's no
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  Speaker 1: other evidence that has been compiled by the investigators. Now
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  Speaker 1: I believe and I hope that they have more behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes, but we have to be prepared for the
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  Speaker 1: fact that they might not what we haven't seen a
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  Speaker 1: prosecution colbelly before Moscow police said Coburger's historical phone records
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  Speaker 1: were pulled to determine whether Coburger stalked any of the
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  Speaker 1: victims before the stabbings. Leveton said, if authorities during the
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  Speaker 1: court proceedings try to show Coburger visited the home twelve times,
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  Speaker 1: they will be wrong and they could damage their case.
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  Speaker 1: And you have to think that the prosecution understands that
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  Speaker 1: as well. And it's my opinion, and remember just my
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  Speaker 1: opinion that they have more to back this all up,
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  Speaker 1: because if they're hoping that this is going to be enough,
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  Speaker 1: they are sorely mistaken and they're really playing with fire.
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  Speaker 1: Was Coburger in Moscow area during the stabbings, Leveton said
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  Speaker 1: authorities could definitely use cell phone records to tell whether
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  Speaker 1: a person is traveling if the individual is using their phone,
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  Speaker 1: because that someone moves throughout an area, the cell phone
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  Speaker 1: transfers from one cell tower to the next as it
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  Speaker 1: goes into the next cell range. The Affidavid alleged that
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  Speaker 1: Coburger traveled from Blaine, Idaho, which is just south of
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  Speaker 1: Moscow to Pullman from four to fifty am to roughly
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  Speaker 1: five thirty am, roughly thirty five to fifty minutes after
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  Speaker 1: the stabbings occurred. They can't get that wrong, Leviton said.
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  Speaker 1: The cell records police say match up with Washington State
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  Speaker 1: University surveillance footage that showed a white Hondai a Lantra,
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  Speaker 1: the same car model Coburger owned, traveling through the Pullman campus.
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  Speaker 1: So as far as the traveling, that's really locked in.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it's indisputable at this point that Coburger
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  Speaker 1: was at least on the move. What was he doing
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  Speaker 1: while he was on the move, Well, that's anyone's guests.
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  Speaker 1: Coburger cell records never show him traveling to Moscow on
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  Speaker 1: the night of the homicides, and the affid David alleged
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  Speaker 1: that he attempted to conceal his location during the quadruple
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  Speaker 1: homicide because his cell phone wasn't showing up on the
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  Speaker 1: network from two forty seven AM to four forty eight,
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  Speaker 1: So they alleged that he turned it off and he
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  Speaker 1: was playing games and didn't want his phone to register
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  Speaker 1: on any of these towers. As he was trying to
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  Speaker 1: make his getaway. That's what the state is alleging police
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  Speaker 1: in the affid David said that a phone not reporting
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  Speaker 1: to the network could mean it was in airplane mode,
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  Speaker 1: turned off, or in an area without service. Levitin said
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  Speaker 1: that it's impossible to know for sure what Coburger turned
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  Speaker 1: off his phone unless someone called Coburger during the two
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  Speaker 1: hour period and call records showed that his phone went
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  Speaker 1: straight to voicemail. He added that if someone's phone isn't
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  Speaker 1: showing up on the network, all it means is they
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  Speaker 1: didn't receive any calls or texts or use any apps
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  Speaker 1: during that time period. So if Levitin is able to
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  Speaker 1: punch holes in it like this right here, can you
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  Speaker 1: imagine what the experts are going to do in court.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I say that the prosecution has to have
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  Speaker 1: more than this, because they have to be aware how
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  Speaker 1: easy it would be for a defense attorney to pop
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  Speaker 1: in just the basic information that's in that affidavit. How
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  Speaker 1: many cell towers are in Moscow? A list provided by
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  Speaker 1: leviton which he has gathered from his years of testifying
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  Speaker 1: in various cases, showed a total of four cell towers
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  Speaker 1: in Moscow, including the nearest one to King Road, which
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  Speaker 1: is along Paradise Creek Street. The three other cell towers
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  Speaker 1: within the city of Moscow, according to Leviton's list, are
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  Speaker 1: near a Residence Street, East f Street, and Paradise Ridge.
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  Speaker 1: A cell tower also sits along Foothill Road, which is
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  Speaker 1: west of Moscow Mountain and about ten miles outside of
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  Speaker 1: the city. The Federal Communications Commission doesn't maintain a complete
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  Speaker 1: national database of cell towers. A spokesperson said the database
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  Speaker 1: that the FCC does maintain includes cell towers that are
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  Speaker 1: primarily being used for broadcasting and phones and are over
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  Speaker 1: two hundred feet or are within the glide slope of
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  Speaker 1: an airport. But the FCC's data only shows two cell
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  Speaker 1: phone towers within city limits, and Leviton said that most
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  Speaker 1: cell phone towers are not in the database. The closest
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  Speaker 1: towers to the King Road home are along Old Pullman Road,
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  Speaker 1: just off the Idaho Washington border, and one next to
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  Speaker 1: the Moscow Church of the Nazarene, according to the FCC database.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, Coburger's team is aware of all of this,
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  Speaker 1: and they're going to look to manipulate all of this
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  Speaker 1: data into their favor. Both of those structures are roughly
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  Speaker 1: two miles from the off campus house. The nearest cell
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  Speaker 1: tower from Levitin's list is a little over half a
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  Speaker 1: mile from the King Road home at and T, which
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  Speaker 1: is a provider for Coburger's phone, decline to comment and
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  Speaker 1: suggested The Statesman reach out to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
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  Speaker 1: The association declined to comment. Well, that's nice of them,
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  Speaker 1: Glad that they could give us a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: you know, commentary here to maybe fill in some gaps.
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  Speaker 1: How reliable are cell phone records in court? Leveton said
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  Speaker 1: cell phone records are completely reliable, but that authorities tend
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  Speaker 1: to overplay them. He added that cell phone records could
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  Speaker 1: help exclude suspects by showing they weren't within a tower's
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  Speaker 1: coverage area. But Leveton said when someone does show up
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  Speaker 1: in the coverage area of a cell phone tower, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they were near the scene of a crime.
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  Speaker 1: You have to prove that right. All you can do
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  Speaker 1: is say there's probable cause now because they might have
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  Speaker 1: been near the home. So that's enough to get the
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  Speaker 1: arrest warrant. It is not enough to get the conviction.
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  Speaker 1: Cell phone records as evidence are very reliable and useful,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not DNA, Leveton said in a follow up email.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't have the precision that would allow you to
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  Speaker 1: pinpoint a person's phone. The best the state can say
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  Speaker 1: is that this phone was in a twenty seven square
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  Speaker 1: mile area that includes the crime scene twelve times. So look,
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  Speaker 1: if they don't have more to back up what's in
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  Speaker 1: this Affidavid, then the prosecutions in big trouble because the
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  Speaker 1: evidence that they do have is strong, right, but it's
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  Speaker 1: not enough to get that conviction. And that's what all
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  Speaker 1: of this is about getting a conviction. So hopefully the
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  Speaker 1: state has a lot more that they're holding up their
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  Speaker 1: sleeve and that they're going to drop on Brian Kolberger
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  Speaker 1: like a ton of bricks, because if not, it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a difficult prosecution for the state. Now, do
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  Speaker 1: I think that they have more behind the scenes. I do,
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  Speaker 1: but I can't verify that. I can't say to you
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  Speaker 1: with any certainty here that the state has a ton
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  Speaker 1: of evidence behind the scenes. If the past is any
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  Speaker 1: indication of the future. However, they do, but we'll have
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  Speaker 1: to see what happens and if they're only relying on
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  Speaker 1: these cell phone records with no GPS data to back
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  Speaker 1: it up, it's going to be a real hard sell
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  Speaker 1: when it comes time for the trial. All Right, folks,
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  Speaker 1: Well that's gonna do it for this one. But I
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  Speaker 1: thought it would be interest to hear what this expert
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  Speaker 1: had to say, considering that these cell phone records are
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  Speaker 1: so crucial to what's going on. So we'll keep on
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  Speaker 1: keeping on, and as this information is available, you already
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  Speaker 1: know we're gonna have it added to this catalog. All
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of the information that goes with this episode can be
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: found in the description box Spice of