Bryan Kohberger‘s trial has been thrown into disarray as the judge reveals someone with intimate knowledge of the case has leaked sensitive details to the press.
The breach could make it harder to find impartial jurors for Kohberger’s August trial over the alleged quadruple homicide of four University of Idaho students back in November 2022.
Judge Steven Hippler has ordered a new investigation as he seeks to discover the source behind the devastating leak.
The case has been plagued by setbacks as his defense team scrambled to have evidence thrown out, the death penalty ruled out and, most recently, point the finger at another potential suspect.
But now, Judge Steven Hippler has issued an extraordinary rebuke, revealing ‘sensitive information not previously publicly circulated’ had been leaked to Dateline.
‘It appears likely that someone currently or formally associated with law enforcement, or the prosecution team, violated this Court’s non-dissemination order,’ he wrote in a new filing released Thursday.
Certain facts of the case have been withheld from the public to preserve the integrity of the investigation.
Kohberger is facing the death penalty if convicted of the brutal murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Two other housemates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, survived.
‘Such violations not only undermine the rule of law, potentially by persons charged with upholding it, but also significantly impede the ability to seat an impartial jury.’
The 30-year-old is scheduled to stand trial in August accused of the quadruple homicide of four University of Idaho students back in November 2022
Left to right: Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
Judge Hippler warned the offenders’ actions have likely ‘substantially increased the cost to be borne by the taxpayers’ because it will now likely take longer to find jurors.
Jury selection will take place behind closed doors on July 30. But the process of selecting an impartial jury is made substantially more difficult on high profile cases which deeply impacted the community, like this one.
Judge Hippler put every single official with a connection to the case on high alert over the new investigation.
‘All persons who at any time, past or present, worked directly or indirectly [on this case]… are hereby prohibited from deleting, discarding, overwriting, destroying, altering or otherwise making unavailable any… records, files, documents, metadata, messages, emails, text messages, direct or private messages, phone logs or logs of communications,’ he wrote in his memo.
He went on to specify that this order must be adhered to regardless of whether the information was stored on a work owned or personal device.
Any contact that officials have had with media companies, friends or relatives outside of their colleagues which related to Kohberger or the facts of the case against him must be stored.
‘All such Documents or materials or records that could potentially constitute a Document – even if it is uncertain whether such meet that criteria shall be preserved and must be protected from deletion, alteration or loss until further order of the Court.
‘Any feature on any device or account that is set to automatically delete or overwrite information that could be covered by this Order must immediately be disabled.’
A selfie taken by Bryan Kohberger days before his arrest for the murders and obtained by Dateline
Judge Hippler went on to order authorities to hand over to the court a list of ‘all individuals within law enforcement and prosecuting agencies, past or present, who are known to have had access to any facts related to the investigation.’
He is particularly interested in learning who had access to surveillance videos of Kohberger, AT&T records of his phone, the content of his phone and social media accounts.
Beyond that, Judge Hippler is seeking the names of any person who was aware of Kohberger’s internet search history, photographs or details of his Amazon account.
These specifications are in direct response to the exclusive details aired on a recent Dateline episode studying the case.
The program revealed the criminology PhD student called his dad Michael Kohberger three times on the morning of November 13, 2022, just two hours after the slayings.
According to Dateline, Kohberger made several searches around serial killer Ted Bundy – who was put to death for a string of murders including the killings of female students in a sorority house in Florida.
In the days after the murders, Kohberger – on multiple occasions – then also allegedly watched shows about the serial killer.
He also searched and listened to the Britney Spears’ song Criminal.
Young couple Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (left) were found dead on the second floor of the home. Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen (right) were killed on the third floor
The case has been plagued by setbacks as Kohberger’s defense team scrambled to have evidence thrown out, the death penalty ruled out and, most recently , point the finger at another potential suspect
Other online searches after the murders show the suspect was researching the killings – as well as his own name, the show reported.
Dateline also reported that the intended target of the attack was believed to be Mogan, and that it took the killer by surprise to find her best friend, Kernodle, sharing her bed.
Judge Hippler warned that if he does not receive the information he has requested, he could find the person responsible to be in contempt of court, and they could face criminal consequences.
‘Within seven days the State must also provide to the Court a written plan designed to address and prevent the future unauthorized disclosure of information related to this case,’ he wrote.
He also wants to know ‘what it has done, or proposes to do, to identify any violations ofthe Court’s non-dissemination orders previously entered in this case, and those responsible for such violations.’
