TRUE CRIME and DNA FOR SOLVING CRIMES : DNA and THE BRYAN KOHBERGER - IDAHO FOUR CASE : WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING BOOK BY HOWARD BLUM

I'm not a devotee of True Crime, however, I got hooked on the Bryan Kohberger - Idaho Four murder case back when it happened. I recall it was Covid-19 closure time. I was home listening to the radio while doing some crocheting and was stunned to hear the news that four college students had been found murdered in their off campus rental house. 

It was a party house. A house where other students were drinking and who knows what else even when not one of the renters was actually home. That was dangerous. It was also dangerous, in my opinion, that all four were members of hard-partying sororities and fraternities; I dare say the word alcoholism seemed to have been censored from reportage. Excessive drinking to the point of beyond a little lit was going on. Also dangerous, in my opinion, was the social networking and postings that the girls did, in particular the two blondes, who posed adorably but also just within the limits of modern modesty. Did the whole world have to know how much fun they were having? Did they really need to give off so much personal information? Perhaps this was the relative naivety of Idaho and a small college-student reliant town? Or maybe I'm just too old to get it?

Strangely, the photos of the house that made it seem rather rural didn't show that they were actually right next to an apartment house and other houses.

Perhaps this particular crime story especially caught my interest because I had my own college experience living on a campus while trying to find off-campus housing. That experience of mine also made me furious when I heard some professionals, such as people who worked as detectives or for the FBI say some things about the suspect who'd been arrested, Bryan Kohberger, that was just stupid, such as that he majored in Criminal Justice to learn how to murder. I was once surrounded by grad students and these opinionated guests seemed to be without understanding of the demands of graduate work or the fact that many a grad student works as a TA - Teaching Assistant - and some of them are not great at teaching or reasonable on how they grade. This is especially true when a TA does not want to teach after they get their Phd.

Some podcasters and newscasters would talk about how Kohberger had failed to commit the perfect crime and get away with it and was actually dumb. Or he was accused of intellectual arrogance and was actually too smart. 

His right to be assumed guilty was over quickly. I didn't believe he could get a fair trial. 

Then, in July 2025, the man admitted he did commit the murders. I'm sure some of the investigators - as well as the taxpayers - were happy they had the right guy all along especially because millions had been spent. He got a plea deal that means he will not be executed by firing squad but spend his life in prison.

Back in 2022, I started searching for more information and I started to listen to YouTube videos - podcasts - about the murders, the investigation, the arrest, and all things Kohberger and the Idaho Four. When I heard that the whole case was circumstantial - though videos, cell phones, and other new technologies had been applied - it seemed that "touch DNA" in the metal button of the knife sheath was the most important thing connecting the man to the crime.

When The Night Comes Falling is the book I read recently with an eagerness to know more than I had heard on YouTube podcasts, having listened to an easy hundred hours of discussion, speculation, or reportage, of these since the murders, November 13, 2022.

So yes, there were a few things in Howard Blum's book that I had not heard before. 

Blum intimates that Bryan's father had grown suspicious that his son had become a murderer - but that was unthinkable. Another is that that DNA Bryan was packing up in little plastic bags and taking to the neighbor's trash cans in the middle of the night was his dad's not his. And that some other relative of theirs had posted on a genealogy database that lead to the dad. 

I also was amazed that touch DNA is based on a very small number of skin cells, especially considering that we're shedding skin cells wherever we go. Honestly, a speck of dandruff has more than the shed of a quick touch of finger! 

Kaylee was only home for a visit and had already moved out. She wanted to see friends and party and perhaps also reignite her on and off relationship with a boyfriend that she had ended. They still shared a dog but she was going to travel in Europe and then take a job in another state. Jack was a suspect and went through some investigation but was quickly considered innocent of any involvement.

Maddy was the target and there's a question as to when Bryan began to fixate on her but maybe he did eat at the Mad Greek where she waitressed once though no one remembers that. 

Ethan and Xana were likely as unexpected in the house as Kaylee was but then at least one of them went to see what the noise was. 

Two of the victims fought for their lives - Kaylee and Xana. 

The FBI had a small airplane following Bryan and his dad as they traveled back to Pennsylvania in his car during what was to be a month long school break. Bryan left before the letter stating that he had been let go as a TA was received so he didn't know that yet, and he talked to his dad about some difficulties and said no way would the university be able to just let him go. The FBI did not tell the other investigative entities such as the police know they were leading the case. It was the Indiana traffic stops that made the FBI think another investigate entity had come to the same conclusion they had. His dad had driven out with him in the first place. (I never thought having a companion for a long drive was a bad idea.)

Of course, the gag order has been lifted since Kohberger admitted he was the murderer. This means that some of the speculation will end because more facts will come out but I wonder, because so this case has spawned so much news when it will actually fade away. It seems to me that a lot of podcasters will have to move on to other murders. I sometimes wonder what will be as compelling to their listeners.

My curiosity about how our legal system works - or how it does not - will continue, as will my interest in how investigations are conducted.

***

TRUE CRIME : My number one favorite is/was Surviving the Survivor. I also listened to Grizzly True Crime, which is probably my number two. I listened to Harsh Reality, one of the stations that maintained some doubt or questioning about Bryan Kohberger being the murderer. I have to warn you that a turn off is the hosts use of foul language.

THE BRYAN KOHBERGER TRIAL NEARS and I'M JUST AS INTERESTED IN THE INVESTIGATIVE GENETIC GENEALOGY DNA EVIDENCE ASPECT OF THE CASE

September 5 2025: Just a note here... As you may know Kohberger decided to admit his guilt and there is no trial. He has his sentence and is in prison for life. 

THE BRYAN KOHBERGER TRIAL NEARS and I'M JUST AS INTERESTED IN THE INVESTIGATIVE GENETIC GENEALOGY DNA EVIDENCE ASPECT OF THE CASE

It's been a while since I posted about my interest in the "Idaho Four" Murder case.  Although I'm not a follower of True Crime podcasts in general, I have spent many hours listening to various podcasts about this one. Some of the podcasters and the people they interview make me crazy because, overall, the man has been convicted and is assume to be guilty even when they make a mention of that fact that in the United States we presume innocence, while going on to talk about him specifically as the murderer. Listening to a variety of opinions is good because it certainly opens one's mind to possibility. For instance, I do think there is reason to consider that there was more than one murderer involved in the killing of the four students, two weapons, two styles of stabbing or gouging, and a timeline that would mean to me that a person would probably have to be a killing professional to kill four persons so quickly.  Day by day, as more information that was kept away from the citizen and the media, is released, some notions are challenged, while others make more sense.

It's been a couple years now since Koberger, once a PhD. candidate student studying criminology, was arrested.  His lawyers are thorough and a third has recently been put on a case in which many thousands of documents must be looked over by attentive staff. This case includes much that is modern such as videos, door bell cameras, cell phone pings, and the DNA  which is "Touch DNA." Using Genealogy database as well as going through his family's garbage cans, the FBI matched his father with "Touch DNA" on the metal button of a leather knife protector left at the scene.  The knife itself has not been found. The database and the relative did not give permission. But what's in place to stop law enforcement?

As a genealogist, the use of Genealogy databases and DNA testing service databases is of the most interest to me. It's clear that everywhere we go and everything we do, we are leaving trace evidence of our existence. I was thinking about this the other day because I'm the only person on earth besides her owner, a friend of mine, who can hold a small Jack Russel terrier named Princess. Princess is extremely protective of my friend and/or is terrified of just about every other human or dog that lives. Princess has been shedding all over me, all over.  I see that and I think about shedding a few skin cells wherever I go.

I think we are all challenged with a conflict here of wanting a murderer caught but also wanting our personal privacy. In a recent court pretrial ruling it was determined that this DNA evidence would not be used...

KREM : KOHBERGER PRETRIAL DETERMINATION DNA

Excerpt: Both sides agreed not to introduce evidence obtained through Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG). Instead, the state will rely on a "tip" that led to Khoberger. The court also reserved ruling on a motion involving evidence of alternative perpetrators, requiring the defense to submit offers of proof by a set deadline.

On the topic of DNA evidence, the court granted a motion to exclude misleading population comparisons related to likelihood ratios presented to the grand jury. However, it would not restrict similar questioning during the trial. A defense motion to exclude testimony about an "inconclusive" DNA likelihood ratio was denied as moot, as the state said it would not use it as inculpatory evidence.

Here is an explanation of TOUCH DNA https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-46051-9

Touch DNA: impact of handling time on touch deposit and evaluation of different recovery techniques: An experimental study

C 2025 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

STOP GIVING AWAY YOUR DNA : AN OPINION BY NICK ESPINOSNA : ADVOCATING FOR DNA PRIVACY and QUESTIONS CELL PHONE DATA ?

Nick isn't the only person who has concerns that the privacy aspects of giving over your DNA need to be addressed.  

READ THE FINE PRINT before you take a DNA test.

DNA taken because of an arrest, even if that arrest proves to be an error, charges are dropped?

I think we all feel justice is served when DNA is used to locate a serial killer or a person on death row is released because the criminal who actually committed the crime is found... However, all you need to be falsely accused is to be in the wrong place at the right time.  I've been following the Murder of four college students who attended University of Idaho which happened November 13, 2022.  One neighbor who agreed to speak to the media soon had on-line crime speculations that he was the murderer.  So after three or four interviews, he went to the police station and gave over his DNA to eliminate himself as a suspect.  I feel certain that many people would prefer not to even chance talking to the media for reasons like this. Espinosa asks what about if you are on your cell phone within a mile area of a murder?

It's true that cell phones on you on the move keep pinging the towers and can be used to follow your moves.  For the person who gets lost on a hike, this can be a life saver, but really, the younger generations have no idea what PRIVACY actually feels like. Those of us who had it, or far more of it, are also having a more difficult time finding those precious moments in which we can be truly alone with ourselves and our thoughts.

GOLDEN STATE KILLER CAPTURE? DNA INFORMATION FROM PRIVATE SHARE DATABASES?

The recent capture of The Golden State Killer - a serial killer responsible for many murders and even more rapes - that they know about - and based on DNA evidence - put me and many others into a spin.  Well, the first thing is that the man captured may have his day in court but basically he has already been outed, tried, and convicted, by the media and THAT IS NOT WHAT THE UNITED STATES IS ALL ABOUT.  Or is it?


Here in the U.S. we must assume innocence and prove guilt.  It's just the opposite in other countries.  Though this is and has long been one of the most important open cases and we as a people want justice, I watched televised news, YouTube reportages, and read a dozen articles piggybacking on each other about the case.  At first while the use of DNA genealogy databases had been used came up, leaving us to wonder WHICH ONE, first came DENIALS by a couple of them that they HAD NOT COOPERATED WITH INVESTIGATIONS.


Well, it's easy enough to set yourself up - or borrow someone else's - to get in and use the account pretending that all you're interested in is more people to invite to that family reunion because SO MUCH depends on what we used to call "Scout's Honor."


So of course I wanted to know WHICH ONE and finally was revealed.  GEDMATCH
NBC NEWS - GOLDEN STATE SUSPET SPARKS DNA SITE PRIVACY QUESTIONS  by Erik Ortiz


YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE A DNA TEST, have the results just for yourself, and not have them included in ANY database, not at all, from the start. 
This is not however the first or only time the use of DNA databases has been used.
For instance, statistics are computed using them, which I suppose the researchers just don't think is personal enough to have to ask each individual.


Reading around the investigative work that lead to the arrest, it's also clear that they didn't just use GENEALOGY rather than LAW ENFORCEMENT databases, they also had to cull some DNA from the suspect and though it has not been described it's clear they were in his garbage cans and the DNA could be from bodily substances such as hair, saliva, and so on.
Makes you think three times about throwing out those fast food containers.


Personally, this put my own DNA  research on hold.
And though it sounds like it will be difficult for the man to argue he is innocent, let's hold onto that INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY that is so important in defining what is American!  Because that and our PRIVACY RIGHTS are being demolished.


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