News/Commentary

Sources tell Judge Jeanine what piece of evidence helped authorities nab Idaho murder suspect

December 31, 2022 | | Print Article

The nation heaved a sigh of relief Friday with the announcement that a suspect in the brutal murders of four Idaho students had been arrested in Pennsylvania, and, according to sources of Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro, “genealogical DNA” evidence helped to nab him.

Pirro told “The Five” panel on Friday that the investigation into the deaths of Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, “begins now.”

(Video: Fox News)

“[M]y sources are telling me that there is genealogical DNA that was established in this case that led the police to this particular suspect,” Pirro said. “So although that was, according to my sources who are very credible and reliable, …. if you try murder cases and especially murder cases that involve several victims, you understand that really the investigation begins now.”

Moscow police held a long-awaited press conference on Friday to announce the arrest of Bryan Kohberger, 28, a criminal justice/criminology graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington — just a 15-minute drive from the home in which the victims were found.

Authorities stated that Kohberger’s probable cause affidavit won’t be unsealed until he is successfully extradited to Idaho.

Pirro said we can expect investigators to do a deep dive into Kohberer’s background.

“The issue is, what did he say? Who did he hang out with? When he was in school did he talk about doing this kind of thing as a criminal justice major? He was interested in what the criminal was thinking when a criminal committed a violent crime. So there are all kinds of additional evidence that will be gathered at this point going forward,” she explained.

“So when you try a murder case, you understand that you are still investigating until your closing statement,” the judge continued. “And I’ve done it many times now as it relates to genealogical evidence – they literally can get evidence back to the 1800s.”

 

Pirro stated that, as far as she knows, Kohberger does not have a criminal record and, therefore, would not have matched anyone in CODIS, law enforcement’s “Combined DNA Index System.”

According to Pirro, a lack of hits means that investigators would have employed forensic genealogy to locate their suspect’s relatives.

“And so, they find out who were the relatives. Once they figure out who the suspect is, they then start to continue to investigate, spread out from Idaho to the car to Pennsylvania. And they populate with historical data,” she said.

“So CODIS can give us that 30% solving of cases. But this genealogical DNA can give us a 90% chance of solving these cases,” she stated. “So in addition to what will be unequivocal evidence, they’re going to have all kinds of circumstantial evidence in addition to that evidence, which we will see when the affidavit is unsealed.”

 

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles