2 Months Before Trial, Search On For Knife Used To Kill 4 Idaho College Students

With less than two months to go before the trial of the man accused of murdering four Idaho college students is set to begin, a Utah-based private investigator hopes to recover a key piece of missing evidence: The murder weapon.

Jason Jensen, a private investigator based in Salt Lake City and co-founder of the Cold Case Coalition, is spending the weekend scouring the thick brush and grass along the highways in Idaho and Washington along the route that Bryan Kohberger is suspected of driving in the early morning hours following the killings.

Kohberger, 30, is facing four charges of first-degree murder for the brutal slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at their rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. He’s also facing one count of burglary.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges with his trial scheduled to begin Aug. 11 in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho.

It’s a sensational case that has dominated national and international headlines. 

It also caught the attention of Jensen, who decided to lend police a hand by looking for the never-found murder weapon. 

Specifically, he’s searching for a Ka-Bar knife and sheath thought to contain Kohberger’s DNA. His DNA also was found on a bed next to one of the victims, according to court documents filed in the case.

Additional court documents recently unsealed by Idaho District Judge Steven Hippler further tie Kohberger to the knife after his Amazon search history revealed someone using his account had bought a Ka-Bar knife and sheath in the months leading up to the murders.

Most of the state’s evidence still remains sealed, though Jensen does not believe a murder weapon has been recovered, despite Hippler’s alluding to a knife in a display case to be presented at trial in Kohberger’s pre-trial in May, according to reporting by Boise’s KTVB Channel 7.

Likewise, unsealed search warrants reveal that police seized knives and a Glock 22 handgun from Kohberger’s Pennsylvania home, but there’s no indication that any of those weapons have been tied to the crimes.

Jensen believes that the knife used in the murders is still out there and hopes to find it with the help of a couple dozen volunteers who have signed on to search Saturday and Sunday.

Long Shot, But …

Granted, it’s a long shot, Jensen admits, but he also thinks it doesn’t hurt to search. 

He’s informed the Moscow Police Department of his search plans, but said the response was tepid, and he doesn’t know the extent to which — if any — the area has already been searched by police.

In his mind, it doesn’t hurt to try, and he and others are willing to donate their time and resources with the hopes of potentially finding a key piece of evidence that could tighten the case.

“As one of the searchers that I recently spoke with said very eloquently, she just wants to find the knife to help bring these victims’ families some peace,” he said. “I agree completely.”

He would also like to bring a sense of relief to two communities and college towns — Moscow and Pullman, Washington — that have been rocked and permanently scarred by the murders.

“They just really need to get on with their lives,” he said. “The quicker this case disappears, the quicker they can begin healing.”

With the help of about two dozen volunteers, Jensen plans to retrace the route reportedly taken by Kohberger in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, based on surveillance video and cellphone data released by police.

Retracing The Route

Jensen was planning to drive to Idaho on Friday to get a closer look at the terrain and begin staging the search.

His plan is to scour the roughly 35-mile route along U.S. Highway 95 and U.S. Route 195 between Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman and the house on King Road where the murders happened in Moscow.

This route is based on video surveillance of a white Hyundai Elantra thought to be driven by Kohberger and the route his cellphone data recorded on the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when the killings occurred, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Jensen also plans to search sections of the Snake River by boat near Wawawai Park that was also along the route.

From Google images, much of the land appears to be sandwiched between farms, so likely the search will include tromping through high grass and foliage along the roadways.

He’s searched for murder weapons in other cases, but said this is his first time searching for a knife, so he practiced by tossing a similar Ka-Bar knife in the grass to give people a sense of what they might be looking for.

“It may be random,” Jensen said, “but random works a lot of the time.”

Taking Clues From Serial Killers

He noted Kohberger’s alleged interest in the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to killing 30 women across several states between 1974 to 1978. 

Assuming he studied Bundy, Kohberger would know that the serial killer was adept at disposing of evidence, Jensen said.

Kohberger’s internet search history revealed he’d been researching the serial killer Ted Bundy in the weeks leading up to the murders, according to leaked information shared with Dateline in the documentary, “The Terrible Night on King Road.”

Jensen himself has an interest in Bundy and has searched for four of his victims thought to be buried in Utah and northwestern Colorado.

In the meantime, Jensen is putting his 30 years of experience and criminal profiling background to work as he speculates on how someone who had just committed four murders might act as they speed away from the crime scene.

Would he toss it out a window or deliberately bury it or maybe toss it in the river on the ride home?

“We’ve got to cover all our bases and see what happens,” he said. 

Anyone interested in the search can follow Jensen’s movements in real time on the “My Tracking” app. More information can be found on Jensen’s Facebook page.

Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.