Police issued more than 60 arrest warrants to companies including Doordash, Verizon, Tinder and Reddit while investigating Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger, but the findings remain under lock and key.
Shortly after the alleged killer, 28, was extradited to Idaho for the Nov. 13 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, issued a gag order prohibiting lawyers, law enforcement agencies and others associated with the case from speaking or writing about it.
Among the 750 pages of documents are guarantees for more than 60 companies, including Doordash, Verizon, Reddit, Amazon, Match Group, which owns Tinder, and Meta, among many others.
Early in the case, internet detectives claimed they found a Reddit account that reportedly made accurate predictions about the case before the information was made public. Supposedly, she also used as a student to conduct a study on criminal decision-making.
The documents under the gag order “contain very intimate facts or statements … that would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person,” the judge said. The documents are also sealed due to the fact that ‘it could threaten the security or endanger the life or safety of people’.
More than 60 arrest warrants have been issued to companies including Doordash, Verizon, Tinder and Reddit as police investigate suspect in the Idaho murders, Bryan Kohberger, but what was found in the reports remains under lock and key due to the gag order. .
Shortly after the 28-year-old alleged killer was extradited to Idaho for the Nov. 13 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, a warrant was issued gag prohibiting lawyers, law enforcement agencies and others associated with the case from speaking or writing about it
Goncalves’ family lawyer, Shanon Gray, filed an appeal against the gag order early last month, calling it “too broad and vague” and unconstitutional, claiming it violated his right to free speech.
“As (an) attorney for one of the victim’s families, I am able to convey to the media any of those family members’ opinions, views or statements regarding any part of the case,” Gray said.
Kohberger’s attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, filed an objection to the appeal, saying it does not violate First Amendment rights and is not “seemingly vague.”
‘If Mr. Gray really only intends to express the thoughts and opinions of his clients, then the Court’s earlier waiver has already cured the alleged First Amendment malady: Mr. Gray’s clients can express these thoughts and opinions for themselves, as they clearly have been doing,’ wrote Jay Weston Logsdon, a lawyer in Taylor’s office.
Latah County Attorney Bill Thompson said the families of the victims, particularly the Goncalves, could take the stand.
“Members of the Goncalves family, represented by Gray, are potential witnesses in this case, including at trial and/or sentencing,” he wrote in an affidavit Wednesday.
Thirty news organizations have also asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the gag order.
The coalition of news organizations maintains that it violates the right to free speech by prohibiting it from happening in the first place.
‘Justice cannot survive behind walls of silence. For that reason, “a responsible press has always been regarded as the servant of an effective judicial administration, especially in criminal matters,” coalition attorney Wendy Olson wrote in the court filing, citing historic court rulings on past restrictions. to the expression freedoom.
Internet sleuths found a Reddit account that appeared to know information about the case before it was published, which many believed to be Kohberger.
Despite the public interest in the case, there have been no notable leaks of information that impair Kohberger’s right to a fair trial, Olson said.
Coalition news organizations would have published additional information about the killings had the gag order not existed, he wrote.
For example, Pennsylvania police told one reporter they can’t say if they’re reviewing cold cases that could be related to Kohberger because of the gag order, and the mayor of Moscow told another reporter he can’t talk about the general healing of the community.
Several journalists have had public records requests denied or not completed because agencies in Idaho and Washington fear they won’t comply with the order.
‘The petitioners are not news; report the news. They can’t report what they can’t collect,” Olson wrote.
Kohberger was arrested Dec. 30 by a SWAT team at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on their way to search his apartment at Washington State University.
He has previously indicated that he believes he will be “exonerated” even though his family cannot pay for him to have private representation.
Kohberger has yet to plead guilty to the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Authorities released the probable cause affidavit against Kohberger just before his first hearing in Moscow, Idaho, on January 5.
It reveals how he turned off his phone the night of the murders in an alleged attempt to cover his tracks.
It is even alleged that he returned to the scene of the crime at 9 a.m. on November 13, just hours after police believed he committed the quadruple murder.
Documents say the criminal justice attorney stalked the property at least 12 times.
Among the 750 locked pages are guarantees for more than 60 companies, including Doordash, Verizon, Reddit, Amazon, Match Group, which owns Tinder, and Meta, among many others.
Kohberger has yet to plead guilty to the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The group of four were killed in their off-campus home on November 13.
Authorities have not released the exact dates on which they believe he inspected the three-story property, but confirmed that he was detained in August just two minutes after leaving the area covered by the cell phone tower closest to the house.
A Latah County deputy sheriff pulled him over on Aug. 21 at 11:37 p.m. as part of a traffic stop, in which he provided his number.
During the stop, which was recorded on the officer’s body camera, Kohberger was driving his white Hyundai Elantra.
The documents also included details about how Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath near the bodies of Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Authorities are still looking for the murder weapon.
