MOSCOW, ID - Cell phone data has allegedly revealed that Bryan Kohberger discussed the University of Idaho murders with his mother days after he went on the killing spree.
Heather Barnhart, Senior Director of Forensic Research at Cellebrite, and Jared Barnhart, Head of CX Strategy and Advocacy at Cellebrite, told NewsNation's Banfield that Kohberger's mother MaryAnn Kohberger sent her son a news article about the case in a text message on November 17, 2022, the DailyMail reported.
The allegedly sent news article detailed the graphic injuries suffered by 20-year-old victim Xana Kernodle, "basically describing how Xana had bruises on her body and how she had put up such a fight," Jared said.
When the text was sent, the mother and son were allegedly on the phone together. "Looking at the timeline a little bit, you can tell that they're actually speaking on the phone. What that tells us, and we can assume, is that they were talking about the Idaho murders on that night," Jared said.
The mom and son had spent "hours" on the phone to each other that day, the digital forensics experts learned. "November 17th just kind of stands out a little bit. He had more mother interaction that day than normal, which was a lot," Jared explained.
It was also the same day Kohberger was working on "grievance letters" to send to his professors at Washington State University after they placed him on an improvement plan following a string of complaints about both his professional performance and his behavior toward female students.
Kohberger did not respond to his mom's text message sharing the news story that night. When they began texting again the following morning, there was then no mention of the murders that had taken place just a short 10-minute drive from Kohberger's student home in Pullman, Washington.
The digital forensic experts said the absence of any further discussion could be a sign Kohberger deleted text messages between him and his mother, or that they only spoke about the case on phone calls.
There is no indication that MaryAnn or any of Kohberger's family members knew that he was the perpetrator prior to his arrest or guilty plea. The Cellebrite team had been hired by state prosecutors to dig into Kohberger's Android cell phone and laptop back in March 2023 and were set to testify as expert witnesses at his trial.
In an interview with DailyMail last month, the team said their analysis of the mass killer's digital footprint had unearthed an intense relationship between Kohberger and his parents, in particular his mother, who he would call multiple times and speak for hours on the phone every day.
His parents appeared to be Kohberger's sole source of communication. "There wasn't any calls or texts to friends. There was one group chat with a couple of classmates that he was very inactive on," Heather said. He spoke to his mother "all the time ... every day and night."
"His primary source of communication was to his mother," Heather said. "He talked to her constantly. And if she wouldn't answer immediately, he would call his father or text him and say, 'why is she not answering?' He would go back and forth if they didn't answer. And sometimes even after the calls ended, he would then text."
The data revealed Kohberger also called his mom just two hours after carrying out the mass killing. His mother attended both his change of plea hearing and sentencing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho.
Heather Barnhart, Senior Director of Forensic Research at Cellebrite, and Jared Barnhart, Head of CX Strategy and Advocacy at Cellebrite, told NewsNation's Banfield that Kohberger's mother MaryAnn Kohberger sent her son a news article about the case in a text message on November 17, 2022, the DailyMail reported.
The allegedly sent news article detailed the graphic injuries suffered by 20-year-old victim Xana Kernodle, "basically describing how Xana had bruises on her body and how she had put up such a fight," Jared said.
When the text was sent, the mother and son were allegedly on the phone together. "Looking at the timeline a little bit, you can tell that they're actually speaking on the phone. What that tells us, and we can assume, is that they were talking about the Idaho murders on that night," Jared said.
The mom and son had spent "hours" on the phone to each other that day, the digital forensics experts learned. "November 17th just kind of stands out a little bit. He had more mother interaction that day than normal, which was a lot," Jared explained.
It was also the same day Kohberger was working on "grievance letters" to send to his professors at Washington State University after they placed him on an improvement plan following a string of complaints about both his professional performance and his behavior toward female students.
Kohberger did not respond to his mom's text message sharing the news story that night. When they began texting again the following morning, there was then no mention of the murders that had taken place just a short 10-minute drive from Kohberger's student home in Pullman, Washington.
The digital forensic experts said the absence of any further discussion could be a sign Kohberger deleted text messages between him and his mother, or that they only spoke about the case on phone calls.
There is no indication that MaryAnn or any of Kohberger's family members knew that he was the perpetrator prior to his arrest or guilty plea. The Cellebrite team had been hired by state prosecutors to dig into Kohberger's Android cell phone and laptop back in March 2023 and were set to testify as expert witnesses at his trial.
In an interview with DailyMail last month, the team said their analysis of the mass killer's digital footprint had unearthed an intense relationship between Kohberger and his parents, in particular his mother, who he would call multiple times and speak for hours on the phone every day.
His parents appeared to be Kohberger's sole source of communication. "There wasn't any calls or texts to friends. There was one group chat with a couple of classmates that he was very inactive on," Heather said. He spoke to his mother "all the time ... every day and night."
"His primary source of communication was to his mother," Heather said. "He talked to her constantly. And if she wouldn't answer immediately, he would call his father or text him and say, 'why is she not answering?' He would go back and forth if they didn't answer. And sometimes even after the calls ended, he would then text."
The data revealed Kohberger also called his mom just two hours after carrying out the mass killing. His mother attended both his change of plea hearing and sentencing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho.
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