TRUE CRIME NEWSIdaho Murder Case: Bombshell New Book on Bryan Kohberger Uncovers Previously Unseen Evidence, Claims Knife Sheath Could Have Been 'Ruled Inadmissible'
Bryan Kohberger is serving life in prison for the fatal November 2022 stabbings of four University of Idaho students.
April 23 2026, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Bryan Kohberger's defense team would have argued the most critical piece of evidence in the case against him should have been thrown out, a new book reveals.
Christopher Whitcomb's book Broken Plea: The Explosive Search for Truth Behind the Idaho Murders lays out never-before-seen expert reports that never made it to court as Kohberger pleaded guilty last summer weeks before his trial was set to start.
In an interview released on Wednesday, April 22, the author divulged that a defense expert flagged issues regarding the chain of custody of the Ka-Bar knife sheath found lying next to one of the victims.
'Touch DNA' linked to Bryan Kohberger was found on the knife sheath.
Prosecutors said they matched "touch DNA" from the tan leather knife sheath to Kohberger, now 31, using investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG techniques.
"It is plausible for someone to argue that the chain of custody would have led to significant problems for the prosecution in presenting evidence of any kind of DNA." Whitcomb told Fox News Digital. "And if that were to be excluded, then you have a white car and you have the cell tower pings."
The former criminology PhD student's white Hyundai Elantra was notably captured on surveillance footage in the area around the time of the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The murders took place at the victims off-campus home on King Road in Moscow, Ida.
The affidavit also noted the accused killer's cell phone pinged off a cell tower near the victims' Moscow, Ida., home on twelve occasions before the November 13, 2022 murders, suggesting he stalked them.
Whitcomb said on Wednesday that "looking at this case fundamentally," he believes the chain of custody issue of the knife sheath would have been "the biggest problem" for the prosecution.
Brent Turvey, a criminologist and forensic scientist hired by the defense, added, "If this had gone to trial, this piece of evidence should have, by any competent jurist, been ruled inadmissible."
His vehicle was also found to be in the area at the time of the killing spree.
"In most cases, in most jurisdictions, it would be," he said, per Fox News Digital.
Turvey explained, "The problem is a chain of custody form is supposed to be something that is created live, so, if I take a bag of evidence and I retrieve it, I sign that I've retrieved it, put my signature on it, the date, you know, that kind of stuff."
He claimed the evidence bag appeared to have been filled out twice, once on the bag itself and later on a sticker attached to it.
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Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025.
According to Turvey, initials presumed to belong to lead detective Brett Payne were written on the bag, and the date "11/14/22" was displayed over the evidence tape sealing the bag.
Shannon Arredondo, a forensic specialist with the Idaho State Police crime lab, also signed and dated the bag again on November 16 of that year.
The label, attached at some point later, was reportedly exchanged six times between November 13 and November 16, 2022, Turvey claimed, adding it appeared to be written by a single pen in similar handwriting.
He was arrested roughly six weeks after the murders.
However, Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor, said he didn't notice any major problem for the prosecution after looking at images of the evidence bag.
Another element of the case focused on in Whitcomb's book are questions surrounding wisps of hair photographed at the crime scene "in, or at least beneath" Chapin's hand.
"To the best of my knowledge, that hair to this day has never been processed or tested," Whitcomb told Fox News Digital.
Authorities never named another possible suspect.
Turvey, who found the hair after reviewing the evidence in person, claimed the FBI's lab determined it was not linked to Kohberger.
"When I saw this information, it changed my perspective on everything, and that's how it started," Whitcomb said, regarding the aforementioned details.
It remains unclear who the hair in question belongs to.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison.
