The latest on the Idaho student murders

Court documents – including a probable cause order – in the state case against Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, were publicly released on Thursday.

Here's what they've revealed so far:

University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in Washington in the fall of 2022, court documents citing police records reveal.

“These records also showed Kohberger wrote an essay when he applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in the fall of 2022. Kohberger wrote in his essay he had interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.”

Phone records indicate Idaho student killings suspect Bryan Kohberger’s phone was near the quadruple murder scene between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m. local time – hours after the students were slain, court documents released Thursday reveal.

Law enforcement review of the records indicate his phone left his residence in Pullman, Washington, “at approximately 9:00 a.m. and traveling to Moscow, ID,” according to an affidavit.

Kohberger’s phone “utilized cellular resources that would provide coverage to the King Road Residence between 9:12 am. and 9:21 am.

Cell phone records show the same phone “traveling back to the area of the Kohberger Residence and arriving to the area at approximately 9:32 a.m.”

University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger smiled at his public defender when walked into the courtroom for his initial appearance Thursday morning. He did not appear to make eye contact with anyone else throughout the entire proceeding, including family members of victims who were crying in the first row. 

Steve Goncalves — the father of Kaylee Gonclaves, one of the four slain students — was with his wife and other relatives in the front row, according to a CNN team in the courtroom, adding that family members were seen staring at Kohberger throughout the hearing.

A no-contact order for the murder victims’ family members and the surviving roommates for two years was requested by the prosecutor and upheld by the judge. 

After Kohberger’s court-appointed attorney Anne Chere Taylor requested a review of bail and prosecutor Bill Thompson argued that no bail should be upheld, the magistrate judge presiding over the case upheld no bail for the alleged murderer.

The suspect in the murders of four Idaho university students, Bryan Kohberger, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). 

In felony cases, if a defendant requests a preliminary hearing, one is set within the time limits prescribed by law, according to the Idaho Court System.

In Kohberger’s case, one is expected within 14 days, according to the judge who presided over his initial appearance Thursday.

Phone records indicate Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times between June 2022 to the present day, court documents reveal.

“All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” according to an affidavit.

One of the surviving roommates of the four slain University of Idaho students told investigators she heard crying in the house the morning of the murders, according to a probable cause affidavit released Thursday.

The student — identified by law enforcement as "D.M." — also said she heard a voice say, "It’s OK, I’m going to help you," and then saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” according to the affidavit.

The document added that D.M. described the figure as a man standing about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, who was "not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows."

The man walked past D.M. as she stood in a "frozen shock phase,” law enforcement officials wrote.

“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” according to the document, adding the roommate did not recognize the man. 

The affidavit said that the statements by the surviving witness and other evidence led investigators to believe the homicides occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. local time (7 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. ET).

A Washington State University officer located a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra registered to suspect Bryan Kohberger in an apartment complex parking lot, and officials were able to zero in on him because his driver's license information and photograph were consistent with the roommate’s description.

Trash recovered from the Kohberger family residence by Pennsylvania law enforcement and sent to the Idaho State Lab for DNA testing was used to help investigators narrow down Bryan Kohberger as the suspect in the Idaho student murders, according to court documents released Thursday.

“On December 27, 2022, Pennsylvania Agents recovered the trash from the Kohberger family residence located in Albrightsville, PA. That evidence was sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing,” the document says.

The next day “the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims.

“On December 28, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA profile obtained from the sheath, identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of Suspect Profile,” the document says.

“At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect's biological father.”

Court documents – including the probable cause order – in the state case against Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, have been publicly released.

CNN is going through them now.