The man accused of killing four University of Idaho students claims that DNA found at the scene may have been planted by police.
The 28-year-old suspect, who is not being named per Daily Wire policy, said in a recent court filing that police officers in Moscow, Idaho, could have placed the suspect’s DNA on the knife sheath that was found under the bodies of one of the victims, the Independent reported.
“The State’s argument asks this Court and [the suspect] to assume – is that the DNA on the sheath was placed there by [the suspect], and not someone else during an investigation that spans hundreds of members of law enforcement and apparently at least one lab the State refuses to name,” the suspect’s defense attorneys wrote.
The filing is the latest in the defense’s battle to obtain detailed information about how prosecutors used genetic genealogy to link the suspect to the crimes. Prosecutors have argued previously that they didn’t need to turn over detailed information since a DNA sample provided by the suspect directly matched DNA found on the knife sheath. The genetic genealogy wouldn’t be used at trial, prosecutors argued.
Prosecutors responded to the defense’s most recent attempt to obtain that information by writing in its own filing that “the State is at a loss as to how that theory supports a claim that the lGG information is material to the preparation of his defense.”
DNA expert Kristen Slaper told the Law & Crime Network’s Angenette Levy that planting the suspect’s DNA on the knife sheath would take quite a bit of planning.
“Nobody knew who did this and I think that’s important because in order for something to be planted, it has to be pretty planned out,” Slaper told the outlet. “To plant someone’s DNA you have to have their DNA first of all. You have to have an item that their DNA is on and know that only their DNA would be found on it.”
The suspect’s defense had previously pointed to other DNA found at the crime scene in an attempt to suggest someone else was responsible for the murders of Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Defense attorney Jay Weston Logsdon, filed a motion stating that DNA from two men was found inside the house, while DNA from a third man was found outside the home on a glove, the filing says, according to Inside Edition.
None of the three samples match the suspect’s DNA, though it is unknown when this particular DNA was left at the home, which was the location of frequent parties.
The suspect and his attorney say these DNA samples were never run through the national DNA database to find a match.