Idaho police found a three-person mixture of DNA under the fingernails of Madison Mogen’s left hand, according to court filings, but testing was inconclusive.
Madison Mogen fought back.
Idaho investigators found a three-person mixture of DNA under the 21-year-old University of Idaho undergrad’s fingernails after she and three friends were killed in her off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022, according to court filings.
Bicka Barlow, a defense attorney who specializes in attacking DNA evidence and who was recently added to suspect Bryan Kohberger’s defense team, wants to limit testimony on the fingernail scrapings at trial, however.
She says they don’t match her client.
In a pair of redacted motions regarding the evidence, she argued that because testing of the samples came back inconclusive, focusing on them could mislead the jury. Additionally, she argued that independent testing conducted for the defense ruled him out entirely as a contributor.
“Mr. Kohberger’s inconclusive [likelihood ratio] is similar to almost every other person for whom an LR was generated and focusing on his ‘inconclusive’ LR would mislead the jury in that it implies that the LR means that Mr. Kohberger’s DNA might be present in the sample,” she argued.
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Barlow cited heavily redacted testimony from Jade Miller, who discussed samples recovered from under a nail on Mogen’s left hand. Although the specifics of what Miller said were not included in the publicly available filing, Barlow argued that her testimony was misleading and therefore barred under state law.
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Additionally, the presence of unknown DNA could support the defense theory that unknown persons left it there – an issue the defense already raised regarding blood samples found on a handrail in the home and on a glove outside.
“It could play in the defense very well that there was more than one person at the location in order to control that many people,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and cold case investigator.
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Mogen, a marketing major from Coeur d’Alene, was killed alongside her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, in an upstairs room of a six-bedroom house just steps off campus. Police also found a knife sheath under her body that had DNA on it that helped them uncover Kohberger as a suspect.
A floor below, police found the remains of Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20. All four students suffered multiple stab wounds.
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Idaho’s crime lab had tested two hypotheses: first, that the samples included DNA from Mogen, Goncalves and an unknown person, and second, that the DNA came from Mogen and two unknown persons.
Multiple people appear to have been tested as possible matches to the unknown persons. None of the results were a conclusive match to anyone.
Police allege that Kohberger visited the area of the home on multiple occasions, citing cellphone records and video of the suspect vehicle – a white Hyundai Elantra like the one he was pulled over in multiple times.
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His trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Latah County Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.
The case is now being overseen by Judge Steven Hippler in Boise.
