Idaho College Murders: Search Warrants Issued to Dating Apps, Social Media, Banks

New details have been released about the massive scope of the police investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students.

Over the past several weeks, the judge presiding over the criminal prosecution of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of the slayings, issued orders to seal and redact records related to search warrants served on about 60 major companies, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies, KXLY-TV reports.

The orders prevent public disclosure of records related to the warrants, such as what the recipients produced in response. The court concluded that the materials “contain highly intimate facts or statements . . . which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person.”

Further, the court wrote in some instances that the “documents contain facts or statements that might threaten the safety of or endanger the life or safety of individuals.”

Some of the search warrants sought information about Kohberger, while other warrants requested information on the victims, according to KHQ-TV.

Search warrants were served on tech firms like Amazon, Apple, eBay, DoorDash, Google, various dating sites and apps, Facebook parent Meta, Paypal/Venmo, Yahoo and Yik Yak. Phone and communications providers also received warrants, like AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Numerous banks and financial services companies received warrants, in addition to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department Forensic Lab and Moscow Police Department Forensic Lab.

Authorities allege that Kohberger, 28, fatally stabbed the victims at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, around 4 a.m. on Sunday, November 13. At the time, he was in the first year of a criminology Ph.D. program at nearby Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.

The victims were identified as 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.

Kohberger is scheduled to appear in court on June 26 for a preliminary hearing on four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary with intent to commit murder. He remains detained in the Latah County Jail.

Listen to a previous “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” episode on the case below:

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[Feature Photo: Monroe County PD]