TexasRebel said:
Absence of dna?
In his car, in his apartment there is no DNA from any of the victims according to Andrea. Nor is there any sign of cleaning agents to explain the absence of such material. Very hard to believe a guy from a very bloody crime scene with blood spatter and cast off blood from multiple stabbings would not have DNA from the victims on his person that would be transferred to his car to leave the scene.
Even if he had had his car detailed and a deep clean on the upholstery, there would still be some material left in some nook or cranny in that car. But it doesn't seem the FBI has been able to identify DNA from the victims. But the use of such cleaning agents would have been identified to explan that absence.
That's very problematic.
Another issue has to do with the source of the matching the DNA, trace DNA, found on the snap on the knife sheath, to Kohberger. That is in two parts. First, the FBI did use some genealogical sites to identify some people having some DNA characteristics in common with the trace DNA on the sheath. From there they worked on a genealogy for his family. Now, where is the chain of custody for those samples that those relatives sent in?
The second issue stems from that one but can become one that the laws of evidence will allow. And that is the verification of the DNA by a separate method of confirmation. And that is where the garbage cans at his parents' home in Pennsylvania enters the picture. The story was the FBI were watching and took some garbage and identfied DNA that was paternal to Kohberger's trace DNA found on the sheath. However, Andrea picked up on some wording in the statement of probable cause for the search warrant for that home in PA. And that wording suggests there may be a curtilage issue.
And by curtilage I mean the immediate area surrounding the home. Garbage cans out on the street to be picked up for disposal? No expectation of privacy. Garbage cans next to the house? Curtilage. It has not been abandoned and fair game yet.
One other thing are the phone pings. Sparsely populated area, very few cell towers and there are long stretches, according to her, and hour or more, wihout constant cell service, or no service at all. Two pings in particular suggest his phone was somewhere else during the timeline of when the murders happened. Could be an alternative explanation for those errant pings but we don't know what that is yet.
So that comes back to my question: do they have the wrong guy? Or do they have a problem with proving beyond a reasonable doubt that they have the right guy? My sense is the latter but we don't know yet.
