Cell phone data shows Idaho massacre suspect staked out students’ home 12 times: police

28-year-old Bryan Kohberger made his first appearance in court on Thursday, where he did not enter a plea for the four first-degree murder charges he faces. He continues to be held without bail.

The affidavit, written by Moscow police corporal Brett Payne, reveals that DNA matching the suspect was found on a leather knife sheath recovered from the crime scene. Prior to his arrest, DNA taken from the trash of the suspect's family home in Washington state was tested in a lab, which was able to determine that DNA on the trash belonged to the father of the suspect.

The knife sheath also had a U.S. Marine Corps insignia on it, although there are no records that Kohberger ever served in the military.

The affidavit also revealed that cellphone data tracked the suspect's location to that region of Idaho. Despite having his phone switched off while the murders were taking place, cell tower data placed him in the area shortly after the time of the massacre.

Weeks after the murders took place, surveillance footage from close to the victims' house captured a white Hyundai Elantra, leading police to put out a nationwide alert searching for owners of a car matching that description.

Affidavit of the Idaho mass murderer by Roberto Cruz on Scribd

The footage showed the car driving by the house three times in the early hours of the morning, before returning a fourth time at 4:04 a.m., around the time that investigators believe the murders took place. The same vehicle was then spotted leaving the area "at a high rate of speed" approximately 16 minutes later.

Another chilling detail that emerged was that one of the surviving roommates said that she saw and heard the killer on the night of the massacre in the house. Authorities remain uncertain as to why the murders weren't reported until hours later.