Mega Edition: Bryan Kohberger's Family And The Backlash Due to His Arrest (8/23/26)

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Welcome back to the program. On Friday, Dateline, NBC had
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a special about the Moscow murders, and we learned some
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pretty interesting stuff during that presentation by Dateline. Now, usually
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we just get a rehash of everything that we know
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already and they repackage it and serve it back up.
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But in this case, we learned some pretty interesting stuff.
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And previously we talked about the allegations that Brian Coohberger
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broke into a colleague's home in order to move her
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furniture around and freak her out so that she'd reach
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out to him so that he'd come and help her
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secure her residence. Now, of course, these are just rumors
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for now. We haven't heard that from any official source,
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so we have to make sure that we keep that
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in mind. But with everything that we've learned about Brian
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Cohberger and everything we know about him, it certainly attracts
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with me that he would do something like that. And remember,
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the source that NBC is talking about is the woman
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that this happened to, so why would she lie about that?
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As far as I'm concerned, most of these accounts of
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Brian Colberger and what he was like and how he
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conducted himself. I find them to be truthful, and that's
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because we've heard basically the same stuff from a bunch
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of different people. But now we're hearing that Brian Coberger's
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sister feared that Brian might have been involved in the murders,
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and they were so concerned that they dove into the
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white Hondai alantra dig in for clues. Today we have
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an article from The Independent and the headline Brian Coberger's
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sister feared he could be involved in Idaho murders before
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sudden arrest. Sources told NBC's Dateline that the accused killer's
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family searched as white Hondai alantra for possible evidence of
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the crime. Now, imagine your own family thinks you're capable
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of something like this. If anyone ever came to the
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house and told my parents that I murdered four people
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in their home, they would not believe it for one
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single second. Certainly not enough to dive into the Hondai
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a lantra and start looking for evidence. Now, of course,
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if the police showed up with evidence, oh, my parents
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would believe them, believe that, and I wouldn't have to
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worry about the police. Forget it, my mom would kill me.
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But for me, the family members saying oh, we better
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look in the car to see if there's evidence is
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a huge tell. This article was authored by Rachel Sharp.
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Brian Coberger's sister feared that her brother was involved in
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the stabbings afore University of Idaho's students before police swooped
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on their parents' home and arrested him for murder. According
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to a Bombshell report, So again, look, that's bad, right,
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not a good look. How many of you out there
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would have your sister jumping into your car looking for evidence.
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I'm sure not many of you. Maybe some of you,
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some of you might not have a good relationship with
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your brother or sister or whatever. Okay, but the vast
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majority of people, their parents and their siblings aren't gonna
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just think right out of the box that their loved
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one is the one responsible for these kinds of heinus murders.
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Unless there's a reason for your sister to feel that way,
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or for your parents to feel that way. That's not
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a normal emotion. That's not what normal people think of
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their children. Sources told NBC's Dateline that one of the
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accused killer's older siblings grew increasingly suspicious of her brother
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and his behavior when the family gathered to spend the
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holidays together. Her suspicions were so great that at one point,
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several family members searched mister Kohlberger's white Hondai a Lantra
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for a possible evidence of the crime. They said Madison Mogan,
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Kaylee Gonsalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found brutally
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stabbed to death in the Off Camps home in Moscow, Idaho,
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that the three women shared with two other roommates, back
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on the thirteenth of November, so over the Christmas holiday.
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This is what his sister was doing digging through his
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car because she had her own suspicions that old Coburger
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was involved. Meanwhile, you have a bunch of goofballs sitting
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on the Internet talking about how Brian Kohberger is innocent
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and he is not the right guy. Well, this is
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bad news for people like that. If his own family
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thought he was capable of doing something like this, chances
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are we got the right guy here, folks. And look,
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of course, nothing is set in stone right until Brian
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Colberger has been convicted. He is innocent of these crimes,
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but that doesn't mean that he's not the prime suspect.
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That doesn't mean that he's not basically the only one
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that could be responsible for this as far as we know,
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And the more information we get by the day, the
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more I'm convinced that he is the killer. And hearing
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stuff like this about his sister and her reaction, it
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makes me even more confident that we're on the right
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path here. For more than six weeks, no suspects were
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publicly identified, and leads appeared to have gone cold, and
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that really wasn't the case, was it. They were hard
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at work behind the scenes, putting together a profile and
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building a case against Brian Kolberger, and I was critical
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of them. I'll be the first to admit I wanted
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to see some action. I knew that having all of
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those FBI agents, having the BAU, and all of those
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other resources that were available to them, I knew that
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that should accelerate things and there should be no reason
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why they shouldn't be able to find somebody responsible for
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what happened. And looking back on it all with hindsight,
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the police did a masterful job here, and it certainly
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didn't take all that long when you're looking at it
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in context, but at the time it seemed like it
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was taking forever. Remember, we had a murderer on the
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loose who was capable of killing four people in cold
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blood in their home, so of course people wanted that
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person brought to justice. In In mid December, mister Coburger,
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a twenty eight year old criminology PhD student at Washington
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State University, embarked on a cross country trip with his
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father from his student rental home in Pullman, Washington, back
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to the family home in all Brightsville, Pennsylvania, to spend
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the holidays together. But during this time at home, his
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family members noticed that he was behaving somewhat bizarrely. The
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source said that mister Coburger was constantly wearing latex gloves,
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including inside their own home. Imagine your brother comes home
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from college and he's never done anything like that before,
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and all of a sudden, dudes running around wearing latex gloves,
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not wanting to touch anything. He has the white Hondai
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a Lantra. You start to put the pieces together. Imagine
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what that realization must be like, how it hits you,
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like ten thousand pounds of bricks. I feel real bad
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for Brian Coberger's family. I've said this before, and I
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feel bad for his sisters who lost their jobs. One
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of his two older sisters began to wonder if he
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could have played a part in the murders, and at
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one point she raised her concerns with other family members.
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She loudly pointed out that at the time of the murder,
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her brother was living just a few miles from the
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crime scene, and that he could have drove a white
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Hondai a Lantra and the make and the color of
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the vehicle at the center of the investigation. And kudos
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to the sister here, but man, imagine having that opinion
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of your brother that he is capable of doing something
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like this, along with his bizarre tendency to wear latex
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gloves all the time. She believed that the family should
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consider that mister Coburger might have killed the four victims,
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The source said. Mister Coberger's father allegedly defended his son
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and insisted he could not have been involved. Who wants
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to believe that their son could be a killer, Right, Hey, Dad,
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I think Brian is the one who murdered all the
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kids in Moscow. You think, what what are you talking about?
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Right now? Get out of my kitchen with that shit.
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That's a parent's reaction. That is the automatic reaction, right
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that nobody wants to believe that their kids capable of
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doing something like this. But obviously his sister had a
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more sober view of who Brian Colberger was, but the
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concerns were clearly big enough for several of the family
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members to reportedly decide to search the twenty eight year
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old's vehicle to look for possible evidence. That must have
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been a fun conversation. Hey, Brian, give me your keys.
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I need to go look in your car to see
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if I can find any evidence of you being a murderer.
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Hand over those keys. Pal. By that point, police said,
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mister Colberger had already been spotted cleaning his car out
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with bleach, and so the family members didn't find anything
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of note, the source said, and the bleach is going
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to come back to haunt them. Oh, you might have
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cleaned some stuff up, but the journey is going to
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want to know why you're using bleach inside of your car. Okay,
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They're going to want to know why you the man
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who is being accused of these murders with all of
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this evidence piled up against you, was using bleach to
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clean out the interior of their car. That's going to
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be a question that the jury certainly is going to
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want to have answered, and that Brian Kolberger is not
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going to be able to answer. It's not clear if
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mister Coburger was aware of his family member's suspicions that
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he could have been behind the murders, or what potential
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prior behavior may have led his sister to suspect him
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capable of carrying out such a brutal crime. Exactly. That's
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what I've been saying. You have to have exhibited some
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kind of behavior in the past for people to say
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to themselves, hey, that could be Brian who did this? Okay.
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In the early hours of December thirtieth, law enforcement swooped
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on the family home and arrested him for the murders.
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At the time of his arrest, the source said, mister
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Coburger was wide awake, standing in the kitchen, wearing latex
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gloves and putting his personal trash in plastic bags to
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take it out to a neighbor's trash can very normal behavior, right,
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This is what normal people do in the middle of
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the night in their living room when they're home on
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Christmas vacation at their parents' house. An attorney close to
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mister Coberger's family declined to comment on the revelations outlined
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in date lines the killings on King Road. On Monday,
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May twenty second, he will appear in court for his
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arraignment on four counts of first degree murder and burglary.
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The twenty eight year old is scheduled to be arraigned
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in Letah County Court in Moscow, Idaho, where he is
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expected to enter a plea on the charges. Mister Colberger
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had been due to appear in court for a week
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long preliminary hearing on June twenty sixth, where the prosecution
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would lay out the case and evidence against the suspect. However,
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last Tuesday, a grand jury indicted mister Colberger on the charges,
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paving the way for the case to proceed without and
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leading to the cancelation of the preliminary hearing. Mister Colberger
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is accused of breaking into the student home in the
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early hours of November thirteenth and stabbing the four students
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to death in a horror attack that rock the college
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town of Moscow and send shockwaves across America. The motive
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remains unknown, and it is still unclear what connection the
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Washington State University PhD student had to the University of
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Idaho's students, if any, prior to the murders. Well, what
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about the connections of Instagram? What about the connections of
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the mad Greek. Let's not act like those don't exist. Okay,
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they do. You can state them and then just say, hey, look,
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these are rumors. These are solid rumors that have been
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put out there by people close to the case. And
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then if people want to believe it, fine, If they
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don't want to believe it, that's fine too. But those
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are the rumors that are out there, and they're not
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rumors that were started on like four Chan or something
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like that. They come from relatively reliable sources as far
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as we know. However, the affid David released in January
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revealed that mister Coberger's DNA was found on a knife
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sheath left behind at the scene of the murders. It
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was also revealed that his white Hondai Lantra was caught
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on surveillance footage at the crime scene, and that one
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of the surviving roommates came face to face with the killer,
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who was masked and dressed from head to toe in
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black and with bushy eyebrows as he left the home.
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In the aftermath of the murders, new details have also
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emerged about what was found during the initial search of
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his apartment and a rental storage unit. The court documents
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showed that two items found in his apartment tested positive
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for blood. Now we don't know if that blood was his,
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just to reiterate, or if it was the blood of
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one of these victims or from somebody else. We don't
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know yet. The two items were a mattress cover on
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the bed and an uncased pillow, both of which had
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visible reddish brown stains. The documents do not reveal who
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the blood belongs to. Investigator sees the string of other
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items from his home, including possible human and animal hair strands,
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a disposable glove, and a computer. The murder weapon, a
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fixed blade knife, has still never been found. As a
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criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, mister Coberger
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lived just fifteen minutes from the victims over the Idaho
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Washington border in Pullman. He had moved there from Pennsylvania.
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And began his studies there that summer, having just completed
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his first semester before his arrest. Before this, he studied
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criminology at the Sallas University, first as an undergraduate and
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then finishing his graduate studies in June of twenty twenty.
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While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland,
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who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co wrote the
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book Confession of a Serial Kis Killer, The Untold Story
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of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him. My guess
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is Ramsland will get the offer to write a book
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about Brian Coohberger as well, and I'm sure she'll get
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access to him the same way she did the BTK.
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He also carried out a research project to understand how
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emotions and psychological trades influence decision making when committing a crime. Now,
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the criminology PhD student is set to appear in Leayta
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County Courthouse in Idaho for his preliminary hearing on June
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twenty sixth. He is facing life in prison or the
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death penalty for the murders that have rocked the small
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college town of Moscow and hit headlines around the globe.
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Anytime we have one of these specials like Dateline or
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you know, anything like that that's based on these murders
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or any case, there's always a few nuggets inside of
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those documentaries or presentations that end up being pretty damn interesting.
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And here we certainly have an interesting scenario playing out
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where Brian Colberger's own family members, at least some of them,
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thought that he was the man who might possibly be
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responsible for these murders. And if his own family feels
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that way, why should I be giving him the benefit
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of the doubt? All Right, folks, that's gonna do it
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for this one. All of the information that goes with
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the episode can be found in the description box. What's
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up everyone, and welcome back to the program. So we're
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getting some reports now that Brian Kolberger's sisters have lost
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their jobs due to their brother being incarcerated for these
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heinous murders, and I have to say I'm not down
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with it. You can't blame somebody's family for their behavior.
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And it's not like Coburger's family has acted like Brian
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Laundry's or anything like that. So for me anyway, at
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least as far as I know, I don't think that
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the Coburgers, his family, his mom, dad, sisters, I don't
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think they should pay for what he has done. And
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I think it's kind of ridiculous that a job would
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fire somebody who is related to this dude. Now, unless
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you're sitting at work and you're talking about how innocent
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your brother is all the time or something like that,
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then okay, I can understand how a job would be like, look,
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we don't need this at work, we don't need the contention.
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You gotta go. But if they're just fired because of
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their connection to Brian Kolberger, that's wrong. These people need
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to survive, right, How are they going to feed themselves,
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how are they going to pay their rent? And just
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because their brother is an absolute scumbag, well, I don't
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think that they should have to pay this sort of
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price for that. Now, as far as journalists contacting them
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stuff like that, that's unavoidable, But as far as suffering
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professionally for something that your brother or your dad or
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your mother does, I'm not down with it. I think
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it's wrong. And I hope that his sisters are able
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to land on their feet and you know, keep it moving,
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because it's hard enough. I would guess to have your
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brother be accused of something like this, but now to
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have your job ripped out from underneath you as well,
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I can't really get down with it. So let's get
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into this article from the US Sun and let's get
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caught up chilled relationship. Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger's sisters
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have lost their jobs as family avoids showing key sign
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of support. And again we have to remember Brian Colberger
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has not been convicted of anything yet. These are all accusations.
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So if you're firing somebody on an accusation about what
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one of their family members might have done, it's my
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opinion that you're jumping the gun a bit. This article
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was authored by Noah Zucker. Accused murderer Brian Colberger's two
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sisters have been fired from their jobs in the wake
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of the killings, according to reports. Now the family is
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struggling financially as Coburgers incarcerated and waiting child and ida
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for the murders of friends Kaylee Gonsalvez, Madison Mogan, Xana Kernodle,
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and Ethan Chapin. The older of the two sisters, was
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a school counselor while the younger one, Amanda, worked as
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an actress. News Nation reported their parents are retired. There's
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no evidence that any other family member were involved with
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Coburger's alleged crime, and for me, that's where it's at.
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If you're not involved, I can't put blame on you.
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So your dad kills somebody, now you're a scumbag because
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your father killed someone. No way, I'll never do that.
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If other people want to act like that, then fine,
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that's their business. But me personally, I'll never blame somebody
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for the actions of somebody else. We have to have
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personal responsibility in our lives, right, and we're not responsible
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for the actions of our brother, or our mother or
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our father. Of course it's embarrassing, right, and you'll distance
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yourself from it, But you can't be held responsible for
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the actions of others unless, of course, you're taking part
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in some way. And if it out later on that
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they did that, well my opinion will change. But if
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they didn't take part in the murders or covering it
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up or anything like that, why should they have to
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suffer professionally when they're already suffering personally. The Coburger family
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has also avoided showing a key sign of support. None
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of them have visited the twenty eight year old suspect
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since he was arrested in Pennsylvania on December thirtieth, sources
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told News Nation, and still that wasn't good enough. I
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guess these jobs were like, look, we can't have the
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funk of Brian Coberger on us, so we're gonna have
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to fire you. This came after Coburger's father, Michael, helped
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drive his son from Idaho back to the family's hometown
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in the wake of his alleged crime. And again, look,
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that was something that was planned. I'm not going to
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sit here and put the blame on Coburger's family. There's
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enough lives already ruined, right and I'm sure that they're
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not feeling great about themselves as it is. And unless
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there's some kind of evidence that they were involved in
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some way, I think it's a bit abhorrent, honestly for
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anybody to target this dude's family. Has there not been
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enough pain and suffering throughout this whole entire thing. The
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family has only made one public statement in the wake
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of the killings. We will continue to let the legal
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process unfold, and as a family, we will love and
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support our son and brother. They said. We have fully
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cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek
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the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than
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judge unknown facts and make Erranus assumptions. And that's the
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thing that I'm keeping in mind here. Right, he is
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not guilty yet, so I think that firing family members
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and all of that is way jumping the gun. There's
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a lot of ground to cover here. And while it
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certainly looks like Brian Colberger is the person guilty of
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these crimes, we have to let the whole process play out.
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That's how it works. Coberger has been charged with four
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counts of first degree murder and burglary following the brutal
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murders of Kayley Madison, Zana and Ethan at their off
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campus apartment near the University of Idaho in Moscow on
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November thirteenth, twenty twenty two. At the time, Coberger was
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pursuing a PhD in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman,
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less than nine miles from the University of Idaho. Two
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other people in the apartment at the time, Dylan Mortenson
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and Bethany Funk, were not killed. Their testimony will likely
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be important at the upcoming trial, said forensic expert Joseph
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Scott Morgan, who was not working on the case and
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has no direct knowledge of the investigation. It gives insight
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into talking about the people that the victims were because
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they lived with them, they knew them, probably more intimately
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than anybody else, he said. And remember, those witnesses are
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going to get on the stand more than likely, at
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least that's the way it's looking. So they're going to
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get up there and they're going to talk about their roommates.
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And then obviously the get to the point, or at
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least Dylan will where she talks about what she saw
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and while she didn't see Brian Colberger's face, it's just
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more circumstantial evidence, strong circumstantial evidence to build that foundation
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right on top of And we saw it in the
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Alec Murda trial. Remember all of the people out there
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talking about how all this is all circumstantial. It all
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has to do with coordinates from cell towers and technology. Well,
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guess what how did it work out for dumb dumb
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down there in South Carolina? Not so well? Right? And
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this day and age, if you're going to be a criminal,
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and you carry a cell phone with you, you deserve
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everything that's coming your way. The Jacksonville State University professor
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and host of the true crime podcast Body Bags, had
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a few ideas about the questions Mortensen and Funk will
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face from an evidentiary standpoint. They're going to be asked,
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what can you tell us about that day, that evening,
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or maybe the day's proceeding, said Morgan, who also hosts
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the true crime podcast Body Bags. He also anticipates queries
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like did you know of any kind of threat to
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your roommates? Had they said anything in passing, had any
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comment been made about some weird person stalking them? Morgan
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believes that the killer likely left ample evidence for investigators
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00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:23.440
to work with. I agree with that, and when we
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go through those warrants, my opinion is getting solidified by
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the day they found the whole bunch with those digital warrants, folks,
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And my guess is those digital warrants, coupled with the
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DNA found at the scene, are going to tell the
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tale come trial time, and it's not gonna look good
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for Brian Coberger. There are a lot of biological tie
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backs and threads that will be very significant. He said.
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That includes a knife sheath the killer left at the apartment,
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and evidence gleaned from Coburger's car, which Morgan called a
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rolling crime scene. Police search Coburger's vehicle when he was arrested,
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and he is the door panel, seat cushions, break and
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gas pedal. There's no doubt that if there is any
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DNA in that car, they are going to find it.
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We talked about this previously when the other article came
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out about the car, and there's no doubt that if
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Brian Coolberger had any sort of DNA on him, or
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blood and any of that, any of it got into
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his vehicle and stained it or left the droplet somewhere,
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they are going to find it. And if they do,
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as I've said before, then this is all just going
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through the motions, and if they have that kind of
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DNA evidence, forget it. Unless there's some sort of technicality
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or the prosecution steps out of line something like that,
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I don't see any pathway to victory for Brian Cohberger.
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Morgan said there is physical connectivity between what Coburger allegedly
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brought out of the Moscow house and what was left
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in the car. He said, Coburger may have sat down
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in that seat, cranked that car up, and he left,
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and he essentially inoculated the environment with all of his
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physical evidence that he brought out of the house, and
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then when he got out of that car, he introduced
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potential evidence into his own dwelling. Coberger's next court appearance
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will be on June twenty sixth. So we know that
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they raided his house as well. We know that they
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raided his office in Pullman, but it doesn't look like
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they had anything consequential as far as the list of
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what they brought out. However, we don't know how that
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stuff all tested, and all of that stuff was sent
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to the lab. They're running all kinds of diagnostics on
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it and then, hopefully for them and their perspective, anyway,
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it comes back with a hit to Brian Cooberger. But
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the chances of them finding DNA evidence if Brian Kolberger
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is the man who the government tells us he is,
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it's sky high, folks, sky high. But as for the sisters,
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I'm not down with them getting fired or them facing
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penalties because they're simply related to this douchebag. They didn't
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go into that house and commit murders. So I think
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it's a bad look for companies to do something like this,
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but you see it a lot. Honestly, companies are going
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to try and protect their brand, try and protect their image,
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and they're gonna do whatever they have to do in
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their opinion to do that. And if that means firing
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Brian Colberger's family members, well I guess that's what they're
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going to do. But personally I find it arbitrary and
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I don't find it necessary. But like usual, you can
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take my opinion and a buck seventy five down to
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the gas station and get yourself a cup of coffee.
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All right, folks, that's gonna do it for this one.
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All of the information that goes with the episode can
461
00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.240
be found in the description box. What's up, everyone, and
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welcome back to the program. Yesterday we heard about Brian
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Kolberger's parents and a grand jury summons that they responded
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to in their home county. Well, we learned a little
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more information about it, yes, and that information was spotty
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at best. Now today we're getting some more definitive information
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about what went down, and in fact, Brian Colberger is
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not connected to Dana Smithers and this comes from her sister.
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So yesterday there was a lot of speculation that Brian
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Colberger possibly could be connected to this lady's disappearance and murder.
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Well it's looking like that's not the case. However, it's
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still unclear why Brian Colberger's parents would be called before
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Grand Jerry. So let's dive into this article from The
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Independent and let's try and get things cleared up. Headline
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Dana Smithers' sister responds to strange link between her death
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and Brian Colberger. This article was authored by Rachel Sharp
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and like I said, published by The Independent. The sister
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of a mother of three found dead in Pennsylvania last
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month has spoken out about the possible connection between the
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Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger and their siblings' disappearance. Danis Smithers,
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forty five, was last seen alive on May twenty eighth,
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twenty twenty two, when she left her friend's house to
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walk a few doors down to her home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
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Almost one year on. Her remains were finally discovered last month,
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with her cause of death still a mystery. So if
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it wasn't Coburger. There's somebody out there who did this right.
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Not very reassuring if you're asking me. In a bombshell development,
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this week, it emerged that mister Coberger's parents, Michael and
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Mary Anne Colberger, had been subpoena to appear before a
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grand jury investigating Smither's disappearance and death in their home
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state of Pennsylvania. It remains unclear why the Coburgers were
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called to testify in the case, with the revelation coming
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just days after their twenty eight year old son appeared
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in court charged with quadruple murders of Kaylee Gonsalbis Madison Mogen,
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Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho. Hell of
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a coincidence, No, seems like quite the coincidence that his
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family members, his mom and dad would get called before
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a grand jury just a few days after he was indicted.
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Does that mean it's connected. Absolutely not. Sometimes things are
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just a coincidence. On Thursday, Smither's sister, Stacy addressed the
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speculation that the two cases are connected, insisting that there
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is no known link and that mister Kolberger has an alibi.
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Now we heard a little of this yesterday as well,
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that Colberger has an airtight alibi for all of this
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and there's no way that he was the one responsible.
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Stacey told News Nation that authorities had informed her even
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before mister Colberger's arrest and therefore before the discovery of
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Smither's remains, that a grand jury was meeting to investigate
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her sister's case and other cases. So that's pretty interesting, honestly.
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Whenever you get a grand jury and paneled like that,
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usually usually the authorities have some information that they're working
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off of, and they don't want to tip off the
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suspect that they're locking onto. So what they'll do is
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they'll go to a gran jury. They'll get that and paneled,
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and they might even get a sealed indictment, meaning there's
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an indictment on the books, but it's sealed and only
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the court knows about it. Now. I'm not saying that's
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what happened here, but that's one of the uses for
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a grand jury. So they might have an idea who
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killed miss Smithers here, and they might be meeting behind
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the grand jury doors to discuss that. But the question
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still remains, where does Brian Colberger or his parents fit in. Then,
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following mister Coberger's arrest, the grand jury began investigating whether
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he could have been involved in her disappearance. Stacy said
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it quickly became clear that the cases weren't connected and
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that the accused killer was not in the area at
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the time time Smithers went missing. And it doesn't fit
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the mo that we saw in the King Road killings.
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Right snuck into the house and kill them. He didn't
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abduct anybody. Now, does that mean he wasn't capable of
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doing that, No, it doesn't. But his past hasn't shown
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us that he's going to abduct somebody off of the street.
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The Stroud Area Regional Police Department also released a statement
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on Thursday insisting that there is no evidence showing a
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link between mister Colberger and Smithers's disappearance. The Stroud Area
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Regional Police Department is aware of the many currently reported
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news articles in which various media outlets have reported connections
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between the SAARPDS, Danis Smithers missing person investigation, and Idaho
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murder suspect Brian Koberger. The statement read, and this is
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kind of what judge Judge was talking about, the media
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causing irreparable harm. Stuff like this needs to be tracked down.
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You can't just fire this stuff off if you don't
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have any kind of concrete information, because you're going to
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create a buzz and people are going to automatically connect
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the two. Oh, Brian Colberger's parents are brought before a
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grand jury. Oh, there's a missing woman near Brian Colberger's house.
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Has to be Coburger. And I don't blame people for
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making that leap. Anyone who's capable of going into somebody's
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house and murdering four people is certainly capable, at the
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very least of abducting a woman and killing her, right,
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But I always thought the likelihood of this being something
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you know that Coleburger did was very, very small. The
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SAARPD has no evidence that Danas Smithers's disappearance is in
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any way tied to Idaho murder suspect Brian Colberger. Well,
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they said that pretty definitively. Huh. Officials have offered no
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explanation as to why the Coburgers were called to testify
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in the grand jury probe, and they're unlikely to do so,
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giving grand jury's operate in secret. A source to Old
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CNN that the accused killer's mother had already given evidence
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to the grand jury, while his father was expected to
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testify on Thursday. A lawyer from mister Coberger's parents had
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reportedly tried to fight the subpoena but was unsuccessful. The
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grand jury investigation remains ongoing and no findings have been revealed.
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On May twenty eighth, twenty twenty two, Smithers vanished without
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a trace from Monroe County, the same county where mister
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Colberger was living at the time. Her best friend, Taracioni
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told NBC's Dateline in December that Smithers had called into
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her home to hang out. The two women lived just
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a couple doors down from each other and would often
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just stop by to see each other on an evening.
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We're best friends. She's been my neighbor for sixteen years.
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We've raised our children together, Miss Sioni told Dateline, And
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let's not forget okay, just because Brian Colberger isn't involved here,
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there's still a woman who was murdered, and Miss Smithers
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deserves all the attention and all of the police work
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possible to try and find out who killed her. And
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I'm glad to see that this Grand Jerry's inn paneled
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here and that her family might get some answers. It
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was an open door policy with her, so she came
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in and she was here for a little bit. Miss
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Sioni said that in hindsight, she wonders if something was
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troubling her friend that night. Smithers, who had a history
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of substance abuse, was smoking something she only did if
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she was nervous or on edge. Ring video camera captured
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Smithers leaving her friend's house at around eleven oh five pm,
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holding her cell phone in her hand. Details she was
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never seen alive again. Smither's cell phone, wallet and daily
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medication were all found at her home. Now again, how
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did her phone get back to her house? She must
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have went to her home right and put her phone
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there before she went missing, because she had her phone
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as she was leaving, it says here, holding her cell
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phone in her hand. Then she goes back to her
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house obviously, and we know that because the phone was
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found out her house. So whatever happened after that, we
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have no idea. But something bad happened to miss Smithers.
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And according to the court, and according to this report
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by the police here, it had nothing to do with
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Brian Coohberger. Smithers family grew concerned when they realized she
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hadn't gone home and filed a missing person's report. Stacy
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told Dayline at the time that they knew something must
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be wrong when she didn't show up for Memorial Day
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celebrations with her children, aged twenty five, twenty three, and
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seven on the thirtieth of May. She would not have
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missed Memorial Day, said Stacy. She didn't do anything that
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didn't involve her kids. That was her thing. I mean,
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she was always there with the kids. In June, the
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Pennsylvania State Police and local police carried out searches with
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cadaver dogs in a heavily wooded area close to her home.
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The search did not turn up anything, and the case
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went cold for months. Almost one year after she was
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seen alive. On the twenty seventh of April, smithers remains
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were found in a wooded area in Stroudsburg. Her cause
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and manner of death is not yet known. At the
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time of smithers disappearance in May twenty twenty two, mister
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Colberger was also living in Monroe County with his family
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that summer. He then moved cross country to Pullman for
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a graduate program in criminal justice at Washington State University.
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A few months later, on November thirteenth, he allegedly broke
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into an off campus student home just over the border
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in Moscow, Idaho, and murdered the four college students. He
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was back at his parents' home in the Pocono Mountains
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for the holidays when police swooped in and arrested him
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for the quadruple murders on December thirtieth. In that case,
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it remains unclear what motive and what connection mister Coburger
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may have had to the victims. Well, that clears it
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up a little bit anyway. As far as the subpoena
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for Brian Colberger's parents, at least we know it has
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nothing to do with Brian Kohlberger being responsible for this
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lady's murder, at least according to what we're hearing. So
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we'll keep an eye on this one as well, and
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we'll see what comes of it. But I have a
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feeling that there is really nothing here that's tangible that
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has to do with Brian Colberger, and I think we'll
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have that confirmed, if not today, within the next few days.
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All Right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
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All of the information that goes with the episode can
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be found in the description box.