A father of one victim learned "that the two survivors allegedly had not only been awake while the killings had taken place but that they had heard everything,” reports Air Mail.
The two survivors of the brutal University of Idaho murders were allegedly awake and on their phone texting as their four roommates were killed, according to a new report.
This information allegedly comes from Steve Goncalves, the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves. He allegedly learned this information from an individual who served in the grand jury that voted to indict suspect Bryan Kohberger on four counts of murder in the deaths of Madison Mogen, 21; Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin,20.
“Yet Steve had been told that the two survivors allegedly had not only been awake while the killings had taken place but that they had heard everything,” reports Air Mail. “More astonishingly, his grand-jury sources alleged that the two girls had been texting one another as the murderer methodically went from one room to the next.”
The article goes on to claim that Goncalves found a person who could explain the reason for this but was stopped from contacting them by the FBI.
“The witness had originally reached out to the authorities through a tip line that promised to protect the identities of anyone volunteering information, and the bureau was duty-bound to honor that commitment,” reports Air Mail. “And, the letter went on to make clear with an intimidating force, the fact that Steve was the father of one of the victims gave him no dispensation from the legal consequences that accompany tampering with a government witness.”
Inside Edition Digital is unable to confirm any of this information with police or prosecutors due to a gag order that prohibits them from speaking publicly about the case.
The Moscow Police Department said from the start that six people were sleeping in the off-campus home on the night of the massacre.
In the six weeks after the murders however police said that the two women who survived had been asleep, according to authorities.
This information appeared in the daily updates that were handed out to the public and press prior to the arrest of suspect Bryan Kohberger.
That statement changed, though, on Dec. 30, when Corporal Brett Payne of the Moscow Police Department (MPD) wrote in a probable cause affidavit seeking an arrest warrant for Kohberger that one of the women who survived the Nov. 13 massacre saw someone that night.
“D.M. stated she opened her door for the third time after she heard the crying and saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person's mouth and nose walking towards her," says the affidavit.
That is a different account than what the MPD included in the daily reports it released on the investigation into the University of Idaho murders.
The MPD update released to the press and public on Nov. 20 reads: “Detectives believe that on November 12th, the two surviving roommates had also been out in the Moscow community, separately, but returned home by 1 a.m. on November 13th. The two did not wake up until later that morning.”
That information is included as part of the investigative timeline in every subsequent release put out by the MPD until Dec. 20, at which time the timeline is no longer included as part of the daily update.
Ten days later, Payne stated in his affidavit that one of the surviving roommates was not only awake but possibly an eyewitness in the case.
“D.M. described the figure as 5' 10" or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows. The male walked past D.M. as she stood in a ‘frozen shock phase,’” says the probable cause affidavit.
“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male. D.M. did not state that she recognized the male. This leads investigators to believe that the murderer left the scene.”
Kohberger had been scheduled to go on trial earlier his month but there have been delays in the case. If convicted on any of the murder charges he could face the death penalty.
The 28-year-old, who prior to the murders had been working on his doctorate in criminology at Washington State University, told a previous public defender that he expects to be exonerated at trial. In May he declined to enter a plea after being formally charged with four counts of murder. The judge in the case entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
