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A criminal investigation regarding leaks that violated a gag order in the murder case against Bryan Kohberger was opened and remains ongoing after it was previously referred to law enforcement, according to a report.
The criminal investigation is focusing on the possible source of an alleged leak to NBC’s “Dateline,” which produced an episode on the murders with information that was not known to the public, sources told the Idaho Statesman. An investigator with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the agency probing the source of the leak, asked for interviews with people who had access to digital files that appeared in a May 2025 episode about the murders, the outlet reported.
Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist who was working with Kohberger’s defense team, told Fox News Digital he has been asked twice for an interview by investigators.
“A detective with the Ada County sheriff’s office reached out to me twice for an interview — stating that he was tasked with investigating the NBC leak. Anne Taylor also gave me permission via email to speak with law enforcement just over a month after they first reached out to me— by phone and email,” Turvey said. “So yes, they are investigating her office for related criminal charges.”
BRYAN KOHBERGER COULD ESCAPE DEATH PENALTY BECAUSE OF LEAKED EVIDENCE AIRED DURING TV EPISODE: FMR PROSECUTOR
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025, for sentencing in the University of Idaho murders case, where prosecutors relied heavily on cellphone location data and digital evidence. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
Sy Ray, a digital forensics expert and former police officer who also worked for Kohberger’s defense team, told the Statesman he has spoken with investigators looking into the alleged leak more than once.
“It’s probably the most expensive misdemeanor case in the history of Ada County,” Ray said. “Trying to investigate this was probably tough.”
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One Sheriff’s Office investigator reached out in April to an attorney for two of the victims’ families, according to the Statesman.
An administrative investigation by the court into the leaks was conducted last summer.
UNSEALED RECORDS IN IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS DETAIL VICTIMS’ INJURIES, FINAL MOVEMENTS
University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates pose in the final photo shared by Goncalves on Instagram before four students were fatally stabbed in November 2022. (Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram)
Timeline of Nov. 13, 2022:
- 4 a.m.: Suspect arrives at house
- Between 4 and 4:17: Time of murders
- 4:19: Roommate calls three victims; no one answers
- 4:22 to 4:24: Surviving roommates text each other from inside house
- 4:27: Roommate calls victims again; no one answers
- 4:32: Roommate texts Kaylee Goncalves, “Pls answer”
- 10:23: Surviving roommate texts victims; no one answers
- 11:39: Roommate calls her father
- 12 p.m.: 911 call placed from roommate’s phone
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The May 2025 “Dateline” episode included surveillance video from near the home where four University of Idaho students were killed, pictures from Kohberger’s phone and specifics about the crime.
FBI cellphone tower data obtained by “Dateline” allegedly showed that Kohberger’s cellphone pinged nearly a dozen times to a tower that provides coverage to an area within 100 feet of 1122 King Road, where the four University of Idaho students were killed. The alleged late-night drives took place starting in July 2022 and continued through mid-August 2022.
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Public defender Anne Taylor enters a courtroom for Bryan Kohberger’s arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho, on May 22, 2023. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News)
The “Dateline” special also reported that a white Hyundai Elantra resembling Kohberger’s was seen turning onto King Road several times in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when the murders occurred.
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Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves in a July 2, 2025, deal that took the death penalty off the table. The four University of Idaho students were found dead Nov. 13, 2022, at their house in Moscow, Idaho, located near campus.
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Bryan Kohberger shakes hands with defense attorney Elisa Massoth after his sentencing hearing at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025. Kohberger was sentenced for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)
Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, said the “Dateline” leaks helped the move toward a plea deal, which he was against, and supports the criminal investigation.
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“They’re working on figuring this out, and hopefully they have more than they’re letting on,” he told the Statesman. “I think it did cost us. It definitely took the focus off the trial and seating a jury.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Taylor, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office and the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office for comment.