A hand-drawn sketch from a survivor of a home invasion massacre that killed four slain University of Idaho students shows the “ski-mask”-like face covering a male intruder wore when he entered her off-campus house in November 2022 and killed her friends – and it looks like a balaclava the suspect allegedly bought months earlier.
While the roommate, identified in court documents only as DM, said she did not know the suspect Bryan Kohberger, and did not recognize him even after being shown his mugshot following his arrest, she told investigators she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” and a build similar to Kohberger’s in her house minutes after the murders.
In a separate filing also unsealed Thursday, prosecutors alleged that Kohberger bought a black balaclava from a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in January 2022.
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“This is the same type of mask described by DM that she witnessed worn by a male in the residence on November 13, 2022,” prosecutors wrote.
The sketch was included in a defense filing asking the judge to block DM from referencing the phrase “bushy eyebrows” while on the witness stand, after police documents show she used the term to describe the intruder.
The defense is arguing that DM used the phrase only after “suggestive” questioning from investigators over the course of five interviews with police. Court documents also revealed that she had a wall of photos and artwork in her bedroom that showed faces and eyebrows.
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DM’s text messages show she told another survivor, identified as BF, “it’s like a ski mask almost,” minutes after the murders.
According to defense attorney Elisa Massoth, detectives were the first to ask about the intruder’s eyebrows during her second interview with police on the day of the murders.
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Four days later, another detective asked her if the mask could have been a balaclava and described one to her. Then in another interview on Dec. 1, she drew the sketch.
“It looks remarkably similar to a balaclava,” Massoth wrote.
It does.
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According to court documents, DM peered out her bedroom door and was within three feet of the intruder. She froze in shock. But he walked away, toward the back sliding door, and police think he left the scene after that, around 4:17 a.m.
DM ran downstairs and went to sleeping BF’s room. They awoke hours later, made several phone calls before 911, and police arrived around noon to find four of their friends dead in a bloody crime scene.
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The victims were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The three young women were all roommates. Chapin lived nearby and was dating Kernodle.
Kohberger’s trial on four charges of first-degree murder and another of burglary is set to begin on Aug. 11. Jury selection is scheduled for July 30.
A previous judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at an arraignment in May 2023. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
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