An Idaho prosecuter alerted the FBI concerning a genetic genealogy expert who testified during Bryan Kohberger’s August 18 hearing, after “contradictory testimony,” Fox News Digital reports.
Days after genetic genealogy expert Danielle Vargas testified during the hearing, the FBI tracked her down to question her, according to what Kohberger’s lawyers said.
“Last night she was visited by two FBI agents and interrogated about her testimony and the findings of her declaration,” Kohberger’s lead defense attorney, Anne Taylor, told the court. “That, in our view, impacts Mr. Kohberger’s due process rights.”
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson explained that investigators had heard that “[Vargas] was reneging on some of the things she was testifying to in court,” prompting an investigation.
“When we heard of that, I reached out to investigators and asked: ‘Can you find out what is going on?’” Thompson said.
“The FBI indeed undertook an investigation, and other reports are that Ms. Vargas claimed that some of what was in her declaration she had inadvertently agreed [to] or signed without fully reading it.”
Read Vargas’ declaration below.
Gabriella Vargas Notice by Leigh Egan
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Kohberger, a Ph.D. criminal justice student at Washington State University, was arrested in December in Pennsylvania for fatally stabbing Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Kaylee Goncalves at the an off-campus home on November 13, 2022.
He is believed to have turned off his phone during the murders. However, police claim he visited the area 12 times before the slayings.
Police arrested the defendant after a cross-country trip with his father from Idaho to Pennsylvania. During their trip, Indiana police pulled over the pair twice.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Prosecutors filed court documents detailing their intent to pursue the death penalty as they deemed the four slayings were “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.”
Kohberger remains jailed without bail.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a motion hearing regarding a gag order, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. A judge overseeing the case against Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall, is set to hear arguments over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)]
*Additional reporting by Jacquelyn Gray*
