FBI and Cellebrite Experts Discuss Digital Evidence in Bryan Kohberger Case

Forensic experts from the FBI and Cellebrite discussed the digital evidence recovered from devices belonging to Bryan Kohberger, who is charged in the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students. Jeff Tanzola, a senior digital forensic examiner for the FBI and lab director for the Philadelphia Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory, stated that initial efforts to find data yielded no results.

He consulted other FBI investigators and then reached out to Cellebrite for assistance.

Challenges in Data

Extraction Heather Barnhart, Cellebrite’s senior digital forensics expert, noted that 48 days passed between the murders on November 13, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho, and Kohberger's arrest on December 30, 2022, in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania.

This time allowed Kohberger to delete data from his phone, but new searches and files related to the murders appeared afterward. The experts reported that Kohberger had deleted much of his search history before the murders, but photos remained on his device, including selfies and images of women in bikinis saved as cache files. No evidence indicated he sent these images to others.

Recovered Searches and Patterns In

the period after the murders, investigators found downloaded PDF files from the Moscow Police Department with updates on the case.

On December 28, 2022, after police announced they were seeking a white Hyundai Elantra, Kohberger searched online for a new vehicle. Tanzola described a pattern of normal activity, followed by no activity during the time frame of the murders, and then resumed activity.

Conference Discussion

The panel, which included Tanzola, Heather Barnhart, and Jared Barnhart, Cellebrite’s head of global engagement and customer experience, took place at Cellebrite's annual conference this week in Washington, D.

C. The event gathered over 900 professionals from more than 30 countries to discuss investigative topics. Tanzola stated that this case was unique and the most difficult he had worked on. The experts said the recovered data, including searches routed through VPNs and files about serial killers, provided insight into Kohberger's actions.