When the Night Comes Falling

The Behavioral Science Unit (BSU), currently known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit, is a division of the FBI that specializes in the analysis of violent crime through an evidence-based understanding of the criminal mind. Shaken by the brutality of the four murders, Moscow Police Chief James Fry recalls a lecture by a member of the BSU about the psychology of killers; this inspires him to ask for the FBI’s assistance in the case.

BOLO, cop parlance for “Be On the Lookout,” is a bulletin issued to police and (sometimes) the general public, asking them to keep an eye out for a specific criminal or a clue that may help in an investigation. After the Moscow suspect’s car is identified by video analysis as a Hyundai Elantra, the Moscow PD issues a nationwide BOLO to both law enforcement and the public, describing the car but saying only that police believe the occupant may have “critical information” about the case. Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the BOLO gets the year of the car wrong, complicating the investigation.

A unit used to measure genetic linkage, centimorgans play an essential role in mapping genealogical family trees by way of DNA analysis. In the Moscow case, the genetic information found on the killer’s knife sheath leads investigators to the union of Bryan Kohberger’s grandparents, whose DNA shared over 60 centimorgans with the sample, indicating a close relation. This is the first piece of evidence to link Kohberger to the murders.

The FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is a massive database of DNA profiles taken from crime scenes, convicted (or suspected) criminals, and unidentified human remains. A technological tool for connecting violent crimes to known offenders through DNA left at the scene, the CODIS helps the Idaho State Police Forensic Services laboratory establish that the Idaho murders are not the work of a (previously active) serial killer. The lab then uses a much wider net—public genetic databases—which eventually leads them to Kohberger.

A branch of clinical psychology that addresses the human factor at work in the justice system, forensic psychology looks at the workings of the human mind and its connection to legal outcomes, whether in crime detection or in the trial itself (e.g., witness testimony, racial bias in juries, etc.). Criminal profiling, one of the roles of clinical psychologists, creates a psychological and behavioral portrait of the unknown perpetrator of a particular crime, allowing investigators to narrow their search. The forensic psychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland, one of Bryan Kohberger’s professors, fascinates him by her deep analysis of the criminal mind, particularly that of serial killers, leading him to emulate her: “It was a discipline, he believed, that could open formidable doors concealing dangerous secrets” (39).

A throwback to the early days of the FBI, when agents wore fedoras and surveilled their quarries on foot, boxing them in, a “hatbox operation” is still agency slang for a multi-manned surveillance operation. The FBI’s tracking of Bryan Kohberger prior to his arrest was considerably more high-tech, involving surveillance vans and even an airplane, which kept him in its sights all the way from Washington State to Pennsylvania.

Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) refers to the use of DNA evidence, sometimes from decades-old cases, to locate a suspect using genealogical databases, whether CODIS or public ones like FamilyTreeDNA. Many “cold case” murders have been solved by tracking the killers’ DNA through genetic family trees that were created from voluntary submissions of DNA by ordinary citizens interested in their family history. IGG provided the first break in the Moscow case, leading investigators to the family tree of a doctoral student living just 10 miles away (Bryan Kohberger).

The KA-BAR Fighting/Utility knife, widely associated with the United States Marine Corps, for which it was originally developed in 1942, combines a stacked leather handle with a fixed, seven-inch, carbon-steel blade. Designed as a “combat knife,” it can be extremely dangerous when wielded as a weapon. Investigators believe it to be the murder weapon used in the Moscow slayings, as evidenced by a KA-BAR sheath left at the scene; however, the knife has not been found. There are (unconfirmed) reports that Bryan Kohberger purchased a KA-BAR shortly before the murders.

Named for a wall of impenetrable black rock in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga, Othram is a private laboratory in Texas founded to assist law enforcement in cracking “cold cases” through genetic tracing. Othram is instrumental in creating a genetic profile from the microscopic trace of DNA unearthed from the killer’s KA-BAR sheath, leading to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger.

The sole genetic evidence available to investigators in the Moscow college murders case, Touch DNA (or “Trace DNA”) refers to DNA derived from an extremely small sample of organic material, typically cells from the outermost layer of a person’s skin. As such, its reliability as evidence has often been questioned, since contamination is a known risk and can lead to false positives. In criminal investigations, it is more often used to eliminate suspects than to prosecute them. (By contrast, blood DNA is considered much more reliable.) The Touch DNA found on the killer’s knife sheath, which led investigators to Bryan Kohberger, may be challenged by the defense on this ground.