Experts say the suspect in the University of Idaho murders may have left behind a “calling card,” something many serial killers have been noted for, in a move that may suggest this is not the suspect’s first murder.
Idaho murder suspect left a calling card at the scene
It’s a well-known fact that many serial killers like to leave behind a “calling card” at the scene of the crime (see below). And a pair of experts have separately weighed in on the matter regarding the Idaho murder suspect.
David Wilson, a criminology professor at Birmingham City University in the UK, suggested accused Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger purposely left a “calling card” as part of a “remarkably clever move” to make his mark and simultaneously get off the hook, the Daily Mail reported.
Wilson says much of the evidence against Kohberger can be easily established as coincidental. This surprisingly includes Kohberger’s DNA, which was on a knife sheath found at the crime scene.
DNA transfers very easily between people and objects, and this fact could be framed as coincidental by Kohberger’s defense, according to Wilson.
“I could have your DNA,” Wilson said during an interview. “Your DNA is on me. I could go wherever I wanted to go in the next hour and your DNA would be where I go to.”
“Which would mean that it could remain on that sheath for an indefinite period of time, if undisturbed,” Wilson continued.
A Pennsylvania public defender pointed out that Kohberger’s DNA could be on the ninth sheath as “touch or transfer DNA.”
“That’s one way of attacking that type of evidence that doesn’t put him at the scene of the crime the night out,” Wilson says. “Just that he merely touched that sheath at some point in time.
“So the defense is clearly going to present issues that will suggest that Kohberger is innocent,” Wilson added.
Wilson believes that Kohberger was too smart to leave evidence behind at the scene of the crime. He further suggests that Kohberger may have purposely left the knife sheath at the crime scene as a part of a “remarkably clever move” to get off the hook.
“‘One of the things that’s really struck me about the person that’s been arrested and accused of this is he is intelligent and high-functioning,” Wilson declared.
Other experts believe suspect left a “calling card,” may not have been suspect’s first murder
During an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show, other experts stated they believed suspect Bryan Kohberger may have left behind a “calling card” to show he was at the scene, the New York Post reported.
Former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam said he believes investigators will eventually find the knife because, similar to Kohberger’s car, it was “part of his operational tools,” Fox reported.
Trial attorney Mercedes Colwin also suggested that the knife sheath may have been left at the crime scene intentionally as a “calling card.”
The experts went on to discuss the possibility that this is not Kohberger’s first murder.
Serial killers like to leave behind calling cards
Serial killers often leave behind so-called “calling cards,” things they leave at the scene of the crime or signature ways in which they commit the crimes to ensure that investigators know they were the perpetrator.
Here are the top 5 most famous serial killers who left behind “calling cards.”
#1. The BTK Killer, Dennis Rader, who killed at least ten women and probably more, wrote letters and poems taunting the police, which ultimately led to his capture.
#2. Jack the Ripper: Mutilated bodies and taunted police with letters, also hoarded body parts. He was never identified or caught.
#3. The zodiac killer: Sent cryptic and coded messages to the police. He was never identified or caught.
#4. The night stalker, Richard Ramirez, believed to have killed 14 people, used lipstick taken from his victims to draw upside-down pentagrams somewhere at the scene of the crime, sometimes on the victim’s bodies.
#5. The happy face killer: Keith Hunter Jesperson, who killed at least eight women, wrote letters to the media detailing his killings and signed each one with a smiley face.
