A defense expert in the Bryan Kohberger murder case said in a court hearing today that cell phone data evidence is incomplete and FBI tests to collect the data are erroneous.
Sy Ray, the founder of ZetX Corporation and an expert in cell data mapping, testified that one of the cell data maps was missing essential data that would complete the map. According to Ray, one of the maps is missing a regional tower list, which distorts the cell data map to make more populated sectors larger than they are.
He also testified that 2-3% of cell data in the casing is missing, in areas of the scene of the crime and Washington State Route 270.
Cell data is collected from a van that drives around with an instrument in it that senses cell phone signals; these are called drive tests. The FBI conducted drive testing throughout the Moscow area during the initial investigation. According to Ray, these tests have significant errors.
At the beginning of the hearing, Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s lead defense attorney, questioned Brett Payne, a Moscow Police Department detective corporal, about video surveillance footage collected from businesses and residents. He said that there were thousands of hours of video from 79 different businesses and residents regarding the investigation. Payne testified that the videos were saved on different thumb drives, but not in a central inventory.
Kohberger’s defense also requested to receive copies of 71 different grand jury subpoenas. Their reason is to know the timeline of all evidence and to know when the state was aware of the evidence. Elisa Massoth, one of Kohberger’s attorneys, told the judge “You can get an order.”
Judge John Judge responded: “You may be overestimating my power.”
The proceeding ended with the defense listing out pieces of evidence that they wanted but had not received yet. The list includes Grand Jury subpoenas, video recordings of King Road, regional tower lists, AT&T timing advance reports, testing drive data, training records of FBI agents, calibration reports of cell data gathering instruments, and a complete inventory of videos that the state has.
The state responded by saying any and all evidence that they have has been turned over to the defense.
No trial date has been scheduled. Ben DeWitt can be reached at [email protected] or on X @BenDeWitt321