News

(MOSCOW, Idaho) — University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger will be back in court on Wednesday for a high-stakes hearing to decide what evidence will be allowed at his trial, which is set to begin in August.

The judge is expected to hear arguments over what evidence should be presented to the jury, including Kohberger’s Amazon search history, witness descriptions and testimony about DNA.

Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle at the girls’ off-campus house in Moscow in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was sleeping over at the time.

Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was arrested in December 2022. He’s charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, and a not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.

Among the evidence prosecutors want to include at trial is that Kohberger’s DNA was allegedly found on a knife sheath at the murder scene.

The murder weapon was never recovered, but prosecutors allege Kohberger bought a KA-BAR knife with a sheath and a sharpener on Amazon. The defense argued anyone in the family could have made that purchase on Amazon, but prosecutors said they have a witness who will testify it was Bryan Kohberger.

The prosecution also plans on critical testimony from the two roommates who survived the murders, including one roommate who said in the middle of the night she saw a man with “bushy eyebrows” walking past her in the house.

The defense wants that description banned during trial.

The defense argues the roommate’s account lacks credibility, pointing to her phone records showing she was on social media and checking job websites the morning after the murders — hours before 911 was called.

“When it comes to evidentiary hearings, the prosecution’s goal is trying to admit as much damning evidence as possible,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said, while the defense tries “to limit how much evidence comes in that is detrimental to their case.”

The defense is also pushing for the death penalty to be taken off the table if Kohberger is convicted, citing what they say is Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CORNELIUS, Ore.) — An Oregon community is “shaken to its core” after a mother and her three young children were found dead in an apparent isolated incident, authorities said.

Deputies responded to a home in Cornelius, about 25 miles outside of Portland, around 3 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller reported finding four people dead, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office-Cornelius Police.

In a building attached to the home, officers discovered the bodies of a 37-year-old woman and her three children, ages 2, 5 and 7, authorities said.

No arrests have been made, sheriff’s office spokesperson Deputy David Huey told reporters.

Authorities said the deaths appear to be an isolated incident and they don’t believe there is a danger to the public.

Huey was visibly emotional at a media briefing, telling reporters, “This is pretty hard to talk about.”

“Our community has been shaken to its core,” Cornelius Police Chief Mitch Coley said in a statement, calling the deaths “an unthinkable tragedy.”

“While the investigation is still ongoing and details are limited, I want to acknowledge the heartbreak this brings to the families involved and our entire city,” Coley said. “This is a deeply emotional time for everyone: neighbors, friends, and the first responders who were called to the scene. I ask that we all come together with compassion and care.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Less than 48 hours after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport noncitizens with little-to-no due process, a federal judge in New York judge on Wednesday will consider blocking any future removals as the Trump administration allegedly prepares to commence more deportations.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein set a hearing Wednesday to consider issuing an emergency order to block the removals of two Venezuelan men targeted for deportation, as well as potentially bar any deportations of detained noncitizens under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Trump administration last month invoked the AEA to deport more than 200 alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

In a brief filed Tuesday in New York, ACLU lawyers representing two migrants wrote that government officials “seek to move Petitioners in secret, without due process, to a prison in El Salvador known for dire conditions, torture, and other forms of physical abuse — possibly for life.”

“This has already borne out for over 130 individuals on March 15 who have lost all contact with their attorneys, family, and the world,” the attorneys wrote.

While the Supreme Court on Monday suggested that future litigation would play out in a Texas federal courtroom, the lawyers for the men brought a habeas case in New York because both are currently in custody in Orange County, New York, after their deportations were blocked last month by a judge in Washington D.C.

According to lawyers with the ACLU, one of the men is a 21-year-old Venezuelan national who entered the United States in 2024 to seek asylum, fleeing threats from Tren de Aragua and potential persecution from the Maduro regime based on his sexual orientation.

The other plaintiff is a 32-year-old Venezuelan national who filed an asylum application after entering the United States in 2022, claiming he feared torture and imprisonment based on his protests of the Maduro regime.

Judge Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, on Tuesday ordered that the two men should not be removed from New York “unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” and the ACLU is seeking to get a temporary restraining order that potentially covers any noncitizen in immigration custody who is at risk of deportation under the Alien Enemies Act.

They have argued that the law was improperly invoked by the Trump to target a criminal organization — not a state actor — and that it was invoked outside of a war or an invasion.

“The AEA has only ever been a power invoked in time of war, and plainly only applies to warlike actions: it cannot be used here against nationals of a country — Venezuela — with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States, and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States,” the lawyers argued.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Army says it’s looking at options to make its 250th birthday celebration in June “bigger,” with possible demonstrations and vehicle displays on the National Mall in a multi-day event that could also include a military parade, although officials say no decisions have been made.

The Army celebration, which has been in the works for several months, has fueled speculation that President Donald Trump will try to turn the event into the kind of grand military parade he wanted in his first administration. Trump shares a birthday with the Army on June 14.

ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.

D.C. city officials told reporters this week they had been approached about a parade route from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, into Washington. Two other U.S. officials confirmed a military parade was under discussion, although it was unclear how big the parade would be.

“Military tanks on our streets would not be good. If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Heather Hagan, a U.S. Army spokeswoman, said Tuesday that a decision on the parade was “pre-decisional.” She noted that the Army is planning to celebrate its milestone birthday with “multiple events” leading up to June 14, including a festival on the National Mall.

“We intend to have a national level celebration to increase pride in America and America’s Army,” she wrote in a statement. “Given the significant milestone of 250 years, the Army is exploring options to make the celebration bigger, with more capability demonstrations, static displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community.”

Trump’s 2018 vision for a parade included vintage aircraft and fighter jets swooping over the streets of Washington with heavy tanks below. But the event never materialized as city officials pushed back and cost estimates topped tens of millions of dollars.

If a parade were to take place, it would significantly impact the city’s infrastructure, according to city officials. Bowser said the 14th Street Bridge would need to be tested before the event.

The iconic bridge has undergone several significant repairs and maintenance in recent decades, most notably after the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crash.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.