Evidence leak inquiry from ‘Dateline’ episode still active in Kohberger case
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- The Ada County Sheriff’s Office is handling a criminal probe into alleged gag order leaks.
- Investigators have requested interviews with some defense experts involved in the case.
- The May 2025 episode of “Dateline” revealed previously unreleased footage and photos.
A criminal investigation into evidence leaks suspected of violating a court-issued gag order in the murder case against Bryan Kohberger is ongoing after it was referred to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, according to three people contacted about the inquiry.
Matthew Taddicken, a veteran member of the Sheriff’s Office last listed as a detective in 2023, is investigating. In more recent years, he has worked part time for the department as an internal affairs project coordinator, according to a Sheriff’s Office employee roster.
In pursuit of the source — or sources — of the alleged leak to NBC’s “Dateline,” Taddicken has requested interviews with at least some of those who had access to the digital files that appeared in a May 2025 episode about the Moscow college student murder case, two defense experts in the case told the Idaho Statesman.
A different Sheriff’s Office investigator also reached out last month to an attorney working on behalf of the families of two of the victims in the case, he told the Statesman.
Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist who worked with Kohberger’s public defense team, has so far declined such an interview, he said. Even though he’s been told by lead defense attorney Anne Taylor that he can participate, he argues this would breach a confidentiality agreement he remains bound by. (Taylor separately has accused Turvey of violating that agreement by speaking publicly about protected case details and defense strategy, which he disputes.)
Sy Ray, a digital forensics expert and former police officer, also worked as an expert for Kohberger’s defense team. He told the Statesman that he has spoken with Taddicken more than once since late last year as part of the leak investigation.
The “Dateline” episode revealed previously unreleased information, including surveillance footage near the crime scene, a variety of photos from Kohberger’s cellphone and specifics about the injuries to the four University of Idaho students killed in the November 2022 knife attack. The victims were undergraduates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20.
The three women lived in an off-campus home on King Road with two female roommates who went unharmed, and Chapin stayed over for the night with Kernodle, his girlfriend. At the time, Kohberger, now 31, was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, just 9 miles west of the U of I campus over the state line in Pullman, Washington.
A number of people for the defense and prosecution had access to the information presented in the two-hour special of “Dateline,” Ray said. If anyone subject to the gag order in the case was suspected of having violated it, they could be charged with criminal contempt of court.
“It’s probably the most expensive misdemeanor case in the history of Ada County,” he told the Statesman by phone. “Trying to investigate this was probably tough.”
Leander James, an attorney who represents the Chapin family and Mogen’s mother and stepfather, Karen and Scott Laramie, confirmed that the Ada County Sheriff’s Office recently touched base with him about its investigation into the leak.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment. An email and voicemail for Taddicken received no response.
Origin of the special investigation
The court’s gag order prevented members of the prosecution and defense from making public statements about the high-profile quadruple-homicide case outside of court. The restriction included anyone associated with each side, including members of law enforcement for the prosecution.
In response to the disclosure of case details in the “Dateline” episode, presiding Judge Steven Hippler, of Idaho’s 4th Judicial District, welcomed the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate just a week later in open court. Those legal documents were filed under seal in June, and the results of that special investigation remain unclear to the public.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and retired Moscow Police Chief James Fry also previously confirmed the existence of the special investigation to the Statesman.
“ ‘Dateline’ and me, I’m not happy with them,” Fry said in a prior interview. “I hope they find out who did that.”
Sandra Barrios, the trial court administrator for the 4th Judicial District Court, declined to comment Tuesday in response to a request for an update on the investigation.
Kohberger took a deal and pleaded guilty in July 2025, accepting a life sentence for each of the four victims and no chance of parole. He also waived all of his appeal rights as part of the agreement, which removed the possibility of the death penalty if he was convicted at trial.
Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalves, opposed the plea agreement in favor of a trial and potential death sentence for his daughter’s killer. The leaks in the “Dateline” episode helped upend the chance for a trial, and contributed to motivating the plea deal, he told the Statesman. He supports a criminal investigation into the leaks.
“They’re working on figuring this out, and hopefully they have more than they’re letting on,” Steve Goncalves said by phone. “I think it did cost us. It definitely took the focus off the trial and seating a jury.”
Two weeks after the plea hearing, Hippler lifted the gag order. Court filings and investigative records in the case — including the bulk of the information in the “Dateline” episode — have trickled out to the public since.
This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 5:39 PM.
