Bryan Kohberger's murder case cost rockets to $3.6 MILLION as taxpayer picks up huge bill for his stalled trial - 469 days after he was arrested for quadruple murder

The Bryan Kohberger murder case has cost taxpayers at least $3.6 million with no end in sight with his trial delayed yet again.

Millions were spent on the nationwide manhunt to find him, housing him in a pre-trial jail, legal fees, massive University of Idaho security costs, and more.

Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13, 2022.

The massacre at an off-campus house they rented in the college town of Moscow was the worst crime scene some investigators saw and shocked the country.

Well over two years later there is still no trial date with endless hearings for every minor issue that a former FBI agent called 'delay tactics'.

Every court date means more legal fees, and every delay to the trial means Kohberger's prison costs increase by more than $100 a day.

Frustration is even showing on Judge John Judge of Idaho's 2nd Judicial District in Latah County, who is overseeing the case.

'If we have to have hearings on every single thing, we've got a long ways to go. And it's a lot of time, it's a lot of work, it's a lot of money, and it just makes everything more difficult,' he said at one of many recent hearings.

Analysis of financial records by the Idaho Statesman found the greatest cost was, predictably, legal fees for both sides.

Legal fees are difficult to exactly calculate as much of the costs are not available, and those for the defense are sealed by judicial order.

Kohberger doesn't have the money to pay for his defense so the county has to pick up the tab, and appointed Kootenai County chief public defender Anne Taylor.

Taylor, who bills at $200 an hour, was joined by her chief deputy Jay Logsdon, paid $180 and hour, and mitigation expert Elisa Massoth at $180 an hour. How much time they all spend on the case is unknown.

Latah County budget records only indicate a total amount spent so far: $1.4 million.

Bob Boruchowitz, who studies legal costs in capital punishment cases like Kohberger's, said prosecutors pursuing death made everything more expensive.

'It's an enormous undertaking. The need to document every single part of the client's life for the sentencing phase is much greater when death is on the table,' he said.

'The prosecutor needs to know it, too, but the defenders have got to spend considerable time, energy and funds doing that.'

Costs for the prosecution are believed to be about the same as the defense so far, enough though most prosecutors bill at $50 to 57 an hour, as there are many more costs involved.

Kohberger is locked up in the Latah County Jail under the courthouse while he awaits trial, which costs far more than prisons for convicted inmates.

Every day he spends there costs $194, adding up to about $91,000 so far, compared to other jails that average $87.50 a day. 

The university was also slugged with a massive $1.6 million bill, of which the State of Idaho paid it back about $1 million.

This includes about $346,000 to secure and later demolish the house on King Road where the four students were stabbed to death.

About $1.4 million of the total was spent on beefing up security around campus, both temporarily in the weeks that followed the murders, and long term.

Idaho State Police patrolled the grounds for six weeks at a cost of $241,500, and increased private security cost $267,126.

UI then paid two consulting firms $780,000 to design an improved security plan, and provide enhanced security once it was implemented.

Another $393,000 was spent on boosting the university's own security, $3,850 on counseling and crisis support, and $7,394 on a vigil for the victims.

The university did not have to buy the murder house as it was donated to it by the owner, who wanted nothing to do with it afterwards.

Fencing it off, title transfer fees, and hundreds of dollars a day in private security costs added up, and actually demolishing it was about $14,000. 

The nationwide manhunt also cost police departments about $740,000 in overtime pay, securing the crime scene, forensics, and other investigatory costs.

Police spent a month identifying Kohberger as the suspect, tracking him to his parents' house in Pennsylvania, and building the case before his arrest.

He then had to be extradited back to Idaho, and flown there on a charter flight that cost $14,000 - but it is not clear who actually paid for it.

Investigators identified Kohberger from DNA left on a a tan leather knife sheath on Mogen's bed.

They ran the DNA through public ancestry websites - a controversial tactic that raised constitutional issues - at a cost of $5,000 by private lab Othram.

The FBI later took over this testing but its costs are unknown as the agency never reveals them.

After getting a hit for one of Kohberger's relatives, police tested rubbish from bins at his parents' homes, and found DNA matching the father of the suspect.

They staked out the house and watched Kohberger meticulously clean his car and dump rubbish in a neighbors bin, which they also tented for DNA.

Kohberger was arrested by a SWAT team on December 30, 2022, and found a knife, a pistol, and a black face mask.

Autopsies on the four victims were more complex than usual and cost $9,600, and borrowing state police troopers cost $4,500.

Total police costs also included 600 overtime hours by Moscow Police Department officers, who led the homicide investigation.

Kohberger still doesn't have a trial date so some of the costs will keep rising indefinitely, not to mention the strain on the victims' families.

The case is still in its preliminary stages, with the most recent delay being Taylor arguing that the trial needed to be put off due to the huge amount of information surrounding it.

This  included refusing to officially establish Kohberger's supposed alibi on the night of the murders, and all he claimed was that he was out driving alone. 

Kohberger won't face trial until at least the spring of 2025.

The families of victims Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle last month pleaded with the courts to 'please, please, start making some decisions, get to work, and quit playing the delay game'.

Former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told DailyMail.com that the postponements appear to be purposeful 'delay tactics' from Kohberger's trial team to try and swing the suspected killer an advantage.

Coffindaffer, who has served as an expert witness on numerous trials, said while the delayed trial is frustrating, it is far worse for the victim's families as the unending hearings are like continually 'picking a scab off the wound.' 

'They have to see him, they have to listen to the details, it's more and more painful for (the victims families),' she added.

The former FBI special agent claimed Kohberger's defense team was delaying to try to swing any advantage in their favor, including the possibility key witnesses could die if it stretched on years.

'There's all these things that can happen when you delay, delay, delay, in my opinion the defense knows this and they will continue to delay,' she said.

As the case drags on, the Idaho Supreme Court denied a pretrial appeal by Kohberger's public defenders that would have served to delay his quadruple-murder case.

The decision was reached last month after Kohberger's lawyers urged the court to throw out the grand jury indictment.

Kohberger's lawyers argued that a grand jury sat by prosecutors improperly indicted him on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. 

They contended that the standard for a grand jury to indict should be guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, rather than the lower standard of probably cause, pointing to interpretations of Idaho state law.

The ruling did not provide legal reasoning for the court's denial of the motion to appeal. The document was signed by Melanie Gagnepain, clerk of the Idaho Supreme Court.

Although the appeal was dismissed, a separate motion seeking to seal it was granted.

The pretrial appeal was the latest in a series of attempts to delay the murder trial. 

Kohberger's legal team previously sought to have the indictment dismissed due to inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct, among other claims.

In January, lead defense attorney Anne Taylor asked the court to delay the trial until at least 2025.

Taylor argued that she had not been provided enough time to complete discovery or interview a sufficient number of witnesses.

Later that month, the defense filed a motion to move the trial out of Latah County, arguing 'inflammatory pretrial publicity' and the 'small size of the community' made finding an impartial jury impossible.

A hearing for that request is scheduled for April 17.

Kohberger as at the time of the murders pursuing a PhD in criminology at Washington State University, just across the state line from UI.

The victims' surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were home at the time of the murders but unharmed. They were ruled out as suspects early into the investigation.

Police sources told DailyMail.com that the crime scene was the worst they'd ever encountered, with so much blood that it seeped through the walls of the house.

Kohberger was arrested at his family's home in Pennsylvania the following month, concluding a nearly seven-week-long manhunt.

He was brought to Idaho to face the charges and indicted in May 2023.

The indictment allowed prosecutors to bypass a previously scheduled June hearing where the surviving roommates could have been cross-examined.

Kohberger remained silent during his arraignment, forcing the judge to enter a 'not guilty' plea on his behalf.

The 29-year-old has since waived his right to a speedy trial. A trial date has yet to be set.