Kohberger, 28, is facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November 13 slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. He has not yet entered a plea and a hearing in the case is set for Thursday.

A probable cause affidavit unsealed on January 5 said investigators used DNA evidence, cellphone records and surveillance footage to connect Kohberger, a doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University, to the crime.

But the evidence laid out in the affidavit “does not place Kohberger in that house on the night of the murders,” Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor who is now a defense attorney, told Newsweek.

“This case is in its infancy, and while Kohberger has already been convicted in the court of public opinion, there are still so many questions that have to be answered. There is a lot of smoke here, but no definitive fire.”

Kohberger’s attorney did not respond to Newsweek’s requests for comment. But a public defender who represented him in Pennsylvania, Jason LaBar, has said Kohberger is “eager to be exonerated of these charges” and “should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.”

The affidavit said investigators traced a white sedan seen near the crime scene to a 2015 Hyundai Elantra registered to Kohberger.

It also said Kohberger’s phone records showed his phone was near his home in Pullman until about 2.42 a.m. on November 13, but started using cellular resources southeast of his home about five minutes later.

But no other location data was available from the phone until about 4.48 a.m., suggesting he may have turned it off in a bid to avoid detection, the affidavit said. The phone’s travel was consistent with that of the white Elantra, it said.

Investigators believe the murders occurred between 4 a.m. and 4.25 a.m.

The records also revealed the phone returned to the neighborhood where the murders occurred hours later, shortly after 9 a.m., and that it had been in the area of the house at least 12 times in the months prior to the murders.

Police in Pennsylvania recovered trash from the Kohberger’s family home on December 27 and sent DNA evidence to be tested in Idaho, the affidavit said. The evidence matched the DNA found on the button snap of a knife sheath recovered at the crime scene, it said.

It also said a roommate who was not harmed told investigators she saw a man dressed in black with a mask over his nose and mouth in the house around the time of the murders. The roommate described the man having bushy eyebrows, being 5 feet 10 inches or taller and not very muscular. The affidavit noted that Kohberger is 6 feet tall and weighs about 185 pounds, and that his photograph shows he has bushy eyebrows.

“What the evidence seems to show so far is that someone driving his model of car was near the scene, but no camera captured Kohberger driving the car,” Levin said.

Kohberger will “have to answer for his cell phone being turned off at the time of the murders, but the cell phone pings again do not put him at the scene given the short, 20-mile radius between his home and the crime scene.

“And the DNA on the sheath of the knife again is not irrefutable proof of anything since it does not put him in the house at the time of the murders.”

DNA and cellphone evidence “can be very technical and subject to cross-examination,” Levin added.

“Obviously, there is a confluence of suspicious evidence here, but there is a case that the defense can make, and the investigation is young enough that they just may do it.”

Attorneys, investigators and others involved in the case have been barred from talking about it after Judge Megan Marshall issued a gag order last week prohibiting any of the parties from discussing anything “reasonably likely to interfere with a fair trial.”

But the “unrelenting massive publicity so far will certainly make it hard for Kohberger to have a truly fair process,” Levin said.

“Gag orders are meant to prevent pre-trial publicity from infecting a potential jury pool, but it may be too late for that already. The defense will have to be patient and present evidence methodically in court.”