In a stunning revelation that could drastically alter the course of a high-profile murder trial, defense lawyers for Bryan Kohberger have unearthed DNA from unidentified individuals at the crime scene where four University of Idaho students were brutally killed. Kohberger, 28, risks facing death by firing squad if convicted of the savage slayings.

The legal representatives of the accused, a solitary figure who faces a capital punishment trial, have claimed in court documents that genetic traces from two unknown men were found within the blood-soaked off-campus residence in Moscow. This was the grim scene where college students Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21, met a horrific end.

The documents further assert that DNA from a third unidentified individual was detected on a glove found outside the property a week following the gruesome murders.

Investigators have disclosed that the perpetrator left behind a knife sheath near Mogen's lifeless body. The FBI confirmed that "touch DNA" gathered from this object was entered into public genealogy databases to narrow down the list of suspects and guide their pursuit of the knife-wielding assailant.

As stated in a criminal affidavit, investigators then collected trash from Kohberger's parents' residence in the Pocono Mountains. They reportedly found a familial match between Kohberger's father and the DNA found on the sheath. After Kohberger, a criminology student at Washington State University, was arrested, DNA samples taken directly from him allegedly returned as a “statistical match,” according to the prosecution.

However, the state has controversially sought a protective order to conceal the process it used to link Kohberger's DNA to the crime scene. This move has incensed the defense team, who accuse the prosecution of veiling their entire case and trying to keep their method of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) under wraps. The defense has also alleged that officials are evading showing Kohberger "how many other people the FBI chose to ignore during their investigation" and have criticized the authority's dependence on largely unregulated IGG to link him to the vicious killings.

Moreover, the defense is requesting the profiles of the three unknown individuals whose DNA was found at the brutal scene be handed over by the authorities.

Last month, the prosecution declared its intention to seek the death penalty against Kohberger, charging him with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. In line with a law signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little in March, if lethal injection drugs are unavailable, a firing squad can carry out the execution within five days of a death warrant issuance.

Kohberger maintains his innocence, pleading not guilty and asserting that he has "no connection" to the victims.