The only intrigue within the written confession was of the typographical kind: Kohberger crossed out a date on the bottom of the document that read “June 2025,” an apparent typo. He corrected the date to July 1 and signed his name in slightly misshapen cursive writing.

Thompson noted the dense population of that area, where many college students live, and also acknowledged that the state did not know whether Kohberger had any contact with the victims in that time f...