OREM, Utah — Detectives investigating the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk seized ammunition, computers, and a DNA sample from the suspect, according to search warrants.
The warrants reviewed by FOX 13 News also recite a note the suspect, Tyler J. Robinson, allegedly left for his roommate. The two had a romantic relationship. The roommate then gave a copy to an FBI agent, the warrants say.
FULL LIST: Tyler Robinson items seized, according to search warrant returns
The letter read:
“Luna, if you are reading this per my text, then I am so sorry,” the note begins. “I left the house this morning on a mission, and set an auto text.
“I am likely dead, or facing a lengthy prison sentence. I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.
“I don’t know if i will/have succeeded, but I had hoped to make it home to you. I wish we could have lived in a world where this did not feel necessary. I wish I could have stayed for you and lived our lives together.
“I lack the words to express how much I love you, and how very much you mean to me. please try and find joy in this life.
“I love you, always, - Tyler.”
Attorneys for Robinson declined to comment on the search warrants Thursday. Robinson is charged with aggravated murder, among other counts. Prosecutors have said they will
seek the death penalty.
The note is “a confession,” said Anne Bremner, an attorney who reviewed it and other search warrant material for FOX 13 News.
“So, full confession to somebody that that he cared about deeply,” Bremner said, “and I guess, wanted to explain what he did, but he seemed to be okay with what he did.”
Judge denies Tyler Robinson request to shut down public, media access:
Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles defense attorney whose clients have included Lyle and Eric Mendenez, Scott Peterson, and other murder defendants, said text messages disclosed for the first time stand out.
“People always want to hear – jurors, especially – from the accused,” Geragos said. “And here you've got text messages which, if you believe it, are in real time. And that is significant.”
FOX 13 News found 16 search warrants used to investigate Kirk’s Sept. 10 killing. The Utah Bureau of Investigation requested the warrants in the days after the shooting. Judges approved the warrants and requests to seal them until mid-March. The warrants were then entered into a court's database.
To demonstrate to the judges that they had enough probable cause to search Robinson’s home and belongings, the investigator’s application included the note and a series of text messages between the roommate and Robinson.
The messages elaborate on how badly Robinson allegedly wanted to go retrieve his .30-06 rifle – he said it had belonged to his grandfather – in the hours after the shooting. Police eventually found the gun in a wooded area near Utah Valley University.
Text messages imply Robinson was waiting for the coast to clear. In one exchange with his roommate, Robinson implied there was one person in the vicinity keeping him from the rifle.
“guess im just sittin in my car watching reels for another hour, hopin this guy f---s off,” Robinson wrote.
At Robinson’s home in St. George, detectives seized .30-06 ammunition. One cartridge seized in St. George had “test shot” etched on it, according to an inventory included with the served warrants.
Investigators also seized a variety of computers and digital devices from Robinson’s home. And they received permission to take from Robinson’s person, from DNA samples to the clothes he was wearing when he surrendered. Even Robinson’s underwear is listed in the inventory.
Judges also granted permission to search emails, text messages, and social media accounts belonging to Robinson and his roommate. Only a fraction of those messages have been made public.
Geragos said while the information in the warrants “looks damning,” he added, “there’s plenty here for the defense to work with.”
The evidence described is circumstantial, Geragos said. It then becomes a matter of whether the defense seeks success at the trial or verdict phases.
“If you think you've got a shot of winning the case or hanging the case on the merits, on guilt, on the killing, then you're going to have a completely different approach than if you feel like that's not going to work,” Geragos said, otherwise, he added, Robinson’s attorneys may use the trial just to argue why jurors “should not take his life.”
Bremner, a former prosecutor in Seattle, said she sees overwhelming evidence.
“I think your best bet in a case like that is to save his life,” she said, “to make sure he doesn't get the death penalty. That's going to be a win.”
