An FBI analyst told a Utah courtroom that 95 percent of the genetic material found on a towel wrapped around the rifle used to kill conservative leader Charlie Kirk matches the DNA profile of the man accused of shooting him, 23-year-old Tyler Robinson. The testimony, delivered during a pre-trial hearing before Utah District Judge Tony Graf, landed as the most direct forensic link yet between Robinson and the September 10 killing at Utah Valley University.
FBI analyst Amanda Bakker told the court that testing on the towel and a screwdriver recovered near the alleged rooftop firing position identified DNA from two contributors. Robinson's profile, she testified, aligned with the contributor responsible for 95 percent of the genetic material. The remaining 5 percent aligned with Lance Twiggs, Robinson's roommate.
The hearing is not a trial. Its sole purpose is to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to send Robinson to trial for Kirk's killing. Robinson has not yet entered a plea. But the weight of what emerged in the courtroom, DNA, surveillance footage, and testimony about Robinson's movements before and after the shooting, paints a detailed picture of alleged premeditation that the defense is working hard to undercut.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael Burt, Bakker acknowledged that the FBI's DNA analysis did not rise to a definitive identification. Bakker stated that FBI analysis routinely avoids making what she called "absolute identification" in DNA results. She conceded that the source DNA did not exclude Robinson but could not definitively place him as the contributor either.
Burt seized on the distinction. As he told the court:
"She can't match Mr Robinson to the questioned samples."
Prosecutors pushed back. They insisted the defense's line of questioning exceeded the scope of a pre-trial hearing, arguing the purpose was not to prove Robinson's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but only to establish probable cause for trial. Utah State Bureau of Investigation Sergeant Jennifer Faumuina, who oversaw physical evidence collection, testified that the genetic material was statistically extremely likely to belong to Robinson rather than another person.
Faumuina also confirmed that Twiggs' DNA on the same items was definitive, a cleaner match. No other individual's DNA was identified as a possible contributor beyond Robinson or Twiggs.
DNA was not the only evidence prosecutors put before Judge Graf. Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull walked the court through surveillance footage, some of it never before seen publicly, that tracked Robinson's alleged movements across the UVU campus in the hours surrounding Kirk's death.
Hull testified that Robinson arrived on campus roughly four hours before the shooting and returned several times. In the day before the killing, Robinson allegedly visited the campus at least four times in his Dodge Challenger. He visited the amphitheater where Kirk was preparing to speak for a Turning Point USA event and, Hull stated, interacted with several Turning Point USA members before leaving. Hull did not testify about what Robinson said to them.
About two hours before Kirk was killed, Robinson allegedly bought food at a campus Chick-fil-A. Then, Hull testified, footage showed Robinson climbing over a railing onto the roof of the Losee Center, crouching down, and running to a position overlooking the spot where Kirk was speaking.
After the shooting, the footage allegedly showed Robinson running back across the roof, dropping to the ground, and fleeing on foot. He was seen walking with a limp in the security video. Most striking: Hull testified Robinson returned to the UVU campus the night after Kirk was killed, and came back again the following day, during the active manhunt.
On that second return, a police officer interacted with Robinson on campus and wrote down his license plate number. Hull described the officer as having "cop intuition" about Robinson. That plate number, Hull said, later helped prove Robinson was on campus that day.
Faumuina's testimony filled in the physical evidence trail. Investigators recovered a rifle wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the UVU campus after the shooting. A screwdriver was found near what investigators described as a "sniper's perch" on the Losee Center roof, the same rooftop position where surveillance footage allegedly showed Robinson before and after the shooting.
The rifle was sent to the ATF for DNA testing. The towel and screwdriver went to the FBI, where Bakker conducted her analysis. Prosecutors also referenced bullets found in the gun that were engraved with political messages. One read: "Hey fascist! CATCH!"
Authorities have cited a text message Robinson allegedly sent to Twiggs before the killing: "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it." That text, attributed to Robinson by authorities, stands as the most direct statement of alleged intent introduced so far.
Twiggs, described as Robinson's roommate and lover, is not expected to testify in person. Prosecutors plan to introduce video testimony and messages between Robinson and Twiggs. A police interview Twiggs gave after Kirk's killing was set to be introduced at Tuesday's hearing but was pushed back due to time constraints. The preliminary hearing has drawn intense attention from the start, with Kirk's widow Erika present in the courtroom.
Judge Graf pushed Wednesday's session back to a half-day for procedural reasons. The hearing's scope remains narrow: probable cause, not guilt. But the volume of evidence prosecutors have assembled, forensic, digital, and visual, suggests they are building a case designed to leave little room for doubt at trial.
The defense, meanwhile, is contesting the evidence at every turn. Burt and co-counsel Kathryn Nester have challenged the DNA findings and confronted prosecutor David Sturgill of the Utah County Attorney's Office during the proceedings. Earlier in the hearing, the judge rejected prosecutors' edited surveillance footage, a procedural setback that forced the state to adjust its presentation.
Robinson's specific charges have not been detailed in the hearing coverage, and several open questions remain. Twiggs' legal status, whether witness, cooperating party, or something else, has not been clarified. The full content of the messages between Robinson and Twiggs, which prosecutors intend to introduce, has not yet been made public.
What is clear is the picture taking shape in that Utah courtroom. A 23-year-old man allegedly drove to a university campus multiple times, scouted the location where a prominent conservative figure would speak, climbed onto a rooftop, and fired. He allegedly told his roommate beforehand exactly what he planned to do. He allegedly engraved political taunts on his ammunition. And now the FBI says his DNA was on the towel wrapped around the weapon.
The defense says the DNA doesn't clinch it. The prosecution says it doesn't have to, not yet. This is a probable-cause hearing. The bar is lower. But the facts prosecutors have laid out so far suggest they believe they have far more than enough to clear it.
Charlie Kirk was killed while doing what conservatives do every day on college campuses: speaking. The man accused of silencing him permanently hasn't even entered a plea. The evidence, though, is doing plenty of talking.
