Addendum #1: I forgot to mention this in my initial draft, so I'll make an edit it include it:
Investigators didn't dig through the trash for the same reason that they didn't test the three unknown DNA profiles: The three male DNA profiles were likely off the assailant's path of travel within the house.
Addendum #2: There was a second-hand rumor that one of the victims—based on the publicly-available information about the case, this was likely Kaylee Goncalves—was stabbed dozens of times and her face was severely beaten.
I initially dismissed this rumor, mostly because it didn't jibe with my understanding of Kohberger's likely mental state at the time. I don't believe he drove to the house in anger.
However, if Goncalves's body were slumped against the corner of the wall, this makes the above rumor more likely. Perhaps the rumor is not accurate down to the number of stab wounds, but it could be generally correct.
At the risk of armchair psychologizing, I think it's possible that Goncalves was making noise, and Kohberger was trying to silence her as quickly as possible, especially if she yelled out, "there's someone here."
Your idea that the sheath fell out of his pocket, which was put there because he didn’t have a belt on his overalls, is just as believable as he set down the sheath and forgot it - if not more.
How much did he practice his knife removal from the pocket with the overalls on? Maybe he didn’t. Maybe the fabric on a new pair of Dickies doesn’t let items slide down as easy. Or some other miscalculation. I’m guessing there are dozens of scenarios of what could led to it falling out - if you think hard enough. For example, If he pulled the knife out inside the bedroom, maybe it was too dark to realize he didn’t pack it back in fully inside his pocket, or with gloves on his hands he didn’t have the tactile sensitivity to realize he didn’t get it all the way back in the pocket (AND it was really dark), or maybe it didn’t matter to him. I’m guessing there are even more plausible explanations with the fell-out-of-overalls-pocket presumption.
Addendum #1: I forgot to mention this in my initial draft, so I'll make an edit it include it:
Investigators didn't dig through the trash for the same reason that they didn't test the three unknown DNA profiles: The three male DNA profiles were likely off the assailant's path of travel within the house.
Addendum #2: There was a second-hand rumor that one of the victims—based on the publicly-available information about the case, this was likely Kaylee Goncalves—was stabbed dozens of times and her face was severely beaten.
I initially dismissed this rumor, mostly because it didn't jibe with my understanding of Kohberger's likely mental state at the time. I don't believe he drove to the house in anger.
However, if Goncalves's body were slumped against the corner of the wall, this makes the above rumor more likely. Perhaps the rumor is not accurate down to the number of stab wounds, but it could be generally correct.
At the risk of armchair psychologizing, I think it's possible that Goncalves was making noise, and Kohberger was trying to silence her as quickly as possible, especially if she yelled out, "there's someone here."
Your idea that the sheath fell out of his pocket, which was put there because he didn’t have a belt on his overalls, is just as believable as he set down the sheath and forgot it - if not more.
How much did he practice his knife removal from the pocket with the overalls on? Maybe he didn’t. Maybe the fabric on a new pair of Dickies doesn’t let items slide down as easy. Or some other miscalculation. I’m guessing there are dozens of scenarios of what could led to it falling out - if you think hard enough. For example, If he pulled the knife out inside the bedroom, maybe it was too dark to realize he didn’t pack it back in fully inside his pocket, or with gloves on his hands he didn’t have the tactile sensitivity to realize he didn’t get it all the way back in the pocket (AND it was really dark), or maybe it didn’t matter to him. I’m guessing there are even more plausible explanations with the fell-out-of-overalls-pocket presumption.