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Striking new revelations have emerged from the Idaho murder case, as police have made public all documents pertaining to convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger.
It comes as new evidence from the killer’s phone has been released, including the strange names he saved his contacts under on his cell.
Last month, Kohberger was sentenced to life imprisonment after confessing to the brutal stabbing of students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle in their rented home during 2022.
Due to significant public interest, the Pullman police department, located near Washington State University where Kohberger was a criminology student, released the files on Thursday night.
Records suggest that Kohberger sought collaboration with the Pullman police while participating as a PhD graduate research assistant.
The full records can be read here.
Other records from Idaho state released on Thursday night also reveal that Kohberger had just 18 contacts on his phone, NewsNation reported.
“He had 18 personal contacts. Eighteen,” Heather Barnhart, who led the team that investigated Kohberger’s phone and hard drive, said.
“Think about all the people you meet and the hundreds of random numbers.
“And they were even identified as ‘girl I ran with,’ ‘second girl I ran with.’ A contact, then in parentheses ‘hair,’” she continued.
“Then there was ‘Mother’ and ‘Father,’ and his sister and just a few others.”
Barnhart said that the killer would plainly refer to his parents as mother and father while texting.
“It’s eerie,” Jared Barnhart, who also assisted in the investigation, said.
“It stands out from any other case I’ve worked.”
In the hours following the murders on November 13, 2022, Kohberger reportedly called his mother and then his father when his mother didn’t pick up.
The full details of Bryan Kohberger’s sentence
On July 23, 2025, Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Bryan Kohberger to the following:
- Count 1: Burglary – 10 years fixed, zero years in determinate. $50,000 fine.
- Count 2: First-degree murder of Madison Mogen: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 3: First-degree murder of Kaylee Goncalves: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 4: First-degree murder of Xana Kernodle: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 5: First-degree murder of Ethan Chapin: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
The sentencings will run consecutively to one another.
The Barnharts said that phone records show that the killer rarely talked to anyone outside of his parents.
PROFESSOR’S WARNING
A criminology professor at Washington State University, where Kohberger was studying for his PhD, warned others about him, NewsNation also reported.
At the time, Kohberger was working as a teaching assistant while pursuing his doctoral degree.
“Kohberger is smart enough that in four years, we will have to give him a Ph.D,” the note read.
“Mark my words, as someone who deals with dangerous individuals, if he earns a Ph.D., he’s the kind of person who will later become a professor known for harassment, stalking, and sexual misconduct.”
The professor issued the warning months before the murders of Goncalves, Mogen, Chapin and Kernodle.
Forensic expert Barnhart disclosed on Thursday that shortly after the Idaho killings, Kohberger downloaded details on over 20 notorious serial killers on Christmas Day 2022.
The killer later tried to wipe the harrowing research from his phone in a frenzied attempt to cover his tracks — but he made a crucial mistake that allowed prosecutors to discover his digital footprint.
“People think if they download things while their browser is in incognito mode, it stays private, but it does not,” she explained.
“In the end, everyone makes mistakes.”
