A CAFE employee recounted her unnerving encounter with Bryan Kohberger to the authorities amid their probe into the quadruple homicide.
This unnamed woman’s experience with Kohberger was just one of many unsettling interactions that both students and faculty at Washington State University had with him during his single semester at the Pullman campus.
Kohberger confessed to the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalvez, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin on June 30 and received a sentence of four life terms with no chance of parole.
Since Kohberger’s transfer to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, several police departments, including those in Pullman, Moscow, and the Idaho State Police, have gradually begun to release documents tied to the November 2022 killings.
Recently, the Idaho State Police disclosed a collection of investigative records, one of which featured an interview conducted with a cafe employee, also a student at Washington State University (WSU), on January 17, 2023.
DISTURBING ENCOUNTER
The woman, whose identity and place of work were withheld, informed Idaho State Police officials that she encountered Kohberger daily during the semester at the cafe, usually near closing time, and occasionally in the summer before classes commenced.
The coffee shop worker said she believed Kohberger “liked to talk specifically to her” and would ask her questions about her school program and psychological assessments she was learning.
In one chilling encounter, the woman recalled her friend, whose identity was also redacted, told her Kohberger came into the shop and asked for her by name.
“She was certain she never told Kohberger her name, and she doesn’t wear a name tag, she was unaware how he knew her name,” Idaho State Police wrote in their report of their interview with the woman.
“It seemed to her Kohberger knew what hours she worked and made remarks about her hours.”
The woman told investigators that one time Kohberger walked in with a female friend, and asked her where she was from.
“The female told her to guess. She guessed [redacted], and Kohberger remarked to the female, ‘See, I told you she was smart,'” the report read.
The cafe employee described interpreting Kohberger’s statement as “weird to her” because “she didn’t think much of Kohberger, but it seemed like he had been talking to the female about her.”
The woman told a coworker she was “uncomfortable around Kohberger” and would “let her know when he came in so she could avoid him.”
LURKING PRESENCE
Not long after her interaction with Kohberger and his female friend, the woman recalled to investigators about two frightening episodes when she heard someone lurking around her house.
“She was home alone one night, changing in her room, and someone knocked on her window,” the report read.
“She called her husband, and he came home from work.
“Another time, after she had started working at [redacted], she heard someone moving around on her porch at approximately 7:00 in the evening.
“Her husband came home again and saw a white car leaving the area. Both occurrences were in August and September.”
Kohberger was the owner of a white Hyundai Elantra.
However, the woman did tell investigators that she believed the incidents were probably unrelated to her previous encounters with Kohberger.
EERIE HIKING TRIP TEXT
Dozens of interviews of individuals who interacted with Kohberger during his time in Pullman, Washington, were among those disclosed in the over 500 investigative files released by Idaho State Police.
On January 9, 2023, about two weeks after Kohberger was arrested, investigators interviewed a woman who met the quadruple murderer at a pool party in July 2022.
The unidentified woman said she had a brief conversation with Kohberger about hiking interests in the area.
She told Kohberger she had a hiking group she could introduce him to and the two exchanged numbers.
After the homicides, the woman searched her phone and remembered a text Kohberger had sent her that read, “Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday.
“I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know! Thanks!”
’13 REPORTS’ FILED AGAINST KOHBERGER
On January 10, 2023, a staff member at WSU told detectives that she was aware of 13 complaints filed against Kohberger by his fellow classmates.
The reports were regarding Kohberger’s behavior, according to police records.
Another WSU member said Kohberger had a reputation for “being a d**k,” and expressed homophobic and misogynistic remarks towards female students.
A faculty member, who Kohberger worked under, told investigators he knew the former Ph.D. had “alienated himself from the female grad students,” including “six or seven women.”
A senior at WSU, who other students described as “the mom” of the group, said others would come to her with their problems about Kohberger.
The student, who also worked as a teaching assistant on campus, said because of the disturbing complaints she heard about Kohberger she eventually started leaving her office door open.
“Pretty early on, I started leaving my office door open when he was in his office, especially if there was ever a student in there, because I just wanted to make sure that nothing was inappropriate,” the police report said.
“Like, I felt way early on that this guy was going to do something inappropriate with a student.”
The woman said she even spoke about Kohberger to her mom, who she referred to as “the creepy guy.”
KOHBERGER BRAGGED ABOUT KILLINGS
A fellow WSU Ph.D. student recalled to police a conversation she had with Kohberger where he discussed the Moscow killings about three weeks after the murders rocked the college town less than 10 miles from Pullman.
The unnamed woman said Kohberger had stated that “whoever committed the homicides must have been pretty good.”
“They discussed the idea the students were getting ready to leave for the winter break right after when the homicides occurred and that this timing made it a good choice by the murder[er],” the report added.
One professor at WSU warned her colleagues during a faculty meeting before the Christmas break in 2022 that Kohberger displayed predator attributes.
After discussing the complaints filed against Kohberger, the professor, whose name was redacted, forewarned her colleagues, “He is smart enough that in four years we will have to give him a Ph.D.
“Mark my word, I work with predators, if we give him a Ph.D. that’s the guy that in that many years when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking and sexually abusing of his, I thought would be his, you know, his students at whatever university he ended,” the ISP report stated.
