Recently unsealed documents — coinciding with the day Bryan Kohberger was sentenced for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students — revealed concerns from his college professors regarding his interactions with female students.
Kohberger received four life sentences for the fatal stabbings of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves at an off-campus residence in Moscow. After his sentencing, police reports surfaced detailing how professors at Washington State University contemplated an “intervention” due to his unsettling behavior towards female students, as reported by NewsNation.
The professors’ remarks align with prior information shared with NewsNation regarding Kohberger’s conduct towards women. Sources indicated that Kohberger, a teaching assistant, exhibited condescending behavior towards female students and graded them more stringently compared to their male counterparts.
Kohberger was fired as a teaching assistant a month after the murders, according to NewsNation.
According to The Independent, police were also tipped off about concerning correspondence Kohberger had on Tinder before the slayings. A woman claimed she matched with Kohberger on the dating application in October 2022. She said she stopped talking to him after Kohberger inquired about a murder that happened in her town years earlier and asked what her favorite horror movie was.
The woman (identified in police documents as “C”) alleged Kohberger then asked what she believed the worst way to die was.
“C said she thought it would be a knife,” the report detailed. “C said Kohberger then asked her something to the effect of ‘like a Ka-Bar?’”
The military-style knife and leather sheath were purchased months before the murders. The sheath was recovered from the crime scene, but the knife was never found.
Police claimed Kohberger visited the area 12 times before the slayings and he turned off his phone the night of the murders. Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath located near Mogen and Goncalves’ bodies.
Meanwhile, defense attorneys accused prosecutors of withholding evidence about unidentified DNA samples — including DNA on a glove outside the home which also remains unidentified.
Investigators tested DNA from a trash can outside Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania against DNA found on the sheath at the crime scene. Testing determined that “at least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”
At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was working on his Ph.D. in criminology from Washington State University, which is located 10 miles from the crime scene. He was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022, after taking a cross-country road trip with his father from Washington to Pennsylvania for the holidays.
In September, Kohberger’s trial was moved from Latah County to Boise, in Ada County. The trial’s venue was changed after the state supreme court upheld a ruling identifying publicity and media attention concerns that could jeopardize Kohberger’s right to a fair trial. Further, the courts noted that the Latah County courthouse lacked space and local police did not have enough deputies to provide adequate security.
[Feature Photo: Idaho Department of Corrections]
