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Dr. Katherine Ramsland is finally discussing her professional connection with Bryan Kohberger, a one-time criminology student who has admitted guilt in the killings of four University of Idaho students.
“I thought, ‘They must have this wrong,’” Dr. Ramsland remarked regarding his arrest in December 2022 during a recent interview with The New York Times. “This has to be incorrect. It’s not the Bryan Kohberger I am acquainted with.”
Initially refraining from discussing Kohberger in case she might be summoned as a trial witness, Dr. Ramsland pondered that there might be a reasonable explanation for Kohberger’s presence in the vicinity when Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were tragically stabbed on November 13, 2022. She characterized him as “very polite, respectful, appearing genuinely engaged with the material as a potential researcher, teacher, and someone interested in a career.”
But after Kohberger’s arrest at his family’s home in Pennsylvania, evidence emerged that pointed to Kohberger being responsible for breaking into the off-campus home on Kings Road in Moscow, Idaho, and murdering the four students. DNA found on a knife sheath left at the scene of the crime matches that of Kohberger, and cell phone data indicates that he was in the area on the night of the incident, evidence which is detailed in the new Peacock documentary The Idaho Student Murders.
The defense argued that the DNA evidence was planted and that Kohberger was actually driving around stargazing on the night of the crimes. But Dr. Ramsland was suspicious of his alibi.
“I thought, ‘That’s not an alibi and you know it’s not,’” she said.
So, Dr. Ramsland was not shocked to learn that Kohberger accepted a plea deal in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without parole. He formally entered a guilty plea to four counts of murder and one count of burglary at a July 2 hearing, thereby avoiding a trial in which prosecutors sought the death penalty.
“I wasn’t surprised by the plea once the judge took away every option — that he couldn’t use his alibi, he couldn’t use an alternate suspect, there’s nothing left,” Dr. Ramsland said. “And now he’s facing a lot of evidence piled up and the death penalty, so it did not surprise me.”
How did Dr. Katherine Ramsland know Bryan Kohberger?
Kohberger received his master’s degree in criminal justice from DeSales University, where Dr. Ramsland teaches forensic psychology, in 2022.
During his time at the university, he took courses from Dr. Ramsland, who is considered an expert in extreme offenders. He also is purported to have conducted a study in which he asked prisoners about their “thoughts, emotions and actions from the beginning to end of the crime commission process,” the New York Times reports.
Dr. Ramsland expresses interest in speaking with Kohberger
Having previously worked with Dennis Rader (better known as the BTK Strangler) on his biography, Dr. Ramsland is no stranger to building rapport with criminals. As such, she is interested in interviewing Kohberger, whom she hasn’t spoken to since the spring of 2022, to “better understand him,” the newspaper reports.
To learn more about Kohberger and the investigation into the killings on King Road, watch The Idaho Student Murders, streaming now on Peacock.
