Idaho student murderer Bryan Kohberger is facing taunts from other inmates as he adjusts to his new life in prison, weeks after receiving four consecutive sentences of life without parole, plus another 10 years, according to a new report.
The 30-year-old former Washington State University criminology Ph.D. student abruptly pleaded guilty to the murders of four undergrads at the nearby University of Idaho last month – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The deal allowed him to avoid the potential death penalty – which prosecutors said they intended to seek if the case went to trial.
Exterior view of Idaho State Correctional Complex in Kuna, Idaho, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Bryan Kohberger is being housed at this facility after being sentenced in the stabbing murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Now Kohberger is reportedly complaining to guards that he can’t sleep amid all the harassment.
“He’s lucky it’s only verbal abuse right now, but what’s going to make it a lot worse for him is that he’s complaining,” Keith Rovere, a former prison pastor, told Fox News Digital. “You can’t do that in prison. You stay silent and keep your mouth shut.”
Otherwise, Kohberger risks becoming labeled a “rat,” according “The Lighter Side of True Crime” podcast host.
“You have a problem with it, you fight back,” he said. “Complaining to the guards is ratting. Now they know they’re getting under your skin so they’re only going to ramp it up even more.”
And this is just his reaction to verbal abuse, he added.
Bryan Kohberger is seen in the Ada County Courthouse after his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)
“I have no doubt he’s contemplating suicide already because he’s not even a month in, and he’s losing control,” Rovere added. “Most serial killers tend to be control freaks. Throw autism on top of that and the chaos that the inmates are causing him is making him lose his mind. And it’s only going to get worse.”
Kohberger, while not fitting the textbook definition of a serial killer, is still a mass murderer who studied serial killers extensively as part of his graduate degree in criminology.
The killer is reputed to be lacking in social skills – illustrated by what his attorneys called a “piercing stare” and lack of social awareness in court filings. Over the past two and a half years of confinement, he appears to have lost some weight, too.
According to documents made public by the Moscow Police Department in Idaho, Kohberger also has a track record of bumping heads with his fellow inmates. On one occasion, Kohberger turned away from a video chat with his mom to snap at another inmate who yelled “you suck” at a jailhouse TV set. Another inmate described him as a “f—ing weirdo” and claimed he would have assaulted him if he wasn’t worried about repercussions.
Another infamous J Block resident is fellow convicted killer Chad Daybell, who is on death row for the murders of his ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, and the children of his next wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.
There’s no indication whether Daybell may have been involved in any alleged harassment of Kohberger.
