Cellebrite on Kohberger’s search for psychopath
Heather and Jared Barnhart from Cellebrite break down what they found in Bryan Kohberger’s search history – and what they didn’t – based on data recovered from his cellphone and a hard drive.
Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers didn’t want prosecutors to describe him as a “psychopath” or in other specific terms if his case went to trial – but the criminology Ph.D. student turned mass murderer regularly searched for the phrase, according to digital forensics experts who dug into his phone and computer.
“On his PC (personal computer), psychopath was a normal word that he typed into a browser,” said Heather Barnhart, senior director of forensic research at Cellebrite. “But he could have said it was for his major or research.”
In addition to frequent searches for the phrase and related terms like “psychopaths paranoid,” he also looked up wiretapping, and spent Christmas night reading in depth about serial killers.
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)
The analysis of Kohberger’s computer found that he successfully wiped some key information – including details that could have explained a motive, according to Barnhart’s husband, Jared Barnhart, who also works at Cellebrite.
He used software to fully delete files and also cleared his Google Chrome browser history from Oct. 12 through Nov. 16. The murders took place around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13.
Confessed killer Bryan Kohberger sports a death stare in prison mugshot. (The Idaho Department of Correction)
“I think that’s the most important point to me, is he cleaned up what was probably the story all the victims’ families need to hear, right?” Barnhart told Fox News Digital. “The why, the how. Why my kid? All of that is gone. And we tried like crazy to find something, you know, to tell these families, and it just isn’t there.”
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