Bryan Kohberger - What We Know So Far
In the early morning hours of November 13th, 2022, the bodies of four college students were found stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. The students were identified 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who were all studying at the University of Idaho.
Forensic evidence and surveillance footage linked 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger to the quadruple homicide, a criminal justice PhD student at the University of Washington, leaving many to wonder what Bryan’s connection was--if any--to the victims.
As it’s so early on in the investigation, not much is known about Bryan’s life before his arrest on December 30th. He grew up in eastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountain. He grew up with his father, who was a maintenance worker, his mother, who worked in the school system, and two older sisters.
Former high school friends of Bryan say he was bullied for being overweight. In his senior year of high school, he lost 100 lbs. But with his physical transformation also came an attitude switch. He became more physically aggressive and arrogant toward others. Not long after, he developed a heroin addiction, which made him more secluded and self-destructive.
Years later, Bryan tried to sober up and get his life back on track.He worked security for the Pleasant Valley School District and was attending Pennsylvania's Northampton Community College, where he received his associate’s degree in 2018 before completing his undergrad at DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2020. He graduated with a master of arts in criminal justice in June 2022 where he studied under forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and wrote a book on him.
During his master studies, Bryan made the following post on Reddit:
Hello, my name is Bryan and I am inviting you to participate in a research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.
In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.
After completing his master’s, he enrolled as a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University in August, where he also worked as a teaching assistant. But it wasn’t long before Bryan ran into some trouble. Several times, meetings were arranged with faculty members to discuss Bryan’s misogynistic attitude in the way he interacted with women and graded their papers versus their male peers. Furthermore, Bryan reportedly had gotten into many altercations with one of his professors. Days before his arrest, Bryan was eventually fired as a TA for his behaviour.