.jpg)
16 hours ago
1
Bryan Kohberger’s Fellow Inmate Details His Unusual Behavior in Jail
Bryan Kohberger's former classmates are shedding light on his possible motives for committing the brutal murders in Idaho.
Months before fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, Kohberger received a master's degree in criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania—where his fellow students say he took a particular interest in studying mass murderer Elliot Rodger.
"At DeSales University, some of the people that Bryan and I studied that were serial killers were Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Kemper and Elliot Rodger," former undergrad classmate Josh Ferraro shared on the Prime Video documentary One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, released earlier this month. "Elliot Rodger, he was a young man in college that was basically jaded and hated his life, because he lacked the attention from friends, family and, most of all, women."
At the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014, Rodger, 22, fatally stabbed his roommates at his apartment before driving to nearby sorority houses and shooting multiple college women.
"He then drove around, shot multiple other people in public, and he ended his own life in his vehicle," Ferrano explained. "But after the fact, there was a written manifesto, and he basically tells you, ‘This is what I did, this is why I did it.’"
As Rodger put it in the 130-page document, "All of those beautiful girls I’ve desired so much in my life but can never have, because they despise and loathe me, I will destroy.”
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
And according to another DeSales classmate Brittany Slaven, "Bryan was interested in a lot of things that we learned, but he did have more of an interest in Elliot Rodger."
In fact, Slaven said Kohberger did not act fazed by Rodger's crimes.
"I talked to other girls in the class, where we were all bothered by what Elliot Rodger did," she noted, "but Bryan did not seem bothered."
Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images
Based on his manifesto, Rodger has been linked to a community of men described as "incels," short for involuntarily celibate, due to their inability to attract women.
"Incel, in my professional opinion, is a particularly dangerous version of misogyny," Cortney Franklin, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Idaho, said in the documentary, "because incel communities have this presence in an online space."
As the professor explained, "Elliot Rodger was glorified and valorized and martyred among communities that were coming together in these online spaces."
And Kohberger, 30, allegedly had a history of similar problems with college women, according to police.
Gary Jenkins, the chief of police at Washington State University—where Kohberger was studying for his PhD—said in the Amazon show, "I did hear about a situation where Kohberger had followed a student out to her car, like trying to flirt with her, and she reported it to someone in the criminal justice department."
Investigators also uncovered texts between WSU professors who said that they needed to "do an intervention with Kohberger," with one teacher texting another, "Apparently he's offended several of our female students," according to documents publicly released by the Moscow Police Department July 23.
Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images
Kohberger has since pleaded guilty to killing Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at an off-campus house around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022. He has received four life sentences in prison after confessing to the horrific murders.
While Kernodle and Mogen were members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, the documentary noted that Goncalves was a member of Alpha Phi, the sorority that Rodger targeted because he believed they were the "hottest" and "the kind of girls I've always desired but was never able to have," per the BBC. (Rodger ultimately killed two women outside of the house who were from another sorority, Delta Delta Delta.)
But despite theories, Idaho investigators were not able to link Kohberger to any of the victims prior to the incident, nor could they uncover a motive for the murders, per prosecutors. He declined to speak in court during his prison sentencing.
Read on for more details on the chilling case.
Who Were Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle?
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were University of Idaho students who lived in an off-campus apartment.
On Nov. 12, 2022—the night before their bodies were found—Goncalves and Mogen were at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin were at the latter’s fraternity party. By 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, the four roommates and Chapin were back at the three-story rental house.
Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. She was expected to graduate in December before heading to Austin, Texas, for a job at a marketing firm, her friend Jordyn Quesnell told The New York Times.
Mogen, who was studying marketing, was best friends with Goncalves since the sixth grade. She had plans to move to Boise after graduation, family friend Jessie Frost shared with The Idaho Statesman.
Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing, the University said at the time. She and Chapin—who majored in recreation, sport and tourism management—had been dating since the spring, the roommates’ neighbor Ellie McKnight told NBC News.
Were There Any Survivors?
Two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, had been home at the time of the murders. In text messages that were unsealed March 6, 2025, Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates on Nov. 13 after the former saw a masked man moving through the house, according to documents obtained by E! News.
"No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. "I'm rlly confused rn."
She continued to reach out to their roommates, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??"
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call was placed after Kernodle was found unresponsive, per an additional motion obtained by E! News. A woman named A1 in the transcript described the current situation to the operator.
"One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," she said on the phone. "They saw some man in their house last night."
Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images
Who Is Bryan Kohberger and How Was He Found?
Bryan Kohberger, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Over one month after the bodies of Gonclaves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were discovered, Kohberger was taken into custody Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Penn. He was extradited to Idaho Jan. 4, 2023.
As for how authorities connected him to the killings? DNA was found on a knife sheath that was left at the crime scene, prosecutors revealed in June 2023 court documents, per NBC News.
When the DNA didn't match anyone in the FBI database, authorities ran the DNA through public ancestry websites to create a list of potential suspects, according to the filings. After learning that Kohberger had driven to his parents' home in Monroe County, local officials then went through their trash and found DNA that tied him to that found on the sheath.
Photo by Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images
What Was Kohberger’s Initial Defense?
At the moment, a motive for the attack has not been detailed and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly, NBC News reported. However, the unsealed documents provided some insight into their initial arguments.
Kohberger's attorneys argued in a motion obtained by E! News to strike the death penalty that Kohberger—who initially faced death penalty if found guilty on all counts—has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment."
His defense argued that Kohbereger "displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions."
"Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," the motion said. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability."
Ted S. Warren - Pool/Getty Images
Where Was the Trial Set?
Initially, Kohberger had a judge enter a not-guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his May 2023 arraignment. Although his trial was set to begin Oct. 2, 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023.
His trial date—which was scheduled to take place in Ada County, more than 300 miles from Latah County, where the killings took place—was set to begin Aug. 11, 2025.
Latah County Judge John Judge previously ruled in favor of the transfer request made by Kohberger's defense in September 2024 based on "presumed prejudice" if the trial remained in Latah County.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense's request to suppress key DNA and other evidence, including cell phone and email records, surveillance footage, past Amazon purchases and DNA evidence in the trial.
Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images
What Was the Verdict in the Trial?
Kohberger's murder trial was abruptly canceled after he took a plea deal from prosecutors on June 30, 2025. In accepting the deal, Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of murder and one count of burglary, as well as waive his rights to appeal and ask for a more lenient prison sentence.
He entered his guilty plea on July 2, 2025, confirming with a "yes" after the judge asked if he killed all four victims "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought."
NBC News
Did Kohberger Take a Selfie After the Murders?
A selfie Kohberger took the morning after the murders took place was introduced in March 2025. The photograph, which sees him in front of a shower showing a thumbs up, displays how he may fit the description a witness identified as "D.M." gave in filings, who said the perpetrator had "bushy eyebrows."
Steve Gonclaves, the father of victim Kaylee, later reacted to the image calling it a "trophy" in an interview with Fox and Friends.
"I know the timeline, I know that he had just returned to the crime scene and he had come back," Gonclaves said. "He had realized that nobody had called 911."
As he put it, "To him, that’s his little trophy to let him know like, ‘Hey, I got away with it, nobody’s on me.’”
Monroe County Correctional Facil/UPI/Shutterstock
What Did Kohberger Google Before the Murders?
In a 2025 Dateline documentary about the murders, a former classmate of Kohberger’s detailed a “peculiar” text she received from him after making his acquaintance at a party.
“I definitely felt a little obligated to chat with him, because to me, he seemed a little awkward,” the student—identified as Holly—explained. “Kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends.”
The following day, Holly said she received a text from him, which she described as overly formal.
“Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday,” Bryan’s text from July 10, 2022 at 1:19 p.m., read, per Dateline. “I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know. Thanks!”
Elsewhere in the Dateline documentary, Kohberger’s browsing history was found to have included searches for Ted Bundy, Britney Spears’ song “Criminal,” and the term “University of Idaho Murders.”
Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images
Did Kohberger Confess to Killing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle?
After accepting a plea deal that would spare him from the death penalty, Kohberger changed his plea to guilty in the murders of Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin, as well as one count of burglary, at a July 2, 2025 hearing in Idaho.
When judge Hippler questioned Kohberger if he killed each victim "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought," he replied with a firm, "Yes" for each.
In taking the plea deal, Kohberger has waived his right to appeal or ask for a more lenient prison sentence, according to Hippler.
Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images
How Long Is Kohberger's Prison Sentence?
Though the families of Goncalves and Kernodle each slammed the decision to issue a plea deal, therby taking the death penalty off the table, Kohberger was officially sentenced to life in prison July 23, 2025.
Judge Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four life terms—to be served consecutively—without the possibility of parole for each count of first-degree murder, along with a $50,000 fine for each count and a $5,000 civil penalty to be paid to each of the victims' families. He also gave Kohberger 10 years and imposed a fine of $50,000 on the burglary count.
English (US)