Newly released documents from the Idaho State Police reveal University of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger’s “creepy” and “unprofessional rude dealings” while at Washington State University, where he was a Ph.D. student in criminology at the time of the murders.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves last month and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison without parole.
d22000030 Isp Report – Redacted (Graphic) by kc wildmoon
Interviews with faculty and students at Washington State — about 10 miles from Moscow, Idaho, where the murders took place — reveal that at least nine complaints about Kohberger’s behavior were filed with the university.
One such complaint led to a “mandatory training class for all graduate students regarding behavior expectations.”
The interviewee “said during Kohberger’s attendance at this class he sat in the back with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling,” the police report said.
That reporter said that Kohberger came across as “lonely” in her initial interactions with him but that he gradually became more “creepy” — hanging out in the hallways outside her office and standing at her desk and staring at her or her co-worker. His increasingly “creepy” behavior prompted them to provide escorts for women to reach their cars.
Another professor said she and her colleagues discussed whether to cut Kohberger’s funding because he was “highly problematic.”
She said she told her colleagues that Kohberger, who reportedly wanted to be professor himself, would be “the guy that in that many years when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing of his, I thought it would be his, you know, his students at wherever university he ended.”
The faculty was divided on whether to end Kohberger’s funding.
But other students and staffers told detectives multiple stories about his behavior — primarily to women students and staff.
One WSU graduate student told detectives about the time Kohberger “blocked her exit” when she tried to leave a discussion after class. This student also said that Kohberger’s demeanor changed after the November 13, 2022, murders — he appeared more disheveled and stopped bringing his phone to class, instead appearing with a laptop.
Another classmate reported similar interactions with Kohberger “spatially trapping” them in student offices.
Another staff member at Washington State, interviewed in the presence of the Washington State assistant attorney general, told investigators that she had received 13 “reports” about Kohberger regarding “concerns about his behavior.”
Another staff member said she had begun receiving complaints about Kohberger in August 2022 and that they concerned his interactions with fellow students and professors. She said Kohberger appeared “socially awkward” but that the complaints concerned how he “spoke to other staff and students, his staing of outspoken discriminatory comments which were homophobic, ableist, xenophobic, and misogynist in nature.”
“He would also stare at people and stand uncomfortably close or ‘lean’ over women, making them very uncomfortable,” the report said.
The 556 pages of documentation released by Idaho State Police reveal a meticulous investigation with multple interviews, follow ups on tips, and even other suspects and persons of interest.
But now a court has temporarily blocked any further release of documents relating to the bedrooms of the victims of the murders, KTVB reported. The restraining order, issued August 15, blocks the city of Moscow from releasing images, audio, or video about the inside of victim Madison Mogen’s bedroom in response to a petition from her mother, Karen Laramie.
Moscow officials said they would refrain from releasing such information about all the victims’ bedrooms until the court fully reviews the issue.
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[Featured image: Bryan Kohberger/Idaho Department of Corrections]
