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Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How Bryan Kohberger almost got away with the perfect crime
Bryan Kohberger came within a whisker of pulling off the 'perfect crime' and getting away with the murders of four young students. Robin Dreeke, former Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, told Daily Mail that Kohberger, 30, would have gotten away with the 2022 stabbings in Moscow, Idaho, had he not forgotten to wipe his DNA from a knife sheath. And Dreeke offered a fascinating insight into why he thinks Kohberger made the mistake: the notorious murders he wished to emulate all pre-dated DNA technology. Koherger, who admitted killing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernoble and Ethan Chapin at a plea deal hearing in Boise Wednesday, planned and executed most of the bloodbath with the terrifying precision and coldness, Dreeke said. But he slipped up because he had a 'dated' perception of the 'forensic capabilities of investigators,' Dreeke believes. 'He simply didn't know about the potential of touch DNA being on that sheath and the law enforcement folks being able to extract it,' Dreeke told Daily Mail. 'Also, he may not have been aware that his father was in the database that outed him. 'Those were the critical errors.' Kohberger was a criminology student at the University of Washington who searched for notorious killer Ted Bundy online. Bundy killed at least 20 women and girls between 1974 and 1978 and was caught thanks to a lucky break and rudimentary forensic testing on hairs found in his Volkswagen Beetle. Dreeke said that in other respects, Kohberger was the perfect killing machine and offered a bloodcurdling motive for the slaughter. 'He's a psychopath,' Dreeke explained, noting that he is not a clinical psychologist so he cannot formally diagnose Kohberger - but reiterated that the killer fits the profile. Psychopathy is a complex personality disorder marked by several traits, most notably lack of empathy and poor behavioral controls. 'Kohberger has zero empathy. He's devoid of emotion,' he said. 'People ask if he is guilty - do I think he did it? Yes. But guilt is an emotion. 'He does not have emotions.' 'People think too hard about what he's thinking. They were analyzing his court appearance saying he was trying to control his emotions. There's nothing to control. He doesn't have emotions. 'He's cold-blooded killer looking for a rush.' He believes that Kohberger would '100 per cent' kill again had he not been arrested over the slayings because of the emotional response that murder provides him. Although Dreeke only has his 'theory and conjecture', the criminal behavior expert believes Kohberger's decision to kill Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernoble and Ethan Chapin had little to do with them. 'I think it had nothing to do with the girls. It was all about him,' he said of the five women living in the off-campus house in Moscow, northern Idaho. 'Kohberger studied how to do this for a long time. He was OCD in his methodology and I think he set out to commit the perfect crime.' Dreeke believes he targeted the home because it was in a location that he perceived as safe. The shared residence was a 'high traffic home' that allowed him to hide in 'plain sight' and go 'undetected'. 'He did precisely what you should do if you studied this, but you haven't done it before,' he added. The former FBI agents says it his possible Kohberger would still be at large today had he not left DNA on the knife sheath found at the crime scene. Investigators linked Kohberger to the killings after collecting DNA samples from the garbage outside his parents' Pennsylvania home. They determined DNA left on a Q-Tip at the residence belonged to the father of the person whose DNA was found on the sheath. Dreeke notes that investigators may have 'eventually' tied Kohberger to the case after looking into his car - which was seen in Moscow the night of the killings and 23 times prior - but that scenario is 'much less probable'. Regardless, the former FBI agent is confident that had he not been caught, Kohberger would have continued to kill. 'Why wouldn't he? He didn't kill out of vengeance toward the students. He killed for himself... and liked it!' Dreeke told Daily Mail. He believes the murderer would have learned from the Idaho kill, studying what he did correctly and his mistakes, and would do it again. Dreeker further believes Kohberger would've chosen a similar environment - a shared home or 'vulnerable location where he could move in and out unobserved' - for his next kill. 'He would use a knife to again because it worked,' he added. 'Killing someone with a knife is personal, up close and causes an emotional response. Kohberger was looking for an emotional response 'Serial killers often take trophies - a memory, an imprint of the fantasy they tried to live out. In this case, his selfie was the only trophy. That's not a lot to remember it by, so he most certainly would've done it again.' Kohberger on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the quadruple stabbing of Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin in November 2022. The controversial plea bargain spared him the death penalty and will instead see him serve four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. The deal also included a clause that Kohberger cannot ever appeal his conviction. He will be sentenced later this month and will have the chance to speak. But Kohberger will not be forced to address the court, meaning his true motive may never be known. Lead prosecutor Bill Thompson laid out his key evidence Wednesday at Kohberger's plea hearing. The evidentiary summary spun a dramatic tale that included a DNA-laden Q-tip plucked from the garbage in the dead of the night, a getaway car stripped so clean of evidence that it was 'essentially disassembled inside' and a fateful early-morning Door Dash order that may have put one of the victims in Kohberger's path. These details offered new insights into how the crime unfolded on Nov. 13, 2022, and how investigators ultimately solved the case using surveillance footage, cell phone tracking and DNA matching. But the synopsis leaves hanging key questions that could have been answered at trial - including a motive for the stabbings and why Kohberger picked that house, and those victims, all apparent strangers to him. Kohberger, now 30, had begun a doctoral degree in criminal justice at nearby Washington State University - across the state line from Moscow, Idaho - months before the crimes. 'The defendant has studied crime,' Thompson told the court. 'In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his PhD, and he had that knowledge skillset.' Kohberger's cell phone began connecting with cell towers in the area of the crime more than four months before the stabbings, Thompson said, and pinged on those towers 23 times between the hours of 10pm and 4am in that time period. A compilation of surveillance videos from neighbors and businesses also placed Kohberger's vehicle - known to investigators because of a routine traffic stop by police in August - in the area. On the night of the killings, Kohberger parked behind the house and entered through a sliding door to the kitchen at the back of the house shortly after 4am. He then moved to the third floor, where Mogen and Goncalves were sleeping and stabbed them both the death. Kohberger left a knife sheath next to Mogen's body. Both victims' blood was later found on the sheath, along with DNA from a single male that ultimately helped investigators pinpoint Kohberger as the only suspect. On the floor below, Kernodle was still awake. As Kohberger was leaving the house, he crossed paths with her and killed her with a large knife. He then killed Chapin - Kernodle's boyfriend, who had been sleeping in her bedroom. Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, survived unharmed. Mortensen was expected to testify at trial that sometime before 4.19am she saw an intruder there with 'bushy eyebrows,' wearing black clothing and a ski mask. Roughly five minutes later, Kohbeger's car could be seen on a neighbor's surveillance camera speeding away so fast 'the car almost loses control as it makes the corner,' Thompson said. After Kohberger fled the scene, his cover-up was elaborate. But methodical police work ultimately caught up with him, with Kohberger now one of the world's most notorious mass-murderers.
CNN
02-07-2025
- CNN
Father of Idaho student killed speaks out after Bryan Kohberger admits to killings
Steve Goncalves, father of the murdered University of Idaho college student Kaylee Goncalves, spoke out after Bryan Kohberger admitted to killing the students in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
CNN
02-07-2025
- CNN
Father of Idaho student killed speaks out after Bryan Kohberger admits to killings
Steve Goncalves, father of the murdered University of Idaho college student Kaylee Goncalves, spoke out after Bryan Kohberger admitted to killing the students in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘They know the community up here is with them,' former neighbors of Chapin family react to plea deal
The story of the 4 college students killed in Moscow, Idaho, hits home in Western Washington. Ethan Chapin, one of the students killed, grew up in Skagit County before attending the University of Idaho. The Chapin family did move away from the area several years ago, but that doesn't mean people have forgotten who the family was prior to the tragedy. 'I just remember those 3 little triplets running around in their yard up there,' Lisa Anderson, a former neighbor of the Chapins, said. Anderson says she also remembers seeing the Chapin triplets getting on and off the school bus. She of course isn't the only former neighbor KIRO7 spoke with that had nothing but nice things to say about Chapin family and Ethan. 'And they are an excellent family. They were all hard working, the kids,' Bonnie Thompson, another previous neighbor, said. Thompson says what happened to Ethan nearly three years ago still weighs incredibly heavy not only for her neighborhood, but really all of Mount Vernon and Skagit County. 'It's a very sad thing that's happened to a good family,' Thompson said. Many people in the county both on and off the record shared some strong feelings about the plea deal reached with suspected murderer Bryan Kohberger. Some hope the plea deal will help give the family closure, while others feel it isn't enough. 'No, I don't agree with that at all. He killed all of those kids,' Anderson said. Although there are mixed reactions about this plea deal, those who know and remember the Chapin family tell KIRO7 they will always have their backs. 'They know the community up here is with them,' Thompson said. 'And the whole neighborhood will always remember those kids,' Anderson said. KIRO7 has reached out to the Chapin family for comment about the plea deal and is still waiting for a response.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE She was supposed to be in Idaho murders house that awful night...until bizarre twist of fate saved her
A woman who lived in the infamous Idaho murders house was likely saved from being slaughtered alongside four of her friends by a hurricane. Ashlin Couch was the sixth roommate on the lease at 1122 King Road in Moscow. She had been due to be there in the early hours of November 13 2022, when Kaylee Goncalves, Madison 'Maddie' Mogen, Xana Kernole and Ethan Chapin were all brutally-slaughtered. Those plans were derailed because Couch's mother Angela Navejas, of Coeur D'Alene in Idaho, had been trapped in Florida by Hurricane Nicole. That meant Couch had to stay home to care for the dogs. She ended up missing a big campus football game that was a huge social event. Had she attended, she'd almost certainly have been sharing a bed with close friend Mogen, who met a terrible end as she slept, with suspect Bryan Kohberger soon to stand trial for the murders. 'Ashlin was supposed to be there that night,' her mom Angela Navejas tells 'You know college girls - they'd just stay together half the time… they'd split like a twin bed or something. They'd go out for the night, they'd eat their little snacks and then go to sleep,' she says. 'Ashlin would stay with Maddie in Maddie's room with her. And she was supposed to be there [that night].' The friends attended school together but grew even closer after deciding to study at the University of Idaho and joining its Pi Beta Phi sorority. Najevas explained: 'They shared a very small room together, and they just bonded,' Navejas says. 'It was like an instant friendship, and after that, they were inseparable. They did yoga together, they studied together, they would walk to class together… that was Ashlin's person, her best friend.' Couch also became good friends with Goncalves and Kernodle and, through her daughter, Navejas grew close to the young women too. She remembers they would often all come to stay at her family home in Coeur D'Alene when they wanted a few days away from the college town. In 2021, Couch and Mogen signed the lease for the three-story house at 1122 King Road with four other friends and moved in together. But Couch ended up graduating early and moved out in the summer of 2022, with Kernodle taking over her room. It was around this time that two other roommates called Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke also moved in. Both were at home the night of the murders but survived. Despite moving home to Coeur D'Alene, Couch would often return to Moscow to spend weekends with her friends. On November 13, 2022 - the morning after the big game - Couch started getting messages from friends that something bad had taken place through the night at 1122 King Road. Soon, the horrifying details emerged: Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin had been stabbed to death inside the home. Mogen and Goncalves were both found dead in Mogen's bed in her room on the third floor - a room that Couch could also have been staying in. Navejas remembers her daughter 'froze' when she learned her friends had been murdered. 'She just laid in bed and just cried and cried and wouldn't stop crying,' she says. Bryan Kohberger goes on trial this August charged with the murders of the four students To this day, Couch doesn't talk about how that night could have turned out very differently had her plans not changed and isn't ready to share her story herself. 'To be honest, she doesn't think about [the fact she could have been there] and she doesn't talk about it… She's grieving in a different way,' Navejas says. But, as her mom, Navejas often thinks about how close her daughter could have come to meeting a terrible end. 'I honestly didn't even think about it when it happened. I think all I could think about was the girls, because they were like daughters to me. It wasn't just a tragedy that happened, we lost a part of our family,' she says. 'But as the years have gone by, I do think about that. And sometimes I feel guilty thinking about that because I still have my daughter and their families don't.' Couch has since moved away from the area for a new start. 'It was her and Maddie's plan to move to San Diego together,' her mom says. 'So she decided to move to San Diego because she wanted to live her dreams for her best friend.' Following the murders, the mom and daughter also launched the Made With Kindness Foundation in memory of their friends. Kaitlyn Widmyer, creative director of the foundation who employed Mogen at her fashion business, tells that the non-profit is about 'honoring their womanhood and their coming of age tale that they deserve to be safe and graduate college.' As well as honoring Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle, the organization focuses on protecting young women and promoting safety for women on college campuses. The foundation also runs scholarship programs and four signature events: the Make It Pink Gala, Maddie May Day, Kaylee Jade Day and XanaPalooza. The gala is being held June 13 on Lake Coeur d'Alene.
