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USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Why did Bryan Kohberger kill? Experts weigh in on mysterious Idaho killings
As temperatures dipped below zero degrees less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, six college students were cozy in their bedrooms, resting up before the week's classes at the University of Idaho. Creeping through the night, armed with a knife, Bryan Kohberger stalked them like helpless prey. Kohberger moved through the house almost silently. He started the killing on the third floor with 21-year-old best friends and roommates Madison Morgan and Kaylee Goncalves. Then he came across 20-year-old Xana Kernodle on a stairway and killed her. Then he went into her bedroom, finding and killing her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. He left two others in the house alive. Since the moment the families of the young victims learned about their seemingly random murders, their biggest question was why. As Kohberger's sentencing approaches this week, USA TODAY is looking at the case and what could have possibly led a 28-year grad student with so much potential to butcher four people on one terrible night. Nearly three years after the killings and a few weeks following a plea agreement that Kohberger reached with prosecutors, the families are still asking that same question. Kohberger's plea agreement – like most – doesn't require him to explain his actions. But experts interviewed by USA TODAY agree that we can conclude a lot about Kohberger's motives based on the evidence and his history: He was bullied, he felt rage toward women, he fantasized about violence and ultimately, wanted power more than anything, they say. "A lot of killers feel powerless their whole lives and that's why killers become serial killers. Because for the first time they feel like an all-powerful god," said Rachel Toles, a clinical psychologist and criminal expert based in Greenville, South Carolina. "He wanted to feel powerful for once in his life." What happened the night of Nov. 13, 2022? Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin were found stabbed to death on Nov. 13, 2022, in a rental house in the quiet city of Moscow, Idaho, near the University of Idaho campus. DNA evidence, cell phone records and surveillance footage tied Kohberger to the stabbings, prosecutors said. Why did Bryan Kohberger become a killer? Kohberger's past tells us a lot about his motivations, experts say. During his childhood, he was isolated and bullied and eventually became addicted to heroin and struggled with his weight. At some point he was able to kick the heroin habit, lose weight and get lean, according to the 2025 book, "The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy." "He grew up kind of bullied, kind of ostracized and he decided to change his life ... and I think he started viewing himself as a possessor of power. Before he was someone without power and now he possesses it," said John Delatorre, a psychologist based in San Antonio, Texas, who works on criminal cases. Ultimately, "he viewed himself as someone who could take what he wanted whenever he wanted," Delatorre said. "I think what interested him was the idea that you could legitimately hold someone's life in your hands and take it away whenever you choose to do so." Toles added: "He probably also wanted revenge on a world that made him feel unwanted." Kohberger's past addiction, weight gain and loss, Toles said, also show that he "clearly felt empty his whole life" and may have been attracted to studying criminology at the University of Washington because it "gave him a language for his alienation." Kohberger seemed particularly interested in three killers: Ted Bundy, the BTK Killer and Elliot Rodger. Through them, he identified with a narrative arc that "rejection moves to resentment moves to obsession moves to control moves to violence moves to infamy," Toles said. "It's a storyline he could place himself in and one that made him feel more powerful instead of invisible," she said, adding that Kohberger may have thought: "Maybe I'm not a problem. Maybe I'm like them. Maybe I'm a predator." Kohberger likely felt the urge to kill for years, Delatorre said, relying on fantasies and stalking before he ultimately acted on it. "The idea of taking someone's life with a knife was probably something he was think about for quite some time, it just required a target," he said. "People don't snap. People brew, they fester. The negative emotionality is over a long period of time to get them to a breaking point to act out." What is happening with the case? Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty to the killings earlier this month after accepting a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid the death penalty and instead face four consecutive life sentences. The agreement also means he'll avoid a lengthy and highly publicized trial. He's scheduled to be officially sentenced on Wednesday, July 23. The families of the victims will be allowed to address the court at that time to talk about the impact of the crime and who their loved ones were. What have the victims' families said? Many of the victim family members were surprised by and upset with the plea agreement. "This is anything but justice," Steve Goncalves, the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told NewsNation's "Banfield." "We had an outsider come to our community, kill our kids in their sleep while they're getting a college education, doing everything that they should do, and we don't have the courage to hold him accountable," he said. Some family members felt the plea agreement was a good thing and avoided the pain of a trial and prolonged legal process. Kernodle's mother, Cara Northington, told Fox News: 'The death penalty would give him the opportunity to appeal and drag this horror story out for the rest of our lives." Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
6 days ago
New book on University of Idaho murders sheds light on Bryan Kohberger's potential motive
A new book on the University of Idaho murders attempts to lift the veil of secrecy that's shrouded the case, revealing what those closest to the students believe was the motive behind admitted killer Bryan Kohberger 's brutal crime. Bestselling author James Patterson and investigative reporter Vicky Ward teamed up for a new book released on Monday, "The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy." The book not only poses a potential motive, but also sheds light on Kohberger's life before the killings and follows multiple points of view of the timeline of the crime that sent shockwaves through Moscow and skyrocketed to national attention. "For people who have followed this story, we wanted to give them closure," Patterson told ABC News. Roommates Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle's boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were all stabbed to death at the girls' off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Patterson and Ward conducted over 300 interviews with people who have ties to the case, including family and friends who believe Mogen was the target. "There was consensus that it was Maddie that Kohberger was going for. And the victims' families, I think, would all agree with that," Ward said. Moscow police allege Kohberger's cellphone records show his phone appeared to be close to the victims' house on at least 12 occasions between August and the night of the murders -- almost always late at night. The book described what it calls a "recurring nightmare" the victims' friend Emily Alandt had after the murders. Alandt said she imagined that the now-admitted killer went to the restaurant where Mogen worked, expressed romantic interest in her and was rejected, prompting him to retaliate. "When [the friends] are told that the guy who murdered their friends is this guy, Bryan Kohberger, they don't recognize his photo. They can't put it together," Ward said. "That's when Emily said the only explanation that she and [her boyfriend Hunter Johnson] could come up with is the story that we tell, as the story of her dream that Bryan Kohberger targeted Maddie. And that she doesn't know the exact details, but that's her best guess." Prosecutors said Mogen was the first of the four killed. A knife sheath with Kohberger's DNA was found under her body, officials said. The book also delves into Kohberger's life as a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the killings. "Kohberger, the criminologist, had such training for this, and he almost committed the perfect crime," Patterson said. "Had he not left the knife sheath, he probably wouldn't have got caught." In the wake of the shocking crime, as police searched for a suspect, one of the key sources of information was a surviving roommate, Dylan, who told friends, including Alandt, what she saw the night of the murders. "It was really through Emily that we learned of what, sort of, [roommate] Dylan had gone through," Ward said. "It sounded so surreal to them all, because she said he had a black mask and he looked like he was carrying a black vacuum. And they're sitting there thinking, 'Who could this be?' And, 'What on earth has happened?'" Kohberger was arrested nearly seven weeks after the murders. After maintaining his innocence for more than two years, on July 2, Kohberger admitted to the quadruple killings in court and pleaded guilty to all counts. He'll be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count. Now, as the families prepare for next week's sentencing hearing on July 23, Patterson and Ward are hoping to give readers a true sense of the four victims. "You will meet Ethan and Kaylee and Maddie and Xana," Patterson said. "You will meet them and you will feel them as human beings." "I spoke to Stacey Chapin, Ethan's mom. And she did say, which was wonderful to hear, that she's so glad that this book exists, because it means that they're not forgotten," Ward said. "It is a tribute to them and their lives."
New York Post
03-07-2025
- New York Post
Why Bryan Kohberger committed the Idaho college murders — and the eerie similarities to an incel mass killer
Vicky Ward has investigated the dark, intricate Bryan Kohberger case since his arrest in December 2023. She conducted over 300 interviews in Idaho, Washington State, and the Poconos in Pennsylvania, where he grew up, for her new book with James Patterson, 'The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy,' to be published by Little, Brown on July 14. Here she previews the clearest profile yet of the twisted quadruple killer and his motives: There were two words Bryan Kohberger repeated calmly and coolly in the Ada County courthouse in Boise on Tuesday. They were 'yes' – he understood what he was admitting to – and 'guilty,' of five counts, including four murders and burglary. Advertisement Tantalizingly, Kohberger offered no explanation of what had driven him to stalk a house at 1122 King Road in Moscow and murder four University of Idaho murder students: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in their bedrooms. 14 Bryan Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty to killing four University of Idaho students in their Moscow home while they slept in November 2022. AP I report in 'The Idaho Four' that the people closest to the victims believe, for all sorts of reasons, he targeted just one, Maddie Mogen. It was her room he went straight to. And it's her room you could see from the road if you parked your car at the cul-de-sac behind the King Road house, which the police believe he did multiple times. And Kohberger's actions before the murders bear eerily striking resemblances to another rampage killer, Elliot Rodger. Advertisement Rodger inspired the incel world Kohberger was deeply immersed in by the time he got to Washington State University to do his PhD in Criminal Justice. Incels, for the uninitiated, are members of a 'movement' of frustrated men, all virgins, that sprang up on 4chan in 2014 just hours after Elliot Rodger, a privileged student at Santa Barbara City College, committed mass murder and then suicide. The idea of the movement, started in Rodger's honor, is that one day the incels will succeed in their 'Beta Revolution' and overthrow women. Advertisement When Rodger lost his only childhood male friend – and after a female friend called 'Maddy' had started ignoring him – he was triggered and began to plan the diabolical end. 14 Madison Mogen was one of the students who were killed. Instagram / @maddiemogen 14 Madison Mogen is seen above with Xana Kernodle, who was also killed of 'The Idaho Four.' maddiemogen/Instagram 14 This is known to be the last picture of Kaylee Goncalves (bottom), 21, and Madison Mogen (top) before they were brutally murdered, according to reports. Instagram / @kayleegoncalves Advertisement 14 Xana Kernodle, along with her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were both murdered in Idaho. Xena Kernodle/Instagram He intended his final act to be so performative that it would catapult him to global fame. The last words he wrote in his journal were 'Finally, I can show the world my true worth.' Here's some of what Elliot Rodger had to say about his Maddy in 'My Twisted World,' his 137-page manifesto: 'The first real friend I made in the United States was a girl named Maddy Humphreys… Maddy would eventually come to represent everything I hate and despise; everything that is against me; and everything that I am against. 'I stalked her Facebook for a bit, and I saw that she was the exact image of everything I hated in women. She was a popular, spoiled USC girl who partied with her hot, beautiful blonde-haired clique of friends … my hatred for them all grew from each picture I saw on her profile… 14 Some believe that Kohberger's actions before the murders bear eerily striking resemblances to another rampage killer, Elliot Rodger (seen above). AP 'They represented everything that was wrong with this world … I would take great delight in torturing and flaying her and every single one of her spoiled, obnoxious, evil friends.' Is it just a coincidence that Maddie Mogen was also a beautiful blonde sorority sister? Bryan Kohberger, of course, had long exhibited many incel characteristics. His father, Michael Kohberger, recently told a former neighbor, Connie Saba, that Bryan 'wasn't the same person after the drugs.' Advertisement 14 Karen and Scott Laramie, the mother and stepfather of Madison Mogen, listen as their attorney Leander James makes a statement to members of the media outside the Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. AP 14 Ben Mogen, father of victim Madison Mogen is outside the courtroom where Kohberger plead to killing four Idaho college students. REUTERS Both Bryan and Connie's son, Jeremy Saba, a popular, athletic kid whom the young loner Bryan hero-worshipped, had become a heroin addict. Both had gone to rehab. But Jeremy had died in March 2021 of an overdose. That was the year before Bryan moved to Washington State. And nine months before, he bought a Ka-bar knife on Amazon. Advertisement Bryan's first turn to the dark side was in his mid-teens, when he stole from Connie to pay for his heroin habit. Actually, it was worse than that. He phoned her up when Jeremy had been arrested for the first time for a DUI and drug possession. 'I'd like to go visit Jeremy in jail; when are you going?' he asked her. She told him the time and was surprised when he didn't show up. But when she got home and discovered that someone had broken into her house and stolen her iPad, she was less surprised. She knew who the culprit was. Advertisement A year or so later, he showed up, suddenly, in her kitchen to admit to stealing from her, and she understood immediately what was going on. He was in rehab. Atonement is a key part of the process. It seemed as if he had made a full recovery from addiction. But appearances can be deceptive. The interviews I did revealed that no one person had full visibility into Kohberger during his years getting bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology. His fellow students at De Sales University referred to him as The Ghost because he'd show just before class started, coffee cup in hand, and vanish immediately after, muttering about all the jobs he was working. Advertisement They knew nothing about him, other than he was intense and had a strangeness to him. His eyes looked as if they were 'bugging out,' one classmate said. He was obviously on the Autism Spectrum. Students who hung at the Seven Sirens brewing company in the nearby town of Bethlehem saw a very different side of him. He was a nuisance, especially to women. I met a recent De Sales graduate who told me Kohberger had come and sat down with him and his girlfriend, uninvited, said nothing, and then followed the girlfriend around all night. 14 Kohberger has been held in maximum security at Ada County Jail in Boise since the trial was moved to the state capital. AP 14 A makeshift memorial for the four Idaho students was set up in front of their home. Kai Eiselein It was creepy. Kohberger did this sort of thing often. The bar's owner, Jordan Seruleck, told him to leave and not come back. But Kohberger, as Connie Saba, knew firsthand, was manipulative. He took his last year of his master's remotely because of COVID-19. Via Zoom, he impressed one of the professors, Michele Bolger, who recommended him as a PhD student. When Kohberger got to Washington State University, for the first time, people got a glimpse into a mind that was full-blown misogynistic. In class, he interrupted the women students, mansplained, eye-rolled them, winking at the guys as if they must be in on his joke. 14 Blood oozes out of the side of an off-campus home where the four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death on November 30, 2022. James Keivom And in the classes he taught, there were also problems. One time, he followed a female student out the door to her car. Other women complained he was discriminating against them, grading them worse than the men. The WSU administration noticed and the school began to issue him warnings about his teaching position, which was funding his time there. It began to look fragile… Finally, one evening, when Ben Roberts, a classmate, reluctantly accepted a ride from Kohberger, the guy laid out what he really felt. Here's the latest coverage on Bryan Kohberger: He told Roberts in a conversation that went on for hours that women belonged in the kitchen and bedroom. Not the classroom. AND he told Robert, they were easy. He could walk into any social gathering and have any of them he wanted sexually. Roberts told me he just wanted this conversation to stop. Kohberger had studied Elliot Rodger long before that tirade. When he was a psychology student at De Sales University, he was part of a course about serial killers taught by leading criminologist Dr Katherine Ramsland. 14 Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to the heinous on July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. AP And, like Kohberger — who lived in Pullman in Washington State, but drove ten minutes to Moscow, Idaho, where the campus of the University of Idaho was more buzzy — Rodger also went back and forth between two college towns. As he wrote in his manifesto: 'In all the times I went out by myself to Isla Vista, none of the beautiful blonde girls showed any interest in having sex with me. 'For a while, I had been deciding on whether I would exact my retribution in Isla Vista or at Santa Barbara City College.' 14 'The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy' is written by James Patterson. When Kohberger was arrested, the police took a book from him with underlinings on page 118. 'Do you think it was Elliot Rodger's manifesto?' Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's dad, asked me the other night. Steve has read my book. Of course, I don't know for sure. But you do have to wonder. On that page, Rodger wrote of how he came to select the date of his 'day of retribution.' 14 The four University of Idaho students who were found dead in off-campus housing are Madison Mogen, 21, top left, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, bottom left, Ethan Chapin, 20, center, and Xana Kernodle, 20, right. After ruling out Halloween because of the heavy law enforcement presence, he decided it 'would have to be on a normal party weekend, so I set it for some time during November.' Elliot Rodger got what he wanted – infamy – from his horrendous acts. It's an awful irony and striking parallel – that now that he's pleaded guilty, so too has Bryan Kohberger.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
'So Freaked Out': Inside Texts Sent by Friends of Idaho Victims as Horror of Murders Dawned on Them
One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, a new Prime Video docuseries premiering July 11, and a book debuting on July 14, The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy, by James Patterson and Vicky Ward, shed new light on the shocking 2022 Idaho murders In a surprise move, on Monday, June 30, Bryan Kohberger, 30, asked to plead guilty to the murders to avoid the death penalty University of Idaho student Hunter Johnson, who found the bodies of Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, and girlfriend, Emily Alandt, are speaking out for the first time since the shocking 2022 murders in this week's issue of PEOPLEAfter a carefree Saturday night out in the lively college town of Moscow, Idaho, the residents of 1122 King Road returned to their off-campus rental home to debrief on the night. University of Idaho seniors Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21, spent most of the night of Nov. 12, 2022, at The Corner Club, a popular hangout downtown, stopping afterward at a food truck before getting a ride home from a designated driver. Juniors Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, both 20, hung out at his fraternity, Sigma Chi, with his triplet brother, Hunter Chapin, until about 2:15 a.m., when they walked across the street and back to Xana's house. Housemate Dylan Mortensen could hear her friends talking through the walls of her room, which was next to the living room, according to a new book debuting July 14, The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy, by James Patterson and Vicky Ward. Shortly after, everyone headed to their rooms when Dylan thought she heard someone say in a terror-tinged voice, 'There's someone here.' Those three chilling words marked the start of a nightmare — the brutal stabbing of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan in one of the most heinous crimes ever on a college campus. Related: Best Friends of University of Idaho Murder Victims Speak Out: What We Saw (Exclusive) New details about what happened inside that house are revealed in the explosive book, as well as in a new Prime Video docuseries premiering July 11, One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, and in PEOPLE's exclusive cover story this week. Based on hundreds of interviews, the book goes in-depth into the lives of the promising young victims and what happened inside that house when an assailant crept in and left the mark of evil behind. When Bethany heard someone say someone was in the house, she peeked out of her room, didn't see anything and went back to later, when she thought she heard someone crying, she cracked open the door and heard a man say, 'It's okay. I'm going to help you,' followed by a thud and then barking from Kaylee's dog, Murphy. When Dylan opened the door again, she thought she saw a man in the hallway dressed in black and wearing a mask. She thought he was a firefighter because of the way he was dressed and because it looked like he was holding a firefighting tool in his hand. Related: Frantic Texts Went Unanswered — Then Friends of the Idaho Murder Victims Found the Unthinkable: Inside a Night of Horror At one point, he looked her straight in the eyes – but kept walking. Panicked, she called Bethany Funke, the housemate whose room was on the ground floor, telling her what she saw, before trying the three other housemates, who didn't answer any of her calls or texts. Bethany tried to make sense of the situation, texting Dylan that the figure she saw could have been Xana, who was wearing all black. 'No it's like a ski mask almost,' Dylan clarified. 'Like he had soemtbing (sic) over is for head (sic) and little nd (sic) mouth.' 'Bethant (sic) I'm not kidding o (sic) am so freaked out,' she wrote, with Bethany replying, 'So am I.'At Bethany's urging, Dylan ran down to her room, where the two huddled together in fear, not knowing what was going on in their house. In Dec. 2022, Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the quadruple homicides. With a not guilty plea entered on his behalf, his trial was set to begin in August. In a surprise move, on Monday, June 30, the former graduate student, 30, asked to plead guilty to the murders to avoid the death penalty, according to a letter prosecutors sent to victims' family members, The New York Times reports. Related: Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of 4 Idaho College Students, Sparing Him Death Penalty Under the proposed plea deal, if approved by the judge, he would be sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison. The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy by James Patterson and Vicky Ward is on shelves July 14 and available now for preorder, wherever books are sold. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bryan Kohberger's defense team seeks to postpone Idaho murder trial
The Brief Bryan Kohberger's defense team has filed a motion to indefinitely postpone his murder trial, currently set for Aug. 11. The defense argues that a recent "Dateline" episode and an upcoming book have created prejudicial publicity through leaked, non-public information. The judge has already initiated an investigation into how "Dateline" obtained its material. BOISE, Idaho - Bryan Kohberger, accused in the killings of four University of Idaho students, is seeking an indefinite postponement of his trial date. His defense team filed a 40-page "motion to continue" Monday, citing a recent NBC Dateline program that they claim showcased "materials... to promote a narrative of guilt." The backstory Kohberger is charged in the deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Opening arguments in the trial are currently scheduled for Aug. 11. The defense motion argues that rescheduling the trial will "mitigate the prejudicial effects" of negative publicity following the May 9 Dateline program. The report featured data allegedly found on Kohberger's cell phone, including searches about serial killers and images of college-aged women in bikinis. What they're saying The defense stated in the motion that the Dateline program "includes details and materials, including video footage, cell phone records, and photographs of documents, that are not publicly available through official channels. The show repeatedly emphasizes the nonpublic nature of this information, stating it was obtained from unnamed sources who are close to the investigation, and that the materials were obtained exclusively by Dateline. Much of the "investigative" material presented by Dateline was taken out of context and will not be admissible at trial because it lacks reliability." Latah County District Judge John Judge has already called for a separate investigation into how Dateline obtained the material. Dig deeper The motion also referenced a forthcoming book by author James Patterson, "The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy," scheduled for release on July 14. The defense states the book's description of Kohberger as a "brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel," and the publisher's boast of "unmatched access" to the investigation, including interviews with "local law enforcement," further demonstrates the need for a delay. "This suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this Court's non-dissemination order," the defense wrote in the motion. "The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. A continuance is necessary to fully investigate the leaks and to mitigate the prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity occurring so close to the current trial date." The Source Information in this story came from Ada County Court and various court filings. Tacoma cold case investigation yields no new evidence in Teekah Lewis case 17 arrested in Kent, WA during ICE raid Washingtonians will need state permit to buy guns under new law Activist marks 2 weeks in tree to protest logging near Port Angeles Rescue underway after boat sinks in Possession Sound near Everett, WA Murder, arson charges for suspect in Gig Harbor, WA house fire To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
