Latest news with #serialkillers
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
The Serial Killer Expert Who Taught the Idaho Killer Shares Her Story
The news first came in a phone call. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, one of the nation's most prominent experts on serial killers, got word from a colleague that her former student had been arrested in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. It left her completely stunned, she said. And then she doubted it could possibly be true. 'I thought, 'They have to have this wrong,'' Dr. Ramsland said in an interview. 'This has to be wrong. It's not the Bryan Kohberger that I know.' At DeSales University, where Mr. Kohberger got a master's degree in criminal justice in 2022, Dr. Ramsland is a professor of forensic psychology who has written extensively about high-profile murderers, including an examination of the serial killer known as B.T.K. Her books include 'The Mind of a Murderer' and 'How to Catch a Killer.' Over the years, Dr. Ramsland said, she has always kept aware of the prospect that people might take her courses and learn the methods of serial killers in order to build on their own nefarious ideas. But she said in her time with Mr. Kohberger, she never had that concern. 'He was very polite, respectful, seemed genuinely engaged with the material as a potential researcher, teacher, somebody who was interested in a career,' she said. After Mr. Kohberger's arrest in December 2022, weeks after the murders in Moscow, Idaho, she expected he would clear his name. But then she found it odd that Mr. Kohberger was not offering an alibi. When one finally did emerge, more than a year after the case began, Mr. Kohberger said that he had been out driving around on the night of the killings. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bryan Kohberger's professor fears she 'inspired' murders
A professor who taught accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger criminology in college and took him inside the mind of serial killers fears she may have inspired him and is offering to study his 'dark side'. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who has long been an expert in the field of serial killers and once wrote a book with the BTK strangler, taught four different undergraduate and graduate courses to Kohberger at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. Kohberger is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday when he's likely to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison and no death penalty as part of a plea deal that has sparked outrage from victims' families. Ramsland (pictured) - who called Kohberger 'a promising student who could have made a mark' on the field of forensic psychology - initially refused to believe he could be capable of killing, even after his arrest. But as she investigated the case more, Ramsland began to believe Kohberger may be responsible and was forced to ask herself a tough question. 'I have to look at the framework of what I taught and wonder: Did I inspire him?' she told NewsNation Tuesday night. Ramsland continues her studies and teachings, but accepts how her courses may influence students, explaining 'unfortunately, in this field, that's what we live with.' She admits that given her research into the minds of the most vile of people, she knows a rare few of her students may turn out this way. 'We know that there's always a risk that we're attracting somebody that's going to do something terrible,' she conceded. 'I know, everyone in this field know that we could have students who might become offenders but we also know the vast majority of our students will not and will go into a field like law enforcement that will make the world better,' she added. Despite her disgust, Ramsland - who wrote the literal book on BTK killer, Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer - admits she's interested in potentially studying Kohberger. 'This is my work. If he wanted to do that, I would,' she said, adding that the study would be to try and learn 'developmental trajectories' and 'red flags' so killers can be identified faster. 'If he wanted to do that, I know that he's got the intellectual capacity to do it, to be self-reflective,' she said. 'I would definitely do it if he were willing. It would be hard but I think because I have so much material for him, I have questions for him that I think nobody but me could ask.' Ramsland, who taught Kohberger courses ranging from an intro to forensic psychology to one titled 'Dangerous Minds: the psychology of anti-social behavior,' at first was skeptical her former student could be capable of such heinous acts. 'I really thought Bryan was a promising student who really could have made a mark in this career in a very positive way,' she said. She added that 'he was polite, he was respectful, intense and curious. There was no reason for me to think that he was anyone other than someone interested in this potential career.' 'His demeanor was that he was confident that he was going to prove his innocence,' she said. 'I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.' However, in March, when Kohberger claimed he was being framed by a real killer who planted evidence at the scene of the crime , Ramsland began to consider he could in fact be the right suspect. 'When he said his alibi - and it was clearly not an alibi and he would've known that through his classes and undergraduate work - that was when I was floored that this is my student who has done these things,' she said. Kohberger's shock move to accept a plea deal has left his ex-advisor Ramsland stunned, despite all her years working in this field. 'I'm disappointed, angry and shocked that this is who he turned out to be and horrified for the victims and their families,' she said. Kohberger, 30, was due to face a capital murder trial in August for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; her best friend Madison Mogen, 21; as well as their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20; and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin , 20, in November 2022. But it was revealed on Monday that Latah County prosecutors have offered the former criminology graduate student a deal in which he would plead guilty to the murders and a burglary charge, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kohberger is now expected to appear in court on today to have the deal signed off by a judge. The family of Kaylee Goncalves was quick to condemn the agreement , declaring on Facebook that the State of Idaho 'failed us' as they hit out at prosecutors for failing to notify them that a plea deal was going through. 'We weren't even called about the plea; we received an email with a letter attached,' family members said in a statement. 'That's how Latah County's Prosecutor's Office treats murder victims' families. Adding insult to injury, they're rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse for a plea on July 2.' Steven Goncalves, Kaylee's father, is urging the judge overseeing the case to reject the plea deal. 'If anyone knows Judge [Steven] Hippler... reach out to him and ask him to put his foot down and not accept this offer,' the grieving father begged members of NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield's audience Monday night. 'This is not justice,' he continued, declaring that it goes against what the victims' families want. 'This isn't the will of the victims' [families]. This is just one person making a decision, and it doesn't reflect what we're calling for,' Goncalves said of Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, whom he claimed, 'decided to play God and decide what this man's decision should be and not a jury, not his peers.' He then called for 'no plea deal,' saying, 'Let's go for this guy 100 percent. Let's do it,' as he argued that Thompson didn't 'have the courage to hold [Kohberger] accountable.' Kaylee's sister, Aubrie, also called the last-minute plea deal 'shocking and cruel,' saying it 'feels less like an act of justice and more like an afterthought.' The family explained that they met with prosecutors on Friday, when the attorneys 'vaguely mentioned a possible plea.' They claim prosecutors then moved forward with the deal without seeking any input from the victims' families and presented the arrangement on Sunday. At that point, the victims' families received an email from prosecutors explaining why they decided to stop pursuing the death penalty against their wishes. 'We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,' the letter, seen by the Idaho Statesman, reads. 'This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,' prosecutors continued, noting that they, 'weighed the right path forward and made a formal offer' to the murder suspect, according to ABC News. This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction, appeals. Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.' It was signed by Thompson and his deputy Ashley Jennings, and noted that Kohberger would be sentenced to life in prison in late July should he accept the plea deal on Wednesday. But i f he does not plead as expected, the scheduled trial will continue as planned. After receiving the letter, the Goncalves family said they were left 'scrambling'. 'We immediately jumped into panic mode and started making phone calls and sending emails,' they said in a statement. 'We met with prosecution today to reiterate our views on pushing for the death penalty. Unfortunately all of our efforts did not matter,' the family lamented, claiming they had been 'branded adversaries' after they questioned the police investigation into the students' stabbing deaths. The Latah County Prosecutor's Office's treatment of our family during this process is something I wouldn't wish on anyone,' the Goncalves family concluded, arguing that county residents 'should be ashamed of its Prosecutor's Office'. 'After more than two years, this is how it concludes, with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims' families on the pleas details,' they wrote. 'Our family is frustrated right now and that will subside and we will come together as always and deal with the reality that we face moving forward.' The Goncalves family was not the only one upset by the news of the plea deal, however, as Xana Kernodle's aunt was reportedly so enraged that she was brought to tears. Kim Kernodle explained to TMZ that prosecutors told her Kohberger's defense team approached them with a plea deal and prosecutors agreed to go along with it to 'spare the families' the pain of a trial. She claimed the prosecutors were especially concerned that the families would have to see gruesome crime scene photos of their loved ones - though Kernodle said, 'We know the graphics. They were not trying to spare us.' Kernodle also claimed that prosecutors did not mention they were taking death penalty off the table when they met on Friday, when she said prosecutors acknowledged they have enough evidence to secure a guilty verdict. The State has previously laid out how Kohberger purchased a balaclava from Sporting Goods store months before the savage murders inside the victims' off-campus home. Surviving housemate Dylan Mortensen later told police she saw a man wearing 'the same kind of mask' during the crime spree. She also described seeing a man with 'bushy eyebrows' - which fit Kohberger's appearance. The murder suspect also bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022, according to a prosecution filing, and was ultimately linked to the murder of the four students by DNA found on the sheath of a knife found at the scene of their off-campus home. Data from Kohberger's cellphone also showed it connected to a cellphone tower near the victims' off-campus house a total of 23 times over the course of four months leading up to the grisly murders, according to court documents. Then, on the night of the November 13, 2022, prosecutors say Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students' home on King Road shortly after they had gone to bed from a night of partying and stabbed them all to death. His white Hyundai Elantra was allegedly caught on a neighbor's home security footage at around 3.30am, and was seen circling around the block multiple times over the next half hour. By 4.07am, the vehicle came back drove by once again - then didn't come back into view until 4.20am, when it was seen speeding off. During that 13-minute window, sources close to the investigation told NBC's Dateline that Kohberger went directly upstairs to Mogen's bedroom, where he allegedly killed her and Goncalves. He is accused of the turning his attention to Kernodle on his way back out the house, killing her as she was up ordering food, and then targeting her boyfriend, Chapin, whom Kohberger allegedly 'carved'. Meanwhile, data from Kohberger's phone indicate he turned it off before 3am that morning, and when he apparently turned it back on at around 4.48am, it connected with a cellphone tower south of Moscow. But the phone also appeared to be briefly back in the city shortly after 9am, when Kohberger reportedly returned to his apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he took a chilling selfie, giving the thumbs up pose in a bathroom mirror. In the aftermath, Kohberger allegedly searched to buy a replacement knife and sheath. He was ultimately arrested nearly six weeks after the students were found dead at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania where he had returned for the holidays. Kohberger has remained behind bars ever since, and has been desperately trying to get the death penalty off the table over the past few months - even arguing at one point that his autism diagnosis precludes him from facing the ultimate punishment. In more recent efforts, Kohberger's defense attorneys tried to get his purchase of the balaclava deemed inadmissible to the upcoming trial, but prosecutors argued it was crucial to their case. It now appears that the defense moved to reach a plea deal after Judge Hippler slapped down their efforts to point the finger at four alternate suspects - blasting his legal team's evidence as 'entirely irrelevant' and 'wild speculation.' 'Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,' the judge wrote in his decision last week. Just hours before news of the plea deal broke, the defense faced another setback after they apparently called the wrong witness and other witnesses expressed their bewilderment at being called at all.
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Famed criminology professor who taught Bryan Kohberger fears she may have 'inspired' Idaho murders and offers to study his 'dark side'
A professor who taught accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger criminology in college and took him inside the mind of serial killers fears she may have inspired him as she reveals she may like to study his 'dark side'. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who has long been an expert in the field of serial killers and once wrote a book with the BTK strangler, taught four different undergraduate and graduate courses to Kohberger at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. Ahead of Kohberger's scheduled appearance in court on Wednesday when he's likely to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison and no death penalty as part of a plea deal, Ramsland is finally speaking out on her pupil. Ramsland - who called Kohberger 'a promising student who could have made a mark' on the field of forensic psychology - refused to believe he could be capable of killing, even after his arrest. But as she investigated the case more, Ramsland began to believe he may be responsible and was forced to ask herself a tough question. 'I have to look at the framework of what I taught and wonder: Did I inspire him?' she said. Ramsland continues her studies and teaching students, but accepts she must avoid the possibility the influence of his education, explaining 'unfortunately, in this field, that's what we live with.' She admits that given her research into the minds of the most vile of people, she knows a rare few of her students may turn out this way. 'We know that there's always a risk that we're attracting somebody that's going to do something terrible,' she revealed. 'I know, everyone in this field know that we could have students who might become offenders but we also know the vast majority of our students will not and will go into a field like law enforcement that will make the world better,' she added. Despite her disgust, Ramsland - who wrote the literal book on BTK killer, Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer - admits she's interested in potentially studying Kohberger to help better understand how he got away with it. 'This is my work. If he wanted to do that, I would,' she said, adding that the study would be to try and learn 'developmental trajectories' and 'red flags' so killers can be sussed out faster. 'If he wanted to do that, I know that he's got the intellectual capacity to do it, to be self-reflective. I would definitely do it if he were willing. It would be hard but I think because I have so much material for him, I have questions for him that I think nobody but me could ask.' Ramsland, who taught Kohberger courses ranging from an intro to forensic psychology to one titled 'Dangerous Minds: the psychology of anti-social behavior,' at first was skeptical her former student could be capable of such heinous acts. 'I really thought Bryan was a promising student who really could have made a mark in this career in a very positive way,' she said. She added that 'he was polite, he was respectful, intense and curious. There was no reason for me to think that he was anyone other than someone interested in this potential career.' 'His demeanor was that he was confident that he was going to prove his innocence,' she told NewsNation. 'I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.' However, in March, when Kohberger revealed his excuse was that he was being framed by a real killer who planted evidence at the scene of the crime, Ramsland began to consider he could in fact be the right suspect. 'When he said his alibi - and it was clearly not an alibi and he would've known that through his classes and undergraduate work - that was when I was floored that this is my student who has done these things.' Kohberger's willingness to admit to these crimes in accepting the plea deal has left his ex-advisor Ramsland stunned, despite all her years working in this field. The professor expressed sympathy for the families of Kohberger's four victims. 'I'm disappointed, angry and shocked that this is who he turned out to be and horrified for the victims and their families. Kohberger, 30, was due to face a capital murder trial in August for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; her best friend Madison Mogen, 21; as well as their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20; and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in November 2022. But it was revealed on Monday that Latah County prosecutors have offered the former criminology graduate student a deal in which he would plead guilty to the murders and a burglary charge, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kohberger is now expected to appear in court on Wednesday to have the deal signed off by a judge. The family of Kaylee Goncalves was quick to condemn the agreement, declaring on Facebook that the State of Idaho 'failed us' as they hit out at prosecutors for failing to notify them that a plea deal was going through. 'We weren't even called about the plea; we received an email with a letter attached,' family members said in a statement. 'That's how Latah County's Prosecutor's Office treats murder victims' families. 'Adding insult to injury, they're rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse for a plea on July 2.' Steven Goncalves, Kaylee's father, is urging the judge overseeing the case to reject the plea deal. 'If anyone knows Judge [Steven] Hippler... reach out to him and ask him to put his foot down and not accept this offer,' the grieving father begged members of NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield's audience Monday night. 'This is not justice,' he continued, declaring that it goes against what the victims' families want. 'This isn't the will of the victims' [families]. This is just one person making a decision, and it doesn't reflect what we're calling for,' Goncalves said of Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, whom he claimed, 'decided to play God and decide what this man's decision should be and not a jury, not his peers.' He then called for 'no plea deal,' saying, 'Let's go for this guy 100 percent. Let's do it,' as he argued that Thompson didn't 'have the courage to hold [Kohberger] accountable.' The route allegedly driven Bryan Kohberger allegedly drove on the night of the brutal Idaho murders, based on cellphone data Kaylee's sister, Aubrie, also called the last-minute plea deal 'shocking and cruel,' saying it 'feels less like an act of justice and more like an afterthought.' The family explained that they met with prosecutors on Friday, when the attorneys 'vaguely mentioned a possible plea.' They claim prosecutors then moved forward with the deal without seeking any input from the victims' families and presented the arrangement on Sunday. At that point, the victims' families received an email from prosecutors explaining why they decided to stop pursuing the death penalty against their wishes. 'We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,' the letter, seen by the Idaho Statesman, reads. 'This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,' prosecutors continued, noting that they, 'weighed the right path forward and made a formal offer' to the murder suspect, according to ABC News. 'This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction, appeals. 'Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.' It was signed by Thompson and his deputy Ashley Jennings, and noted that Kohberger would be sentenced to life in prison in late July should he accept the plea deal on Wednesday. But if he does not plead as expected, the scheduled trial will continue as planned. After receiving the letter, the Goncalves family said they were left 'scrambling'. 'We immediately jumped into panic mode and started making phone calls and sending emails,' they said in a statement. 'We met with prosecution today to reiterate our views on pushing for the death penalty. 'Unfortunately all of our efforts did not matter,' the family lamented, claiming they had been 'branded adversaries' after they questioned the police investigation into the students' stabbing deaths. 'The Latah County Prosecutor's Office's treatment of our family during this process is something I wouldn't wish on anyone,' the Goncalves family concluded, arguing that county residents 'should be ashamed of its Prosecutor's Office'. 'After more than two years, this is how it concludes, with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims' families on the pleas details,' they wrote. 'Our family is frustrated right now and that will subside and we will come together as always and deal with the reality that we face moving forward.' The Goncalves family was not the only one upset by the news of the plea deal, however, as Xana Kernodle's aunt was reportedly so enraged that she was brought to tears. Kim Kernodle explained to TMZ that prosecutors told her Kohberger's defense team approached them with a plea deal and prosecutors agreed to go along with it to 'spare the families' the pain of a trial. She claimed the prosecutors were especially concerned that the families would have to see gruesome crime scene photos of their loved ones - though Kernodle said, 'We know the graphics. They were not trying to spare us.' Kernodle also claimed that prosecutors did not mention they were taking death penalty off the table when they met on Friday, when she said prosecutors acknowledged they have enough evidence to secure a guilty verdict. The State has previously laid out how Kohberger purchased a balaclava from Dick's Sporting Goods store months before the savage murders inside the victims' off-campus home. Surviving housemate Dylan Mortensen later told police she saw a man wearing 'the same kind of mask' during the crime spree. She also described seeing a man with 'bushy eyebrows' - which fit Kohberger's appearance. The murder suspect also bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022, according to a prosecution filing, and was ultimately linked to the murder of the four students by DNA found on the sheath of a knife found at the scene of their off-campus home. Data from Kohberger's cellphone also showed it connected to a cellphone tower near the victims' off-campus house a total of 23 times over the course of four months leading up to the grisly murders, according to court documents. Then, on the night of the November 13, 2022, prosecutors say Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students' home on King Road shortly after they had gone to bed from a night of partying and stabbed them all to death. His white Hyundai Elantra was allegedly caught on a neighbor's home security footage at around 3.30am, and was seen circling around the block multiple times over the next half hour. By 4.07am, the vehicle came back drove by once again - then didn't come back into view until 4.20am, when it was seen speeding off. During that 13-minute window, sources close to the investigation told NBC's Dateline that Kohberger went directly upstairs to Mogen's bedroom, where he allegedly killed her and Goncalves. He is accused of the turning his attention to Kernodle on his way back out the house, killing her as she was up ordering food, and then targeting her boyfriend, Chapin, whom Kohberger allegedly 'carved'. Meanwhile, data from Kohberger's phone indicate he turned it off before 3am that morning, and when he apparently turned it back on at around 4.48am, it connected with a cellphone tower south of Moscow. But the phone also appeared to be briefly back in the city shortly after 9am, when Kohberger reportedly returned to his apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he took a chilling selfie, giving the thumbs up pose in a bathroom mirror. In the aftermath, Kohberger allegedly searched to buy a replacement knife and sheath. He was ultimately arrested nearly six weeks after the students were found dead at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania where he had returned for the holidays. Kohberger has remained behind bars ever since, and has been desperately trying to get the death penalty off the table over the past few months - even arguing at one point that his autism diagnosis precludes him from facing the ultimate punishment. In more recent efforts, Kohberger's defense attorneys tried to get his purchase of the balaclava deemed inadmissible to the upcoming trial, but prosecutors argued it was crucial to their case. It now appears that the defense moved to reach a plea deal after Judge Hippler slapped down their efforts to point the finger at four alternate suspects - blasting his legal team's evidence as 'entirely irrelevant' and 'wild speculation.' 'Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,' the judge wrote in his decision last week. Just hours before news of the plea deal broke, the defense faced another setback after they apparently called the wrong witness and other witnesses expressed their bewilderment at being called at all.
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bryan Kohberger's professor reveals moment she knew he was guilty and offers to study his 'dark side'
A professor who taught accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger college classes that took him inside the mind of serial killers reveals his vague alibi made her believe her student was guilty. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who has long been an expert in the field of serial killers and once wrote a book with the BTK strangler, taught four different undergraduate and graduate courses to Kohberger at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. Ahead of Kohberger's scheduled appearance in court today where he's likely to accept a deal he would plead guilty in exchange for life in prison and no death penalty, Ramsland is finally speaking out on her pupil. Ramsland - who called Kohberger 'a promising student who could have made a mark' on the field of forensic psychology - refused to believe he could be capable of killing, even after his arrest. 'His demeanor was that he was confident that he was going to prove his innocence,' she told NewsNation. 'I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.' However, in March, when Kohberger revealed his excuse was that he was being framed by a real killer who planted evidence at the scene of the crime, Ramsland had to realize what he'd done. 'When he said his alibi - and it was clearly not an alibi and he would've known that through his classes and undergraduate work - that was when I was floored that this is my student who has done these things.' Kohberger's apparent willingness to admit to these crimes has left his ex-advisor Ramsland stunned despite all her years working in this field. 'I really thought Bryan was a promising student who really could have made a mark in this career in a very positive way,' she said. She added that 'he was polite, he was respectful, intense and curious. There was no reason for me to think that he was anyone other than someone interested in this potential career.' Ramsland expressed sympathy for the families of Kohberger's four victims. 'I'm disappointed, angry and shocked that this is who he turned out to be and horrified for the victims and their families.' Despite her disgust, Ramsland - who wrote the literal book on BTK killer, Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer - admits she's interested in potentially studying Kohberger to help better understand how he got away with it. 'This is my work. If he wanted to do that, I would,' she said, adding that the study would be to try and learn 'developmental trajectories' and 'red flags' so killers can be sussed out faster. 'If he wanted to do that, I know that he's got the intellectual capacity to do it, to be self-reflective. I would definitely do it if he were willing. It would be hard but I think because I have so much material for him, I have questions for him that I think nobody but me could ask.' Ramsland, who taught Kohberger courses ranging from an intro to forensic psychology to one titled 'Dangerous Minds: the psychology of anti-social behavior,' stunningly admitted she questions whether she may have influenced him. 'I have to look at the framework of what I taught and wonder: Did I inspire him?' She said that as she continues her studies, she must avoid looking at things like that but that 'unfortunately, in this field, that's what we live with.' Ramsland admitted that given her research into the minds of the most vile of people, she knows a rare few of her students may turn out this way. 'We know that there's always a risk that we're attracting somebody that's going to do something terrible. 'I know, everyone in this field know that we could have students who might become offenders but we also know the vast majority of our students will not and will go into a field like law enforcement that will make the world better,' she added. Kohberger, 30, was due to face a capital murder trial in August for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; her best friend Madison Mogen, 21; as well as their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20; and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in November 2022. But it was revealed on Monday that Latah County prosecutors have offered the former criminology graduate student a deal in which he would plead guilty to the murders and a burglary charge, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kohberger is now expected to appear in court on Wednesday to have the deal signed off by a judge. The family of Kaylee Goncalves was quick to condemn the agreement, declaring on Facebook that the State of Idaho 'failed us' as they hit out at prosecutors for failing to notify them that a plea deal was going through. 'We weren't even called about the plea; we received an email with a letter attached,' family members said in a statement. 'That's how Latah County's Prosecutor's Office treats murder victims' families. 'Adding insult to injury, they're rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse for a plea on July 2.' Steven Goncalves, Kaylee's father, is urging the judge overseeing the case to reject the plea deal. 'If anyone knows Judge [Steven] Hippler... reach out to him and ask him to put his foot down and not accept this offer,' the grieving father begged members of NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield's audience Monday night. 'This is not justice,' he continued, declaring that it goes against what the victims' families want. 'This isn't the will of the victims' [families]. This is just one person making a decision, and it doesn't reflect what we're calling for,' Goncalves said of Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, whom he claimed, 'decided to play God and decide what this man's decision should be and not a jury, not his peers.' He then called for 'no plea deal,' saying, 'Let's go for this guy 100 percent. Let's do it,' as he argued that Thompson didn't 'have the courage to hold [Kohberger] accountable.' Kaylee's sister, Aubrie, also called the last-minute plea deal 'shocking and cruel,' saying it 'feels less like an act of justice and more like an afterthought.' The family explained that they met with prosecutors on Friday, when the attorneys 'vaguely mentioned a possible plea.' They claim prosecutors then moved forward with the deal without seeking any input from the victims' families and presented the arrangement on Sunday. At that point, the victims' families received an email from prosecutors explaining why they decided to stop pursuing the death penalty against their wishes. 'We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,' the letter, seen by the Idaho Statesman, reads. 'This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,' prosecutors continued, noting that they, 'weighed the right path forward and made a formal offer' to the murder suspect, according to ABC News. 'This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction, appeals. 'Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.' It was signed by Thompson and his deputy Ashley Jennings, and noted that Kohberger would be sentenced to life in prison in late July should he accept the plea deal on Wednesday. But if he does not plead as expected, the scheduled trial will continue as planned. After receiving the letter, the Goncalves family said they were left 'scrambling'. 'We immediately jumped into panic mode and started making phone calls and sending emails,' they said in a statement. 'We met with prosecution today to reiterate our views on pushing for the death penalty. 'Unfortunately all of our efforts did not matter,' the family lamented, claiming they had been 'branded adversaries' after they questioned the police investigation into the students' stabbing deaths. 'The Latah County Prosecutor's Office's treatment of our family during this process is something I wouldn't wish on anyone,' the Goncalves family concluded, arguing that county residents 'should be ashamed of its Prosecutor's Office'. 'After more than two years, this is how it concludes, with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims' families on the pleas details,' they wrote. 'Our family is frustrated right now and that will subside and we will come together as always and deal with the reality that we face moving forward.' The Goncalves family was not the only one upset by the news of the plea deal, however, as Xana Kernodle's aunt was reportedly so enraged that she was brought to tears. Kim Kernodle explained to TMZ that prosecutors told her Kohberger's defense team approached them with a plea deal and prosecutors agreed to go along with it to 'spare the families' the pain of a trial. She claimed the prosecutors were especially concerned that the families would have to see gruesome crime scene photos of their loved ones - though Kernodle said, 'We know the graphics. They were not trying to spare us.' Kernodle also claimed that prosecutors did not mention they were taking death penalty off the table when they met on Friday, when she said prosecutors acknowledged they have enough evidence to secure a guilty verdict. The State has previously laid out how Kohberger purchased a balaclava from Dick's Sporting Goods store months before the savage murders inside the victims' off-campus home. Surviving housemate Dylan Mortensen later told police she saw a man wearing 'the same kind of mask' during the crime spree. She also described seeing a man with 'bushy eyebrows' - which fit Kohberger's appearance. The murder suspect also bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022, according to a prosecution filing, and was ultimately linked to the murder of the four students by DNA found on the sheath of a knife found at the scene of their off-campus home. Data from Kohberger's cellphone also showed it connected to a cellphone tower near the victims' off-campus house a total of 23 times over the course of four months leading up to the grisly murders, according to court documents. Then, on the night of the November 13, 2022, prosecutors say Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students' home on King Road shortly after they had gone to bed from a night of partying and stabbed them all to death. His white Hyundai Elantra was allegedly caught on a neighbor's home security footage at around 3.30am, and was seen circling around the block multiple times over the next half hour. By 4.07am, the vehicle came back drove by once again - then didn't come back into view until 4.20am, when it was seen speeding off. During that 13-minute window, sources close to the investigation told NBC's Dateline that Kohberger went directly upstairs to Mogen's bedroom, where he allegedly killed her and Goncalves. He is accused of the turning his attention to Kernodle on his way back out the house, killing her as she was up ordering food, and then targeting her boyfriend, Chapin, whom Kohberger allegedly 'carved'. Meanwhile, data from Kohberger's phone indicate he turned it off before 3am that morning, and when he apparently turned it back on at around 4.48am, it connected with a cellphone tower south of Moscow. But the phone also appeared to be briefly back in the city shortly after 9am, when Kohberger reportedly returned to his apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he took a chilling selfie, giving the thumbs up pose in a bathroom mirror. In the aftermath, Kohberger allegedly searched to buy a replacement knife and sheath. He was ultimately arrested nearly six weeks after the students were found dead at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania where he had returned for the holidays. Kohberger has remained behind bars ever since, and has been desperately trying to get the death penalty off the table over the past few months - even arguing at one point that his autism diagnosis precludes him from facing the ultimate punishment. In more recent efforts, Kohberger's defense attorneys tried to get his purchase of the balaclava deemed inadmissible to the upcoming trial, but prosecutors argued it was crucial to their case. It now appears that the defense moved to reach a plea deal after Judge Hippler slapped down their efforts to point the finger at four alternate suspects - blasting his legal team's evidence as 'entirely irrelevant' and 'wild speculation.' 'Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,' the judge wrote in his decision last week.
Irish Times
21-06-2025
- Irish Times
Eight women come forward with information on being targeted by 1976 killers of Elizabeth Plunkett
Eight women have come forward to allege they were potentially targeted by serial killers Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw in 1976, around the time the pair murdered two women in different parts of Ireland. The testimonies suggest Shaw and Evans made failed attempts to murder far more victims than previously known. Their testimonies are being gathered by solicitor James McGuill, who represents the family of Dublin woman Elizabeth Plunkett, who was murdered by the pair in 1976. The British men went on to rape and murder another woman, Mary Duffy (23), in Galway, before being caught a short time later. Shaw and Evans had travelled to Ireland from the UK with the intention of raping and murdering Irish women. READ MORE The first new witness came forward earlier this year, having seen media reports of the inquest which was finally held into the death of Ms Plunkett (23) in January. The inquest was held after it emerged recently that no death certificate had ever been issued for her. The new witness said she was hit by a car after she left a music session in McDaniel's pub in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. The incident occurred on the same night as Shaw and Evans abducted Ms Plunkett, who had also been in McDaniel's. Mr McGuill said he obtained the woman's medical records, which confirm the timings. 'Part of Shaw's confession had him being party to abducting Elizabeth and then retracing the steps to McDaniel's pub and then going back again. So he was driving around the area at the time,' the solicitor said. Mary Duffy, of Deerpark, Belcarra, was a victim of convicted killers Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw in September 1976. Last month, RTÉ launched a new podcast series concerning Ms Plunkett's murder and highlighting the fact that, despite the men's confessions, no one was ever convicted for her death. Since the Stolen Sister podcast began, several more women have come forward with 'strikingly similar accounts of being pursued by these two guys,' Mr McGuill said. He said some of these accounts may have been given to gardaí at the time of the original investigation and 'may or may not' have been centralised. The women's accounts will be passed on to the Garda Commissioner and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the hope that they will provide enough new evidence to reopen the case against Shaw for the murder of Ms Plunkett. Evans died in custody in 2012. Shaw, who is the State's longest-serving prisoner, has been repeatedly denied parole. As Shaw was not convicted for Ms Plunkett's murder, her family are not considered victims in a legal sense and therefore have no rights to object to his parole. The reason Shaw was never tried for her murder remains unclear. Both Evans and Shaw were initially charged with the rape and murder of both Ms Plunkett and Ms Duffy. A High Court judge later ruled they should each be put on trial separately. Evans was tried and convicted for the murder of Ms Duffy, but the trial judge ordered the jury to return a not-guilty verdict for Ms Plunkett's murder. Shaw was put on trial solely for the murder of Ms Duffy. His first trial ended in a hung jury. He was convicted in a later trial, and both men received life terms. The DPP subsequently withdrew charges against Shaw relating to Ms Plunkett's rape and murder. Despite this, over the years it became accepted knowledge that Shaw and Evans were convicted of her murder. The 'fact' was repeated in books, articles and even by the authorities. Mr McGuill said it is possible the DPP assumed Shaw would never be released from prison, so it decided to avoid the expense of another trial for Ms Plunkett's murder. He said it is also possible there were concerns about some of the investigative methods used by gardaí which authorities did not want to come to light. It is unlikely a full explanation will ever emerge. Many of the files relating to Ms Plunkett's murder are believed to have been stolen from the DPP's office in 1987 by Martin Cahill, the notorious criminal known as the General. It also remains unclear whether authorities will be able to reopen the investigation into Shaw. In response to queries, Garda headquarters said it is exclusively a matter for the DPP.
