Quadruple homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger reportedly made disturbing searches on his cellphone in the months after he attended a pool party – which may provide the link missing between him and his alleged victims.
Kohberger, now 30, is due to face a capital murder trial in August for the brutal slayings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, who was staying the night.
The four students were all slaughtered in a horror knife attack in the early hours of November 13, 2022, inside the off-campus student home in Moscow, Idaho, that the three women shared with two other roommates.
It has remained unclear how Kohberger, a PhD student at the nearby Washington State University, may have chosen his victims.
But a damning report by NBC News’ Dateline reveals that he had saved dozens of photos of female students at both Washington State and the University of Idaho, many of whom were in bathing suits.
The photos ostensibly came from a pool party Kohberger had been invited to in Moscow on July 9 – and a review of the accounts that had posted the photos found that a number of them were close friends with Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen.
Kohberger had even returned to Moscow after dark following the pool party, and data from his cellphone showed it connected to a cellphone tower near the victims’ off-campus house a total of 23 times over the course of four months.
Meanwhile, Dateline reports, Kohberger searched for pornography containing the keywords ‘drugged’ and ‘sleeping.’
Quadruple homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger is due to face a capital murder trial in August
He is accused of fatally stabbing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin , 20, inside their off-campus house. Roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke (on either end) were not killed in the attack
The criminology student also reportedly searched the phrase ‘Sociopathic Traits in College Students’ as he was struggling to work as a teaching assistant at Washington State.
Then, after he was pulled over by police in October 2022 and was seen politely conversing with an officer about traffic laws, Kohberger allegedly searched ‘Can psychopaths behave pro-socially.’
Prosecutors now allege that Kohberger broke into the University of Idaho students’ home on King Road shortly after they had gone to bed from a night partying on November 13 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, according to Dateline.
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 said Kohberger went directly upstairs to Mogen’s bedroom – where he allegedly killed her and Goncalves.
He is accused of then turned his attention to Kernodle on his way back out the house, killing her as she was up ordering food, and then targeted her boyfriend, Chapin, whom Kohberger allegedly ‘carved.’
A damning report suggests that after Kohberger was pulled over by police in October 2022 and conversed with an officer about traffic laws, he searched: ‘Can psychopaths behave pro-socially’
Kohberger also allegedly made nearly two dozen trips to the victims’ King Road house in the months leading up to their murders
Kernodle and Chapin were dead in Kernodle’s room on the second floor, while Goncalves and Mogen were dead in Mogen’s bed on the third floor.
In the aftermath, one of their roommates – Dylan Mortensen – told police how she had come face-to-face with the masked killer inside the home that haunting night.
She claimed she heard strange noises in the home at around 4am that morning – followed by a man’s voice that she said was not Chapin’s.
The unknown man reportedly told her something to the effect of ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you.’
When Mortensen then peered around her bedroom door, she said she saw a man walk past her room on the second floor and head in the direction of the back sliding door.
She described the intruder as tall, dressed in all black and wearing a face mask – that only allowed her to see his ‘bushy eyebrows.’
After allegedly killing the college students, Kohberger returned to his home in Pullman, Washington – where he took this selfie showing him giving a thumbs up from the bathroom
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 days that followed, Dateline reports, Kohberger searched for a program about serial killer Ted Bundy and a YouTube video about the King Road victims.
Then, as police continued their multi-state search for the suspect, Kohberger reportedly searched for even more videos of Ted Bundy, the song Criminal by Britney Spears as he took additional selfies – including one in which he was seen wearing a black hoodie, just like how Bundy was dressed in one of the videos.
Kohberger was ultimately arrested six weeks after the grisly murders, while at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, where he had returned for the holidays.
It came after DNA found on a Ka-Bar leather sheath that was left next to Mogen’s lifeless body came back a match to the criminology student.
Prosecutors have also claimed his shopping history reveals that he bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022.
Kohberger was ultimately arrested six weeks after the grisly murders, but has repeatedly maintained his innocence
But Kohberger has maintained his innocence, and his defense team has tried to write off his repeated visits to Moscow – saying he simply likes to take long drives alone at night.
They have claimed his cellphone data would prove he was nowhere near the crime scene on the night of the murders.
The defense had even tried to get the death penalty off the table due to Kohberger’s recent autism diagnosis – but a judge denied the request.
He may now face the firing squad if convicted and sentenced to death, due to recent changes in Idaho state law.
Yet the defense has scored at least one victory in the lead up to the trial – as Judge Steven Hippler ruled last week that Kohberger’s immediate family members can support him inside the courtroom for every day of his high-profile trial – even before they are called to the stand to testify against their relative.
The defense had argued that, under the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial, Kohberger has a right to have his family present in the courtroom.
But, typically, witnesses cannot attend a criminal trial until after they have taken the stand to prevent their testimony being shaped by what they hear.
Prosecutors previously revealed that they plan to call some of Kohberger’s family members – father Michael, mother MaryAnn and two older sisters Amanda and Melissa – as witnesses for the state.
Kohberger’s lawyers, though, have told the judge that the family continues to support him and has ‘no interest in helping’ the prosecution in its case.
‘Bryan’s family has no desire to be used as witnesses against him,’ defense attorney Elisa Massoth said.
‘His family loves him and supports him,’ she said.
She said that the Kohbergers would have attended every court hearing to date in support of him if it weren’t for the financial burden of traveling from Pennsylvania to Idaho.
