Bryan Kohberger‘s criminology professor has said she is ‘horrified’ that one of her former students went on a stabbing rampage that shocked the nation.
Dr Katherine Ramsland spoke to the Daily Mail ahead of the release of her new documentary, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, which delves into the mind and motives of infamous mass murderer Elmer Wayne Henley Jr.
As one of America’s top experts on serial killers, Dr Ramsland has extensively studied the criminal mind.
But, in recent months, she has found herself unwittingly thrust into scandal, with her former student, Kohberger, being sentenced to life in prison for the quadruple murder of four University of Idaho students.
‘I’m horrified that I had a student capable of such violence,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘I don’t know why he did it. I just can’t even speculate why.
‘I think the most important thing is we have four families with murdered kids and we don’t understand why this had to happen. I think they’re the focus, what they’re going through is horrifying.
‘I hate that I am in any way associated with it.’
Bryan Kohberger’s former criminology professor has said she is ‘horrified’ that her former student became a killer
Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison at Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23
It was the fall of 2018 when Kohberger began his degree majoring in psychology on the forensics track at DeSales University, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 2022 with a Masters in criminal justice.
At DeSales, Kohberger studied under Dr Ramsland, taking her classes studying infamous serial killers and real-life crime scenarios.
When he graduated, Kohberger enrolled in a criminology PhD program at Washington State University, moving to Pullman, Washington, in the summer of 2022.
Just five months later – in the early hours of November 13 – he broke into an off-campus home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, and stabbed 21-year-old best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, and 20-year-old couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin to death.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges on July 2 this year.
On July 23, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Kohberger has never revealed his motive for the murders or why he chose his victims.
To this day, prosecutors have found no connection between him and any of the victims or survivors who lived through the attack.
But, in court documents, prosecutors cited one of Kohberger’s 2020 criminology essays about a woman’s murder as showing his extensive knowledge of crime scenes.
For another college assignment, Kohberger posted a survey on Reddit asking criminals questions including how they chose their victims and how they felt while committing their crimes.
Expert witnesses also said they found extensive research of famous killers on his devices.
Two of Kohberger’s former classmates at DeSales previously told the Daily Mail they feared his studies may have inspired him to kill.
But Dr Ramsland says there is not yet enough information to determine the 30-year-old’s motive.
‘There’s so much we don’t know,’ she told the Daily Mail.
Dr Katherine Ramsland spoke to the Daily Mail ahead of the release of her new documentary ‘The Serial Killer’s Apprentice’
‘My heart goes out to [the victims’ families] and what has happened,’ she added. ‘I’ve taught thousands of students who went on to go into law enforcement, FBI, Secret Service, pro-social activities that are good and wholesome.’
Prosecutors have revealed Kohberger tried to wipe his electronic devices before his arrest in December 2022, meaning a lot of his online history is gone.
‘Everything was wiped,’ Dr Ramsland added. ‘Was there stuff on his phone that would have revealed [something]? I don’t know.’
While Dr Ramsland said she could not speak about her interactions with Kohberger as a student due to privacy, she confirmed her last contact with him was before the murders when he needed a letter of recommendation.
She would not say if she had been in contact with any members of his family.
She did, however, say would be interested in speaking to Kohberger or his victims’ families in the future to study his crimes.
‘If they wanted to talk to me, I would talk to them. I talked to the victims’ families of [BTK killer] Dennis Rader. It’s difficult to do,’ she said. ‘I hate the word closure, and I keep hearing it over and over again. There isn’t closure for [the families]. They will always be a terrible hole in their lives. Always. There’s a lot of pain.’
Rader killed at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991 in Kansas. His brutal murder method, ‘bind, torture, kill’, earned him the BTK nickname.
In 2017, Dr Ramsland wrote a book on Rader based on jailhouse visits and telephone interviews.
When it comes to studying Kohberger, she says she is especially interested in ‘the uniqueness of the event’.
Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (left) and Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (right) were murdered by Bryan Kohberger
The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, on November 20, 2022 – seen days after Kohberger’s killing spree
‘I have said I want someone to study him – it doesn’t have to be me. I would love to know, because to be true to my profession, I would love to know more.’
While she is unsure of whether Kohberger is open to being studied, she would take the opportunity if he reached out, ‘Because that’s what I do. That’s my work.’
When asked what she would want to learn from him, Dr Ramsland said, ‘What everybody wants to know, “Why did you do this?” But that’s not how you approach it.
‘If you want to know what was going on in any offender’s mind, it takes time. It takes a sense of trust. I spent five years with Dennis Rader.
‘You have to be willing to listen, non-judgmentally, to build a sense that they feel safe saying it.’
It’s something she has done with Elmer Wayne Henley Jr in her new documentary, which features rare jailhouse conversations with the convicted killer.
Henley was a teenage accomplice of the ‘Candy Man’ serial killer, Dean Corll, who lured and murdered at least 28 boys in Houston in the 1970s.
Bryan Kohberger studied under Dr Katherine Ramsland (pictured) at DeSales University in Pennsylvania
The crime scene house at DeSales University, Pennsylvania, where Kohberger and other students worked
He met Corll, then 14, through his friend and fellow teen accomplice David Brooks.
Corll recruited the teens to help in luring and killing young boys at his home before burying their bodies in remote locations.
The disappearances and murders came to an end in August 1973 when Henley shot and killed Corll.
He called the police and confessed to the string of killings known as the Houston Mass Murders, leading officers to the victims’ remains.
Both Henley and Brooks were sentenced to life in prison. Brooks died in May 2020.
Through her conversations with Henley, Dr Ramsland said she believes he is remorseful for his crimes.
‘Henley is highly remorseful. He knows that there’s nothing he can say that will help any of the victims’ families, but I think we have to give him some credit that he pointed the police to where the bodies were buried,’ she said.
Pictured: Elmer Wayne Henley Jr after he told police about the Houston Mass Murders in August 1973
Pictured: Investigators search for bodies in Texas. At least 28 boys were murdered by the serial killer Dean Corll and his two younger accomplices
If he had not led police to the bodies, it is likely Henley would never have been connected to the murders, she said.
‘And yet he did it right away. As soon as the police came after he killed Corll, he told them right away that there were bodies.’
She said Henley ‘wanted the families to have the boys back’.
Still, other killers she has studied have never shown remorse, including the BTK killer – though, he can fake it if need be.
In her conversations with Rader she was conscious he was trying to manipulate people around him.
The serial killer had spent years hiding in plain sight, murdering at least 10 victims in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, before his capture in 2005.
Despite some folks thinking otherwise, Dr Ramsland said everyone is capable of being manipulated.
‘There are people who are very good at duping you, and Rader was able to dupe all the closest people around him for 30 years… anyone who thinks they can’t be manipulated or duped is very vulnerable to being manipulated or duped.’
‘The Serial Killer’s Apprentice’ airs Sunday August 17 on ID
