The 2022 fall semester at Washington State University had barely begun when concerns first emerged about Bryan Kohberger’s behavior toward women.
An insider says that a ‘gender-related’ conflict involving the then-27-year-old PhD student and at least one female student in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department triggered an internal review.
‘I don’t know exactly what the accusation was,’ the source told the Daily Mail. ‘I don’t know whether it was as simple as she was uncomfortable around him or something more nefarious.’
Whatever the specifics, the matter was serious enough for some of the department’s faculty to briefly investigate.
‘It never went any further,’ the source said, adding that no concerning pattern of behavior had yet been established.
This, however, would be far from the only issue with the intelligent but socially awkward Pennsylvania native.
Within his six-month stint at WSU, Kohberger’s future in criminology crumbled.
Professors deemed his academic and professional performance to be unacceptable and below standard, and more female students raised complaints about his treatment of and attitudes toward them.
Bryan Kohberger, now 30, at his change-of-plea hearing in Ada County Courthouse, Boise, on July 2
The situation escalated to the point that Kohberger was placed on a performance plan before he was ultimately fired from his teaching assistant (TA) role days before Christmas.
At the same time, something far more sinister was unfolding.
In the early hours of November 13, 2022 – midway through that semester – Kohberger drove from his campus apartment in Pullman, Washington, across the state line into Idaho.
There, he broke into an off-campus University of Idaho student home at 1122 King Road, Moscow, and brutally murdered 21-year-old best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, and 20-year-old couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The victims were stabbed multiple times with a large knife – several while they slept.
Kohberger was arrested and charged with the murders around six weeks later in a raid on his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
More than two years on and just weeks before his trial was set to begin, he confessed on July 2, 2025, and changed his plea to guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one of felony burglary in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
His motive still remains known only to him.
But his downward spiral at WSU and the timing of the murders shine a light on Kohberger’s behavior in the days, weeks and months leading up to and after the slayings.
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Police on the scene of the Wilson-Short Hall building at WSU during a search of Bryan Kohberger’s office in December 2022
The Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at WSU where Kohberger was a student
Looking back, the source told the Daily Mail that the initial ‘gender-based’ allegation raised against Kohberger at the college could have been a warning of what was to come.
‘The closest red flag I can see is the incident relatively early in the semester where, unfortunately, nothing came from it,’ the source said.
‘The student involved didn’t want to take anything further.’
Kohberger had moved to Pullman to begin his PhD in criminal justice at WSU in June 2022.
It was the first time he had lived away from the family home in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, aside from some stints in rehab for heroin addiction as a teenager.
He had been recommended for the course by Professor Michelle Bolger after completing a psychology degree and Master’s in criminology at DeSales University. Kohberger was one of only two students that Bolger had ever endorsed in such a way.
As part of his WSU PhD, he applied for an internship with Pullman Police Department but was unsuccessful.
While a move to Washington might have been seen as a fresh start more than 2,500 miles from the problem years of his past, he was unable to out-travel all of his troubles.
Best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were murdered by Bryan Kohberger
Young couple Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, both 20, were also killed on November 13, 2022
At WSU, Kohberger was assigned a role as a TA but concerns mounted early into the semester about his work and professionalism.
‘He didn’t take instruction and his work simply wasn’t acceptable,’ the source said.
‘He was going to do things his way or not at all.’
He frequently missed classes where he was supposed to be assisting Professor John Snyder, the source added.
Kohberger also did not take feedback well and had an ‘altercation’ with Snyder on September 23, according to his termination letter.
The details of that incident are not known but it prompted department chair Dr Melanie-Angela Neuilly to meet with Kohberger on October 3 ‘to discuss norms of professional behavior’.
Then, on October 21, Snyder emailed Kohberger laying out the ways he had failed to achieve the department’s expectations of a TA.
Staff members tried to resolve the issues and came up with an improvement plan to bring Kohberger up to standard.
The letter reveals that he met with Neuilly and Graduate Director Dale Willits on November 2 to discuss and agree to the terms.
Eleven days later, Kohberger murdered the four students in Idaho.
Around that time, a fellow student recalled Kohberger being even more absent from classes than usual.
Ben Roberts told ABC News that he had specifically missed class on November 14 – the day after the killings.
Roberts also recalled Kohberger’s demeanor shifting from apparent exhaustion before the violent plot was carried out to becoming more animated and sociable afterwards.
His performance on the PhD program also briefly improved, with professors noting in a December 7 meeting that some progress had been made.
But it was not to last.
Days after the final ‘altercation’ with a professor on December 9, Kohberger’s father, Michael, arrived in Pullman and the pair began the long drive back to Pennsylvania (pictured in bodycam during a traffic stop)
On December 30, 2022, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home. Pictured: Michael Kohberger cleans up the property after the raid
Two days later, he had another altercation with Snyder.
‘There was some improvement and then there wasn’t,’ the source said. ‘If anything, his behavior got worse.’
With Kohberger’s position already precarious, complaints from female students about him making them ‘extremely uncomfortable’ began to pile up.
In one alarming incident, he allegedly followed a female student to her car, the source said.
Another said that someone broke into her home, moved items around and then Kohberger, allegedly feigning concern for her safety, subsequently gained permission to install a surveillance system inside – that he had access to, Dateline reported.
Kohberger was also allegedly grading women more harshly than men when scoring papers as a TA, Roberts told James Patterson and Vicky Ward for their new book The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy.
He was said to be antagonistic toward women in class and once made a creepy comment about his own prowess.
‘I can walk into any social gathering and get any girl I want,’ Roberts claimed to have heard Kohberger say.
His behavior toward teaching staff was also bizarre at times, with a source recounting that he would follow staff ‘right on their heels like a terrier’ and linger in the corridors to walk them to their cars at night.
No connection has been found between Kohberger and the four victims (pictured)
At the time, many found his behavior merely annoying. After his arrest, they would think differently about these close encounters in the darkness with the cold-blooded killer.
A source recalled Kohberger once showing an interest in a defendant’s right to a speedy trial guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution – and how giving prosecutors limited time to bring a case could sometimes work in favor of a defendant.
Yet he waited until August 2023, eight months after being arrested, to eventually waive that right in his own case.
There were also boasts about dodging payment of a parking ticket – a possible sign of disdain for rules.
But the criminology department had finally had enough.
After the final ‘altercation’ on December 9, Kohberger’s father, Michael, arrived in Pullman and the pair began the long drive back to Pennsylvania.
The trip was supposed to be for the holidays but, according to Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, Kohberger left his apartment almost bare and scrubbed clean as though he had no plans of returning.
It is possible he realized his time at WSU was over – or feared that the net was closing in on him for committing the unthinkable over the state line.
Days later, he received a letter terminating the TA position for the spring semester and withdrawing his funding.
The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, where Bryan Kohberger carried out his attack
In the letter dated December 19, Neuilly wrote: ‘Mr. Kohberger, I am writing this letter to formally inform you of the termination of your teaching assistantship with the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology effective December 31st, 2022.
‘In keeping with the WSU graduate student handbook chapters 9G2 and 12E3, below is the list of events that led to you being deficient on the following contingency clause of your funding: “Maintaining satisfactory progress in fulfilling assistantship service requirements and duties.”‘
Nine days after the letter, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home and charged with four counts of murder.
Searches were executed on his college apartment and his office inside the criminology department. Based on the unsealed warrants, no items were seized from the office.
Despite the well-documented behavior issues, Kohberger’s arrest still came as a shock to those at WSU.
‘It’s one thing to realize you work or study with an unpleasant person,’ the source said. ‘It’s another to find out they could do something like that.’
Kohberger will return to court in Ada County, Idaho, on July 23 for sentencing, when the victims’ families are expected to deliver impact statements at the hearing. He faces four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. As part of the plea agreement, he has waived all rights to appeal.
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