Bryan Kohberger, the suspect arrested in connection with the murders of four college students in Idaho asked members of an “ExCons” Reddit forum to participate in a research project of his in June, according to a report.
Kohberger, who was a graduate criminology student at DeSales University at the time, asked criminals how they felt about their crimes and what they did to prepare
“I am inviting you to participate in a research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime,” Kohberger asked in the since deleted survey post.
Kohberger asked about the criminals criminal tactics, including why they chose the victim and if they prepared ahead of time,
28-year-old Kohberger was arrested early Friday morning by the Pennsylvania State Police at a home in Chestnuthill Township, authorities said.
He is being held for extradition to Idaho on a warrant for first degree murder. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said investigators believe Kohberger broke into the students’ home “with the intent to commit murder.”
Kohberger is a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, which is about nine miles west of the University of Idaho. He graduated from Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania with an associate of arts degree in psychology in 2018. DeSales University in Pennsylvania said that he received a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and completed graduate studies in June 2022.
All four victims were friends and members of the university’s Greek system. Xana Kernodle, 20, was a junior studying marketing. She was from Post Falls, Idaho, and joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority on campus. She lived at the rental home with the other two women who were stabbed, and she was dating Ethan Chapin, who was visiting the night of the killings.
Chapin, also 20, was from Conway, Washington, and was a triplet. His brother and sister also attend UI, and both Chapin and his brother were members of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were both 21 and friends who grew up together in northern Idaho. Mogen worked with Kernodle at a Greek restaurant in Moscow. She was also a member of Pi Beta Phi.
Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies, a member of the Alpha Phi sorority and was planning a trip to Europe next year.
The night of the attack Goncalves and Mogen went to a bar, stopped at a food truck and then caught a ride home around 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, according to a police timeline of the evening.
Chapin and Kernodle were at the Sigma Chi house just a short walk away and returned to Kernodle’s house around 1:45 a.m., police said.
Two other roommates who live in the home were also out that evening, but returned home by 1 a.m., police said. They didn’t wake up until later that morning.
After they woke up, they called friends to come to the house because they believed one of the victims found on the second floor had passed out and wasn’t waking up. At 11:58 a.m., someone inside the home called 911, using a roommate’s cell phone. Multiple people talked with the dispatcher before police arrived.
Police found two of the victims on the second floor of the three-story home, and two on the third floor. A dog was also at the home, unharmed.
Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault, police said.
