Before his arrest on December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger was studying for his Ph.D. in criminology and was a teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice at Washington State University.
He lived in an on-campus apartment, roughly eight miles from the scene of the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students that he now stands accused of.
While at DeSales, a user on the website Reddit who identified himself as Bryan Kohberger posted what appears to be a university-approved survey, asking ex-convicts questions about the crimes they committed.
Two of his high school friends, Casey Arntz and Bree, who asked to have her last name kept private, said Kohberger was overweight and was bullied in school.
The suspected Idaho killer shed nearly 100 pounds in his senior year after being the brunt of his classmates’ jokes – which was when people noticed a switch in him.
Arntz told CBS’ 48 Hours: ‘He was rail thin. It was after that weight loss that a lot of people noticed a huge switch.
‘After losing the weight, it was Kohberger who started bullying Arntz’ brother – putting him in chokeholds and getting physically aggressive with him.
Bree said that ‘self-destructive’ Kohberger started also using heroin. She added: ‘You just saw him becoming more self-destructive. He really stayed secluded.’
In the years after high school, the suspect seemed to be getting his life back on track, and would tell Bree that he was ‘going to be better.’
She revealed: ‘He was telling me that he wanted to get sober, that he was getting sober. And he wanted to let me know, ‘I’m gonna do better. I’m gonna be better.”
Both of the women last saw Kohberger at a friend’s wedding in 2017 – where they said he looked ‘good’ and seemed to have a new lease of life.
Arntz said: ‘I gave him a hug and I said, ‘You look so good. I’m so proud of you.’
‘And Bree said that his new focus on his criminology studies: ‘His goal was just to change the world for the good around him. He wanted to do something that impacted people in a good way.
Benjamin Roberts (who was in four classes with Kohberger at Washington State) also spoke with “48 Hours'” correspondent Peter Van Sant for a report on this case titled ‘The Idaho Student Murders,’ airing Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Roberts told Van Sant that Kohberger ‘seemed comfortable around other people. He was very quick to offer his opinion and thoughts.’
Roberts also says Kohberger appeared to be highly intelligent, ‘He would describe things in the most complicated, perhaps academic way possible,’ said Roberts.
‘Trying to impress people?’ Van Sant asked. ‘It was like he was trying to convince people that he knew what he was talking about,’ replied Roberts.
‘This is out of character for Bryan, these allegations,’ said Monroe County public defender Jason LaBar, who represented Kohberger at his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania.
LaBar has spent time with Kohberger’s parents and two older sisters and says, ‘The family wants the public to know that Bryan is a caring son and brother, that’s he’s responsible, that he is devoted to them.’
Kohberger lived eight miles from the murder scene in Moscow, Idaho, and drove the white Hyundai Elantra cops were looking to trace.
And with the help of genetic genealogy, cell phone data, CCTV footage, and evidence left at the crime scene, they were able to hunt down their suspect and charge him with the quadruple murder.
The affidavit recounts the moments Moscow Police Officer Brett Payne entered the home on Kings Street and found the four college students brutally stabbed to death.
If convicted, Kohberger is facing the death penalty for the murders of Idaho students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, and best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21.
