On August 18, 2025, Idaho State Police made public more than 500 pages of investigation documents, casting new light on the chilling lead-up to the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students and the disturbing conduct of their killer, Bryan Kohberger. The revelations, drawn from witness interviews, faculty warnings, and police reports, paint a portrait of a man whose troubling behavior raised red flags across his academic community long before tragedy struck.
Kohberger, a doctoral candidate in criminology at Washington State University (WSU), had already developed a reputation that unnerved many of his peers and professors. According to Fox News, the newly released documents detail how Kohberger was perceived as “sexist” and “creepy” by fellow graduate students. Multiple sources described his interactions as rude and belittling, particularly toward women—especially those whose research focused on sexual burglary, the very field he was studying.
One WSU faculty member’s warnings were especially stark. She reportedly told colleagues, "Mark my word, I work with predators. If we give him a Ph.D. that's the guy that in that many years when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing…his students at wherever university." Her concerns were not merely theoretical. The documents reveal that Kohberger would sometimes block the door to an office where several female graduate students worked, making them uncomfortable enough that the professor would intervene to help them leave. She also urged her colleagues to cut his funding and remove him from the program, fearing what he might do if allowed to continue unchecked.
The investigation files show that complaints about Kohberger’s conduct were not isolated incidents. Idaho State Police records indicate that more than a dozen formal complaints were made to the university about his "inappropriate behavior," with at least nine separate reports from faculty, staff, and students specifically citing his rude and condescending treatment of women. In response, WSU held a mandatory training session for all graduate students on behavioral expectations, but concerns persisted.
Other troubling anecdotes surfaced. Kohberger allegedly told a disabled classmate that his project partner needed to be “physically perfect” and that her disability “would not be acceptable.” At one point, a professor had to escort a female student to her car because Kohberger’s behavior was deemed concerning. Some in the department even pegged him as a potential “incel” (involuntary celibate) and “possible future rapist,” though, at the time, no one suspected him of being capable of the violence that would later shock the community.
One of the most haunting aspects of the documents concerns Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four victims. Months before the murders, Goncalves confided to friends that she felt she was being stalked. She recounted seeing a man lurking in the tree line outside her house on King Road, just steps from the University of Idaho campus, and another time spotted someone staring at her from beside a dumpster near her home. In a particularly unsettling incident in the parking lot of a WinCo grocery store, Goncalves believed a man followed her to her car and tried to open her door after she got inside. At another point, someone broke into her parked car, moved her belongings—including lip gloss—and stole her underwear, placing her suitcase in the street. According to the Idaho State Police files, a similar burglary occurred at a female graduate student’s apartment at WSU, with intimate items such as perfume and underwear taken.
Even as these disturbing events unfolded, Kohberger’s academic focus and classroom demeanor remained unsettling. According to Fox News, he often expressed interest in “the emotions of what it felt like when committing a crime” and “how offenders might avoid getting caught.” After the murders, Kohberger discussed the case with his peers, calling the killings “horrible” but also suggesting that “maybe it was a one and done type of thing.” One fellow Ph.D. student recalled that Kohberger’s behavior shifted after the murders: he stopped bringing his cellphone to class, appeared more disheveled, and avoided conversations about the Moscow killings. She eventually reported seeing him with bloody knuckles just before the murders and noted his odd withdrawal from discussions about the case.
When Kohberger was eventually arrested and jailed in Moscow, Idaho, his behavior behind bars drew further attention. Cellmates told police that he was obsessed with cleanliness, using up to three bars of soap a week, taking hour-long showers, and washing his hands so frequently that they became red and raw. He also insisted on new bedding and clothes daily. One cellmate noted that Kohberger enjoyed watching news coverage about himself, reportedly saying, “Wow, I’m on every channel.” However, he would quickly change the channel if coverage shifted to his family or friends and, over time, stopped watching news about his case altogether.
The break in the case came with a crucial piece of physical evidence. Police discovered a tan leather Ka-Bar knife sheath next to victim Madison Mogen’s left hip, lying atop a tan comforter in her third-story bedroom. DNA on the sheath’s snap led investigators directly to Kohberger. This, combined with mounting witness testimony and behavioral evidence, solidified the case against him.
The murders themselves were as brutal as they were shocking. In the early hours of November 13, 2022, Kohberger entered a rental home near the University of Idaho campus and stabbed to death Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. The crime sent shockwaves through both the university and the broader community, with many left to wonder how warning signs could have been missed or dismissed.
Ultimately, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary just weeks before his trial was set to begin in 2025. The plea deal spared him the death penalty but resulted in four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional ten years. He also waived his rights to appeal or seek a sentence reduction, closing the legal chapter on a case that had gripped the nation.
The newly released documents serve as a sobering reminder of the importance of vigilance and accountability within academic and social communities. Faculty and students alike raised alarms, but the tragic events of November 2022 underscore just how critical it is to take such warnings seriously. As the community continues to process the aftermath, the story of Bryan Kohberger stands as a cautionary tale about the dangers that can lurk behind even the most mundane facades.
