Killer Bryan Kohberger now spends most of his days alone. Following his sentencing, he’s been housed inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution’s J-Block unit in what is effectively solitary confinement. For his own protection, he reportedly spends 23 hours a day in his cell with no direct contact with any other inmates. It’s a stark contrast to an earlier period of custody when he shared space with another prisoner who later spoke to police all about Kohberger’s habits, his obsessions and the unsettling way he studied everyone around him.(Pictures: Shutterstock/Getty Images)
Before prison came the crime that shocked a nation. In November 2022, four University of Idaho students were brutally stabbed to death inside an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed in an attack that prosecutors said was both deliberate and calculated. Kohberger, then a criminology PhD student living near Washington State University, had no known connection to the victims. He later accepted a plea deal and received life without parole. (Picture: EPA)
During his earlier time in custody – when he wasn’t in solitary – a former cellmate told Idaho State Police that Kohberger was obsessed with analysing everybody’s behaviour, New York Times reports. ‘Kohberger analysed everything. He wanted to know why people had preferences on anything. He psychoanalyses everything,’ the inmate said. Despite describing his eyes as ‘creepy’, the cellmate added that he was ‘very smart’ and ‘easy to get along with.’ The former criminology student reportedly treated everyday conversation like a case study, constantly probing motives and quirks as if he was still conducting academic research. (Picture: Getty Images)
One fascination stood out more than the rest. Kohberger told his former cellmate that his all-time favourite film is 2000’s American Psycho (pictured), the dark satire adapted from the controversial 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The story follows Patrick Bateman, a wealthy New York investment banker who hides a violent double life behind designer suits and swanky dinner reservations. Both the book and the film sparked outrage on their releases for their graphic violence and cold depiction of a narcissistic killer who blends seamlessly into ordinary society. Some critics called the novel disturbing, misogynistic and morally dubious. Others argued it was razor-sharp social commentary. (Picture: Lions Gate/Kobal/Shutterstock)
The critically-acclaimed movie, directed by Mary Harron and starring Christian Bale, leaned into the satire a bit more, but did little to soften the brutality. Bateman’s character remains one of modern cinema’s most unsettling figures precisely because he’s such an articulate, composed and obsessively analytical person. According to the cellmate, Kohberger’s interest in the film wasn’t exactly casual. He referenced it frequently. He was also said to be glued to CourtTV all the time and closely followed the trial of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh. A forensic expert later revealed that screengrabs from Nancy Grace’s show ‘Crime Stories’ were found on his phone. Kohberger, it seems, is obsessed with crime, both literary and literal. (Picture: Sygma via Getty Images)
He reportedly used to watch coverage of his own case whenever it appeared on television too. Kohberger enjoyed watching the news about his case ‘unless it began talking about his family or friends, at which point he’d change the channel immediately.’ Alongside his media habits came quite rigid routines too. The cellmate described him as a clean freak who went through three bars of soap a week, taking hour-long showers and washing his hands so often his skin turned red. He frequently requested fresh sheets and clean clothes. (Picture: Getty Images)
That earlier period of interaction has since been replaced by near-total isolation. Since being moved to J-Block after sentencing, Kohberger has reportedly struggled to adapt to his new isolated surroundings. Within days of arriving, he was said to have began filing formal handwritten grievances. In early complaints, he described ‘minute-by-minute verbal threats/harassment’ from other inmates, alleging they shouted at him through air vents. He requested to be moved and later claimed he was subjected to sexual threats. A housing placement hearing in mid-August resulted in an agreement that he would remain segregated. (Picture: Getty Images)
In total, he’s said to have filed five formal grievances in the short space of time he’s been in J-Block. Beyond harassment concerns, he complained about access to commissary items and criticised the food that he’s being served. One grievance reportedly focused on the ‘type’ of bananas being provided to him. Matters reportedly escalated in December when he allegedly threatened to harm himself unless he was relocated away from inmates he claimed were tormenting him. Unsurprisingly, staff are said to have grown weary of what one described as Kohberger’s ‘prima donna’ behaviour. (Picture: Monroe County Correctional Facility)
Concerns about his behaviour predate prison and the crime that put him there. At Washington State University, nine complaints were reportedly made about Bryan Kohberger’s ‘rude and belittling behaviour toward women.’ One staff member initially described him as ‘lonely’ but normal, chatting about hiking in Pennsylvania. Weeks later, she said he would ‘simply stand at her desk and stare at her or her co-worker – at one stage blocking the co-worker in her desk area’, New York Post reports. He was made to attend a training class on ‘behaviour expectations,’ where he allegedly ‘sat at the back with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling.’ (Picture: TNS)
The plea deal that sealed his fate means that killer Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty against him. The arrangement ensures he may never have to publicly explain what drove him to enter that house in Moscow, Idaho, and kill four students who appeared to have no connection to him. Infuriatingly for police and the victims’ families, a man so keen to analyse everyone else’s motives, he remains entirely silent about his own. (Picture: Monroe County Correctional Facility)
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