Idaho murders – update: Bryan Kohberger was fired from WSU for ‘behavioural problems’ and ‘sexist attitude’

Bryan Kohberger was facing disciplinary action in his teaching assistant job at Washington State University (WSU) around the time of the murders of four University of Idaho students – before he was ultimately fired from the position days before his arrest.

The 28-year-old criminology PhD student began working as a teaching assistant in August as part of his graduate program.

But within a month he was under investigation by the university because of “behavioural problems” and a “sexist attitude towards women”, according to NewsNation, which obtained a detailed timeline of his issues in the department.

On 2 November, he reportedly met with a professor to discuss an “improvement plan” for his behaviour.

Less than two weeks later on 13 November, Mr Kohberger is accused of stabbing to death Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in a student home over the Washington border in Moscow, Idaho.

One month on from the murders, on 19 November, NewsNation reported that he was fired from WSU following repeated warnings and failing to improve his behaviour. Days later on 30 December he was arrested and charged with the quadruple homicide.

In an appeal filed in court on Friday, the Goncalves’ family attorney Shanon Gray called on the judge to pull back the scope of the gag order, describing it as unconstitutional and “facially overbroad and vague”.

On 18 January, the gag order was broadly expanded to also ban any attorneys representing survivors, witnesses or the victims’ family members from talking or writing about the case

Rader —who gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them — is serving ten consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Rader said he understands how Mr Kohberger must feel while in solitary confinement at Latah County Jail ahead of his preliminary hearing on 26 June.

“Since I spent from February 2005 to April 2005 in a cell by myself, I know how he feels. Very lonely,” Rader told the outlet, adding that his situation improved when he was allowed to receive mail. “And soon letters started to come in ... [I] read a lot of the Bible and wrote poetry.”

Rader and Kohberger were first linked via the latter’s former criminology professor

Last month, The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Miller said investigators could seek to prove that the items listed on those receipts, and whatever the tag came from, match with the clothing worn by the alleged killer.

“[The suspect] may have bought something to wear and discard, and then [law enforcement] found these receipts and asked ‘Where are these clothes?’” he said.

The receipts could also reveal how long in advance the clothing was purchased, Ms Coffindaffer noted.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November

“I think that those would indicate not only what was purchased — which is relevant to the crime — but also when, which I think is very important to see timing, to see a forethought that this was planned,” Ms Coffindaffer said. “Was this just one day? Several days before? The timestamp to me is as important as what was on those receipts.”

In a Facebook post in late January, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband had visited her two surviving triplets, Mazie and Hunter, at the University of Idaho over the weekend. The Chapin triplets were all enrolled at the college in the town of Moscow when Ethan was killed on 13 November.

Speaking out about life after losing her son, Ms Chapin said she had early on agreed with her husband that Maizie and Hunter would be returning to school for the spring semester. The mother-of-three said that she wanted to keep her family close but also allow her children “to heal at their own pace.”

During their visit, Ms Chapin said, the parents fed over 20 of their children’s friends and enjoyed long conversations, coffee dates and hugs. The Chapin family also spent time “remembering Ethan and sharing stories” before Ms Chapin and her husband returned to their home in Washington.

“Our kids are resilient, but this is definitely a challenging time. We’re grateful they have each other at school, fraternity and sorority friends, and other amazing support systems,” she wrote. “They are each processing this new normal in their own way, and that’s okay. Our job as parents is to be there and provide tools and resources as needed.”

At around 11.40pm on the night of 12 November, police were called to a report of a crash in front of an apartment complex on the Washington State University (WSU) campus, in Pullman, Washington state, according to authorities.

The apartment complex, which houses mainly graduate or PhD students, had been home to Mr Kohberger since August when he relocated from his home state of Pennsylvania to start a PhD program in criminal justice at the university.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found two pedestrians – a male WSU student and a woman – with injuries after being struck by a car.

The driver had already fled the scene.

Witness Turner Gardner told Business Insider the incident was “horrifying” and the two victims were taken to hospital for treatment for serious injuries.

Hours later, 19-year-old student Carmen Fernandez was arrested and charged with DUI, felony vehicular assault and hit-and-run, the Pullman Police Department said at the time.

It is not clear if Mr Kohberger witnessed the hit-and-run which took place within the eyeline of his apartment.

However, investigators were reportedly still on the scene of the crash at the housing complex when the 28-year-old allegedly left his home in the early hours of 13 November and travelled to Moscow to carry out the murders.

A record of evidence recovered during the apartment search was unsealed last month, revealing the seizure of 15 items including hairs, receipts, a computer tower, a disposable glove and items with peculiar stains.

The record reignited a frenzy of speculation online - despite its simplicity and lack of conjecture.

But what significance, if any, can actually be gleaned from the list? The Independent spoke to two experts - Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert for the Texas Department of Public Safety; and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer - for their takes on each item.

Dr Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert, and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer explain the potential significance of items seized from Kohberger’s home

A criminology PhD student accused of murdering four University of Idaho students was interviewed by a local police department for an internship position months before the slayings.

Emails obtained by The New York Times show a brief exchange between Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger and the then-chief of Pullman Police Department Gary Jenkins regarding Mr Kohberger’s interview process for the research assistantship for public safety position in April 2022.

Mr Kohberger, 28, is facing four murder charges in the brutal stabbings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November. Mr Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on 30 December before he was extradited to Idaho on 5 January.

In his email to Mr Jenkins, Mr Kohberger wrote that “it was a great pleasure to meet with you today and share [his] thoughts and excitement.” Mr Jenkins replied that it was “great to meet and talk with you as well.”

Police investigating the murder of four Idaho students seized a string of items from suspect Bryan Kohberger’s apartment, including possible hair strands, a disposable glove, items with red and brown stains and a computer, according to a newly unsealed search warrant.

Investigators stated in the search warrant application that they hoped to find hair strands that could link the suspect to the scene of the horrific November crime in Moscow, Idaho. They said in the application that this could be either through the four victims or through a dog that was at the rental house at the time of the slayings, reported The New York Times.

Police said that one of the items found at the suspect’s apartment at nearby Washington State University was a “possible animal hair strand.”

In the documents, investigators said one item had a “collection of dark red” spotting, and that a pillow had a “reddish/brown stain” on it.

The application also stated that the murder scene near the University of Idaho campus where the victims were discovered had a large amount of the victims’ blood “including spatter and castoff” blood.

Investigators also searched the Washington State University office used by the suspect, a graduate student and teaching assistant in criminology, but did not seize any items.

The FBI has denied claims that its agents “lost” accused mass killer Bryan Kohberger while he was under surveillance for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.

Surveillance teams had been tasked with keeping eyes on the 28-year-old criminology PhD student after he became a “person of interest” in the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho.

But, law enforcement sources told Air Mail’s “The Eyes of a Killer: Part Two” that in the early hours of 13 December, Mr Kohberger set off on a cross-country drive with his father from Washington State University (WSU) to his family home in Pennsylvania and the surveillance team “lost” him.

Sources told Air Mail that the accused mass killer ‘vanished’ for several hours as he drove from Washington to his home state of Pennsylvania