Opinion: Why Kohberger killed his only male victim
The murders of four University of Idaho students in their off-campus Moscow, Idaho, home in November 2022 continue to fascinate and disturb the public long after police nailed their killer, Bryan Kohberger.
The victims' families and the public were denied answers at trial when Kohberger accepted a plea deal to dodge the death penalty - witnesses were not called, the killer was not cross-examined and the prosecution was not forced to present its theory.
The 31-year-old Washington State University criminology student pleaded guilty in July last year to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20.
In particular, long-sought clarity over Kohberger's motive - if even there was one - remains elusive.
In January, however, nearly 3,000 previously unseen photographs from the crime scene were briefly released online by Idaho State Police before being hastily taken down.
The Daily Mail downloaded the files in full before they disappeared and published some of those images last month.
Former FBI Agents Weigh In After Crime Scene Photos Briefly Released
Shots included blood-soaked floors and walls, stained mattresses and overturned furniture, indicating a struggle.
Former FBI agents Jennifer Coffindaffer and Tracy Walder have now told the Daily Mail that beyond the obvious brutality, the photos reinforce a narrative about how Kohberger moved through the student house, who his intended target likely was and how the killings spiraled into chaotic violence.
But they are equally clear about what the images do not show: there is no sign of a hidden accomplice, no alternate suspect and no elaborate cover-up.
For former FBI agent Coffindaffer, the newly released crime scene photos do not rewrite the Idaho murders. Rather, viewed alongside new autopsy findings unsealed this month, she said the images expose the true scale of the violence in a way words never could.
And they might help fill critical gaps in the timeline of events on the night of November 13, 2022.
Walder Believes Mogen Was Primary Target
According to prosecutors, Kohberger entered the property on King Road at about 4am and went to the third floor, where he killed Goncalves and Mogen, before attacking the others in Kernodle's second-floor bedroom. He exited around 4.20am.
Walder believes Mogen was the primary target – a conclusion she said was supported by Kohberger heading straight to the third floor.
Goncalves and Mogen had fewer defensive wounds - Goncalves was stabbed at least 38 times, and Mogen 28 times - suggesting they were attacked as they slept, she said. The state of Mogen's room also showed fewer signs of a struggle than downstairs.
The former agents said the new evidence reinforces the theory that Kohberger then encountered Kernodle on the second floor, where the attack escalated into a frenzied and more violent struggle that left both Kernodle and her boyfriend Chapin dead.
But their assessment now goes further: based on newly surfaced images and blood pattern evidence, they said Kernodle was likely attacked before she reached her bedroom.
Coffindaffer Says Kernodle Was Attacked From Behind Before a Prolonged Struggle
Blood marks on the outside of Kernodle's door suggest she was attacked in the hallway and then fled back to her bedroom.
Stab wounds to her back are key, Coffindaffer said, supporting the idea that she was initially attacked from behind before a prolonged struggle erupted.
The autopsy determined that Kernodle, who was awake at the time of Kohberger’s attack, suffered a staggering 67 stab wounds as she fought for her life.
Kernodle - unlike the other victims - also had blood on the bottoms of her feet, indicating she was moving about and stepping in her own blood as she tried to fend off her attacker.
The wounds on Chapin, Kernodle's boyfriend, who was sleeping in her bed at the start of the attack, tell a different story.
He had fewer wounds than the other victims - 17 - but they were deadlier, including a slash to his jugular vein.
Coffindaffer believes he was killed quickly – not out of sadism, but necessity.
Pictured: Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer
Coffindaffer Says Kohberger Killed Chapin to ‘Neutralize the threat’
'He killed the guy because he needed to neutralize the threat… he enjoyed killing the women,' she said.
Coffindaffer pointed to the combination of wounds: deep vertical stab wounds and wide horizontal slashing injuries. Some penetrated bone.
'When you really look at the numbers now that have been released… it brings to light the true barbarian nature of this crime,' Coffindaffer said.
'This wasn't a murder – this was a slaughter.'
In the third-floor bedroom where Mogen and Goncalves were killed, Coffindaffer said the photos help investigators reconstruct blood spatter, body positioning and the attacker's proximity.
They show how 6ft Kohberger towered over his victims in cramped rooms during violently intimate attacks.
'It brings into light just the close proximity that all of this took place,' she said.
Former FBI and CIA agent Walder has long believed that Mogen was the primary target. The photos, she said, strengthen that conclusion.
Blood pooling in Mogen's bedroom appears relatively contained.
Walder Says the Knife Sheath in Mogen’s Bed Shows the Attack Began There
Defensive wounds are limited. The knife sheath – pictured for the first time last week – was found in her bed.
Kohbeger went straight to Mogen's room on the third floor. She believes Goncalves was collateral damage – she had been staying with her best friend after a night of partying.
'Who walks all the way up to the third floor first unless someone was their target?' she asked.
Photos of the sheath, Walder said, were the most consequential. It shows the sheath 'was in Maddie's bed… which means that the crime started there,' Walder explained.
And the path the killer took mattered.
Walder believes the attack on Mogen and Goncalves was swift and unexpected, likely carried out while the victims were intoxicated and asleep. That contrasts sharply with what the photos show downstairs.
In Kernodle's bedroom, Walder sees chaos in the new photos. Blood evidence suggests movement. Resistance. A fight.
She believes Kernodle unexpectedly encountered Kohberger as he was leaving the house – possibly after she retrieved her DoorDash order – forcing him into an unplanned confrontation.
Pictured: Tracy Walder
Walder Says Kernodle Likely Crossed Paths With Kohberger As He Left
'I think Xana encountered him on his way out. I don't think he intended to get her,' Walder said.
In this view, Chapin's death was a consequence of escalation, not intent.
Walder also dismissed claims that the images reveal a 'process-oriented' killer who lingered or tortured his victims. The timeline is too tight. The violence too fast.
Instead, she described Kohberger as 'act-focused' – driven by fantasy and control, but operating quickly, without full command of the scene.
'I think this is someone that just wanted to see what it was like to actually kill someone and see if he could do it,' she said.
For Walder, the photos are not a mystery to solve. They are evidence of a crime already explained – and a tragedy that should never be exploited.
In the end, she said, the images confirm one grim truth. The facts were already there. And they were horrific enough.
Opinion: What everyone missed in those leaked Idaho murder pictures
On Tuesday, IdahoState police briefly released– before hurriedly removing – a ghastly cache of graphic photographs revealing the horrifying aftermath of the murders inside 1122 King Road House in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
That was the night Bryan Kohberger massacred four University of Idaho college students. On July 2, 2025, he pleaded guilty to the killings. The pictures show blood-streaked walls and blood-soaked bed streets, overturned furniture and gory handprints all amid red drink cups, discarded clothes and the banal disarray of college life. It's a nightmare come to life.
Police have taken down the photos in the face of public revulsion, but now they say they'll soon reissue them after reviewing general concerns.
I, like countless others, was shocked by the barbarism. But the grisly evidence also gives away something else – no less disturbing. I began reporting on this case in the days immediately after the killings.
In the months that followed I spent weeks in Idaho, review thousands of pages of law enforcement reports, interviewed numerous officials and even visited the small Pennsylvania town where Kohberger was born and raised.
And, even after Kohberger's sentencing, a startling possibility has been taking shape in my mind. While I believe Bryan Kohberger is guilty, I have never been able to shake a long-held hypothesis that he didn't act alone. Now this newly released evidence only bolsters that belief.
Report: Idaho Prison Staff Seek To Transfer Kohberger Out Of State
Prison staff are so fed up with murderer Bryan Kohberger's 'diva' antics they are considering drastic measures, the Daily Mail has learned.
It can be exclusively revealed the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) is now 'aggressively' trying to ship Kohberger, 31, off to a prison in another state.
Insiders say Idaho officials have approached several states to see if they will take the mass killer off their hands.
A transfer could happen as soon as next month.
Chris McDonough, a retired homicide detective with inside knowledge of Kohberger's situation, told the Daily Mail: 'They are fed up with him so they're trying to move him out of Idaho by making an agreement with another state.
'They're trying to make it happen. So it wouldn't be surprising if within 30 days Kohberger has been transferred elsewhere or a decision has been reached whether or not to get him out of there.'
We previously revealed how Kohberger has been complaining about his living situation and food quality since the second of his incarceration at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution near Kuna.
