Bryan Kohberger’s Motive? Classmate Gives Police Her Insight on Killer

Why did Bryan Kohberger kill four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022?

The motive behind the murders is still a mystery, almost three years after Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death in the middle of the night by a complete stranger.

But while Kohberger may not be willing to share that information with the public or even the families of his victims, one of his fellow classmates at Washington State University did tell police why she believes the former criminology student took the lives of four innocent people.

In an interview with Idaho State Police obtained by PEOPLE, the woman opined that Kohberger “committed these homicides because he wanted to know what it felt like to commit these crimes in relation to his studies and ultimately if he could get away with the crimes, further supporting his belief that he was smarter than others.”

In that same interview with police, the classmate noted that “committing these crimes and [Kohberger’s] need to control others is consistent with his personality.”

Kohberger is “calculated” and a “narcissist,” she said, adding that his “question about if someone else was also arrested after his own arrest was an attempt by him to throw people off and not that he had a friend or acquaintance.”

She said that it did cross her mind that Kohberger could have committed the murders, and other classmates said in their interviews with police that they recall even discussing the murders with the killer before his arrest.

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Because they were in the same program, that classmate said she saw Kohberger every day, and told police that in “all the times she had interacted with Kohberger, he had never displayed empathy toward another person.”

In the end, she told police she found Kohberger had no redeeming qualities or excuses for his behavior.

Detective Sergeant Michael Van Leuven wrote in his summary of the interview that “she wanted to think he was just socially inept, but after knowing him, she believes that Kohberger always thinks he is the smartest person in the room and has expressed resentment or jealousy at their successes.”