Bryan Kohberger's Professor Warned He'd 'Stalk and Sexually Abuse' People — and Then He Killed 4 Students By Sean Neumann 140

A former criminology professor of convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger warned coworkers about him potentially “harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing” future students if he one day became a professor himself, according to a new police report.

The Associated Press first reported Monday that the Washington State University faculty member had urged other staff to cut off the funding Kohberger, now 30, was receiving for his Ph.D. program.

“He is smart enough that in four years we will have to give him a Ph.D.,” the professor told colleagues, according to the AP, which cited a 550-page police report published by Idaho State Police last week.

“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,” the professor’s warning continued, according to the documents, which were also reviewed by PEOPLE.

Kohberger’s fellow grad students also shared reservations and concerns about his behavior, which they described to police as sexist and creepy during a number of police interviews after Kohberger was arrested in connection with the murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022.

“Based on how he talks to women and treats women, people in the department thought he was a possible future rapist,” the Idaho State Police report says, though no one suspected him of committing the Moscow murders.

One faculty member told police Kohberger “was aggressive towards women and made them feel uncomfortable,” adding that “the faculty discussed how they could intervene” with his behavior.

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A Ph.D. student told police during a December 2022 interview that Kohberger would often talk to her about sexual burglary, which was his field of study — and it made her feel uncomfortable. 

“Kohberger was interested in the emotions of what it felt like when committing a crime,” the police report said the student told investigators, adding that the student said Kohberger “discussed how offenders might avoid getting caught” and about “different emotions violent offenders might have.” The student said she logged a number of complaints to faculty after the conversations.

A student also told police “she had never met anyone who acted in such a condescending manner and wondered why people in power in the department did not address his behavior,” adding that “the way he spoke to females in the department was unsettling to them.” 

Others were advised not to leave particular students alone with Kohberger, according to the police report, while some students theorized whether Kohberger was an “incel” based on his internet posts and in-person behavior towards women.

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Idaho State Police reported that some instructors even kept a tally on a white board in their offices to count “the number of times when Kohberger was late to class when female instructors were presenting or when he would cut off a female when she was speaking.”

“In reference to the Moscow homicides, he would say that it was horrible,” the police report, based on the interviews with fellow students and Washington State faculty, said. “In discussing whether the murderer would be caught, he said maybe it was a one and done type thing.”

Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students last month: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole in late July.