Did Bryan Kohberger Know His Victims? Signs, Visits, and Theories

No. Investigators who spent years on the case say they never found evidence that Bryan Kohberger knew any of the four University of Idaho students he murdered — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin — and the question of whether Kohberger knew his victims remained unanswered even after his July 2025 guilty plea. Circumstantial evidence suggests he may have been aware of some of them, and his phone pinged near their house on King Road more than twenty times before the attack, but no texts, photos, saved profiles, or confirmed in-person contact ever surfaced.

What Investigators Looked For

Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson said investigators “never found a single connection — anything — between any of the four victims or the other two surviving roommates with him. No pictures, no texts.”¹ Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the court at the plea hearing that the state had “no evidence that he had direct contact with the King Road home or its occupants.”²

Kohberger’s phone and computer were examined closely. They held screenshots and news coverage of the killings after they happened, but no photos of the victims, no saved social media profiles belonging to them, and no messages tying him to any of them.¹ Earlier reports that his phone contained the victims’ social media accounts were debunked.

The written factual basis Kohberger signed when pleading guilty was equally bare. He admitted entering the house with intent to commit murder and killing all four victims with premeditation. It said nothing about targeting any specific person or knowing who lived there.³

Signs He May Have Been Aware of Some Victims

Kohberger’s phone held dozens of pictures of female students at Washington State University and the University of Idaho. An NBC News review found some of those students were “close friends with or followers of three of the murdered students.”⁴

Instagram Follows and Alleged Direct Messages

Kaylee Goncalves’s parents told CBS News’s “48 Hours” they had found an Instagram account they believed was Kohberger’s. The account, they said, followed both Goncalves and Mogen and had liked multiple photos on Mogen’s profile. CBS said it could not independently confirm the account was his, and the family said it went inactive after Kohberger’s arrest.⁵ CNN separately reported that Kohberger followed three of the four female victims on Instagram and that none followed him back.⁶

An unnamed investigator told People magazine that Kohberger sent direct messages to one of the victims starting in late October 2022, roughly two weeks before the killings. The messages were described as casual, “just him saying, ‘Hey, how are you?'” — sent repeatedly and never answered.⁶ Fox News Digital reported it could not independently confirm the claim.⁷

The Mad Greek Restaurant Claim

Mogen and Kernodle both worked as servers at the Mad Greek, a restaurant in downtown Moscow. An anonymous former employee told People magazine that Kohberger ate there at least twice in the weeks before the murders, ordering vegan pizza with strict instructions about animal products.⁸ The restaurant’s owner, Jackie Fischer, called the claim “unequivocally false” and “completely fabricated.”⁹ Investigators spoke with restaurant staff and collected surveillance footage, but no confirmed interaction between Kohberger and the victims at the restaurant was ever established.

Repeated Visits Near the King Road House

Whatever he knew about the people inside, Kohberger was familiar with the house. Cellphone records showed his phone connected to a cell tower near 1122 King Road about 23 times during late-night and early-morning hours between July 2022 and the night of the murders. The earliest ping came on August 21, 2022, the day before his graduate classes at WSU were set to begin.²¹⁰ NBC News reported many of those connections were to a tower providing coverage within 100 meters of the residence.⁴

Cell-tower data has limits. A telecommunications expert noted that the nearest tower to King Road covered a 27.3-square-mile area, meaning each ping placed the phone somewhere inside that zone, not at the house itself.¹¹ The route between Pullman, where Kohberger lived, and Moscow runs through the same area, and Lt. Gilbertson described some of the pings as potentially consistent with “regular visits to Moscow.”¹²

The night of the murders looked different. Security footage from a neighbor’s balcony camera captured Kohberger’s white Hyundai Elantra making at least three passes through the neighborhood between 3:30 a.m. and 3:58 a.m. before a final approach at 4:04 a.m. At 4:07 a.m., the car executed a three-point turn in the cul-de-sac and headed toward the house. It was not seen again until 4:20 a.m., when it left the area “at a high rate of speed.”¹³ Police later pulled footage from more than 17 locations across Moscow and Pullman to reconstruct the car’s full route.¹⁴

What the Surviving Roommate Heard

One piece of evidence briefly suggested Kohberger knew a victim by name. Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen told Moscow police on the morning of the murders that she heard a male voice say, “It’s okay Kaylee, I’m here for you,” along with crying.¹⁵¹⁶ Detective Victoria Gooch wrote that Mortensen was “certain” the voice had used Goncalves’s name.

In a later interview the same day, Mortensen recanted the detail about the name and instead described the voice as saying, “It’s okay, I’m going to help you.”¹⁷ She told investigators she had been drinking that evening, said she was “trying to determine what was real,” and acknowledged she was not sure some of what she described was factual. Mortensen also opened her bedroom door and saw a figure dressed in black wearing a mask walking toward the back sliding glass door. She described the person as lean and athletically built, “like a basketball player,” said her vision was blurry, and did not recognize him.¹⁸

Why He Chose That House

Without a known connection between Kohberger and the people inside, why he picked 1122 King Road remains the central unanswered question in the case. Thompson offered a personal view at a press conference: “I personally feel that, for whatever reason, he targeted one of the young women on the third floor,” referring to Goncalves or Mogen, whose bedroom was on the top floor.¹² Thompson said Kohberger likely did not expect to encounter Kernodle, whom prosecutors believe he ran into in a hallway, and offered no explanation for how or why Chapin was killed.²

Prosecutors said Kohberger had been deleting data and attempting to “sanitize” his electronic devices, and they believed that process may have destroyed evidence that could have clarified a motive.¹² Gilbertson summed it up: “He’s the only one that has the ‘why.’ And oftentimes that ‘why,’ it may only make sense to him.”¹ When Judge Steven Hippler gave Kohberger the chance to speak at his July 23, 2025 sentencing, he said only, “I respectfully decline.”¹⁹

1
CNN. Bryan Kohberger Idaho Murders Investigator Interview
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CNN. Bryan Kohberger Plea Hearing New Evidence
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Idaho Courts. Written Factual Basis, State v. Kohberger
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NBC News. Idaho College Murders Suspect Bryan Kohberger Online Searches Selfies
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CBS News. Idaho Student Murders Bryan Kohberger Followed Victims on Instagram Says Family
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CNN. Bryan Kohberger University of Idaho Killings Restaurant Visits
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Fox 6 Now. Idaho Murders Suspect Bryan Kohberger Allegedly Spammed One Victim With Instagram DMs
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People. Bryan Kohberger Idaho Murders Suspect Visited Restaurant Victims Worked
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The Independent. Bryan Kohberger Mad Greek Restaurant Idaho Murders
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Ideastream. Investigators Reveal New Information They Say Ties Idaho Killings to Bryan Kohberger
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Idaho Statesman. Kohberger Cellphone Records and Cell Tower Coverage
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ABC News. Idaho Murders Investigators Speak on Targets, Motive, Interviewing Kohberger
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Idaho Statesman. Security Camera Footage of Kohberger Vehicle Near King Road
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The Columbian. Security Videos of Car Helped Tie Bryan Kohberger to Idaho Student Murders
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People. Bryan Kohberger Said Victims Name on Night of Idaho Murders New Docs
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NBC News. Bryan Kohberger Said Name of Victim During Attack Idaho Students Documents Show
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ABC News. Idaho Murders New Details Reveal Surviving Roommate Heard
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CNN. Idaho Student Murders Roommates Texts
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Fox News. Bryan Kohberger Sentencing Hearing