ALBRIGHTSVILLE, Pennsylvania – Former Pennsylvania classmates of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger said he was an intellectual who “was very interested in the way the mind works” but bullied him for his weight and social awkwardness.
Kohberger was arrested thousands of miles from Idaho, in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, early Friday morning and charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Madison Mogen. , twenty-one.
Police said he was a graduate student at Washington State University and was living in Pullman at the time. He is in the Monroe County, Pennsylvania jail while awaiting extradition to Idaho.
In his home state, he was known as a genius who was socially awkward and had difficulty picking up on social cues, a pair of former classmates told Fox News Digital.
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Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in connection with four murders in Moscow, Idaho.
(Washington State University)
Sarah Healey, who attended Pleasant Valley High School with Kohberger, said he was shy and reserved to himself and a small group of friends, but some of his classmates, especially the girls, made fun of Kohberger and threw things at him.
“It was bad,” Healey said. “There was definitely something off about him, like we couldn’t quite tell what it was. I remember one time I was walking down the hall, and he stopped me and said, ‘You want to hang out?'”
At the time, they did not know each other or belong to the same social circles, Healey said.
“It was just weird,” he said. “But Bryan was bullied a lot and I never got a chance to say anything to defend him because he always ran away.”
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Victims of the November 13 massacre at the University of Idaho.
(Instagram @xanakernodle / @maddiemogen / @kayleegoncalves)
Healey said she heard other girls tell Kohberger at her high school to “go away, calm down” or “I don’t want to date you.”
“Honestly, I think that’s what led to this, because he didn’t get the proper help and it was mainly the women who harassed him,” Healey said.
Despite the bullying, he said Kohberger’s grades were always good and that he “was really into his books.”
That continued at Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania, according to one of Kohberger’s friends, who requested anonymity because of her work.
“He’s very, very smart. A brilliant boy…someone who excelled even in honors and senior classes,” said his friend from NCC.
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This photo provided by the Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Center shows Bryan Kohberger.
(Monroe County Correctional Center (Pa.) via AP)
Healey and Kohberger’s NCC friend used the word “shocked” to describe their reactions when they learned of the early Friday morning police raid of their parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and their subsequent arrest.
Kohberger’s NCC friend said she found out he was in custody while she was at work and took a moment to herself because she started crying.
He was “clumsy and smart, but not someone you would categorize as violent,” he said.
“I want to talk to him now and ask him what happened. What went wrong? What was going through your head? What were you feeling? What was going on? You know, why did this happen?”
Her friend said she didn’t interact with many people on campus, but was friendly with her, and they talked “for hours” about her struggle with heroin addiction and her weight, and kept in touch after graduation.
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The last time she spoke to him was on Facebook a little over two years ago. They talked about his future and what they wanted to do.
“I was looking at my master’s program, and he was talking about whether I was going to do forensic psychology or criminology or both, but he knew I was going to get a PhD,” she said.
“And I wasn’t sure what I would have to do in my doctoral programs, if I was going to do a master’s degree or a doctorate, so we had a whole conversation about that, and that was our last conversation.
“For me, I feel like his teammates never listened to him or listened to him. So, you know, the fact that I sat down and listened to him, listened to him and talked to him, that was different.”
“And he always tended to have those conversations with me. And our conversations, whether it was in the hallways at school or on Messenger, would last, you know, an hour, two hours.”
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He got to know and understand him during his talks and classes where he almost translated for him.
She explained that he was “genuinely curious” and believed he lived a sheltered life, so he would ask questions or say things to other people that they took as offensive.
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“I didn’t mean to be offensive,” he said. “It was like the childish curiosity of an adult, who you’d think would know better than to ask a question, but it was such a genuine curiosity. And that’s why I thought I was so protected, that I just had no idea about these things. And I really don’t think so.” that he knew better.”
Those comments were echoed by a classmate in Washington state’s graduate program in criminology and criminal justice.
“Honestly, I had pegged it as super awkward,” Ben Roberts told The Tribune Democrat. Roberts, who said he took several courses with Kohberger, wanted to be seen as intellectual and was “always looking for a way to fit in.”
“One thing he always did, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something,” Roberts told The Tribune Democrat. “He had to make sure you knew that he knew.”
