Anxious and emotionless. Profile of Man Accused of Killing Idaho Students

“An isolated and depressed teenager who turns to heroin to recover from his addiction and admires criminal psychology research, hoping to one day counsel high-ranking criminals,” says Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student. It is explained by the American presenter of The New York Times.

Kohberger is accused of murdering four students – Xana Kernodlova, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen – who were brutally stabbed for an unknown reason at their home in Moscow, Idaho, where they lived last November 12, according to investigators (more here).

Kohberger, a criminology doctoral student, took a look at his youth on the web forum Tapalk, formerly Yuku. He was there as a teenager, telling about his feelings of being cut off from society and how he couldn’t find meaning in life. He continued to describe his psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, depersonalization, lack of emotion and “constant suicidal thoughts” in published posts.

“I feel like an organic meat sack with no value,” he wrote in 2011, for example, at the age of 16, later adding in the same post: “When I hug my parents, I look at their faces. I can’t see anything, it’s like I’m watching a video game but less.’

The absence of emotions for Kohberger began in 2009, when he developed the so-called snow vision syndrome. It is manifested in the fact that the human eye sees the graininess typical of, for example, a television screen. .

Even those around him knew that he was suffering from this syndrome. “I know this is something that really bothers him,” Kohberger’s high school friend, Thomas Arntz, told the NYT.

According to his words, the doctoral student tried to cope with the difficulties in several ways – by taking anti-migraine drugs, visiting a neurologist, and following a strict diet without sugar and starch.

In 2012, however, his posts began to become more optimistic and seemed to have overcome the problems, as he wrote on the forum.

But when he graduated a year later, he started using heroin, and according to his friend Rich Pasqua, who took the drug with him at the time, it took about two years and they were both free of addiction. According to him, Kohberger faced bullying in high school because of his larger nature. In the forum, Kohberger mentioned that he managed to lose half of his previous weight.

“I only used[drugs]when I was in a deep suicidal state,” Kohberger said of his past. She wrote the message to her then friend Jack Baylis, whom she had known since eighth grade, in May 2018.

“I’ve really learned a lot since then. Kohberger told Baylis later that day that he had been off drugs for two years and told him not to mention his drug use again, according to screenshots of Facebook chat Messenger.

Kohberger is currently held without bail at Latah County Penitentiary in Idaho. He still maintains his innocence. A court hearing is expected to begin in June.

However, other evidence is surfacing that speaks against him. For example: he visited the crime scene in Idaho 12 times before resorting to murder last November, according to investigators. Detectives discovered this based on transcripts of phone calls.

CNN adds that four days before Kohberger was caught, investigators saw him throwing garbage bags for neighbors and thoroughly cleaning the inside and outside of his car.

It’s also interesting that one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, moved to Texas long before the murder. She has just returned to Moscow for the weekend to visit her former roommate and best friend Madison Mogenová. She was one of the victims, too.