Bryan Kohberger allegedly followed Kaylee Gonçalves, Madison Mogen, and Xana Kernodle on social media prior to the fatal attack at King Road in Moscow, Idaho.
* Trigger Warning: This article discusses violent crimes.
- Kohberger’s DNA was found on the sheath of the murder weapon at the crime scene.
- Evidence from his mobile phone shows that he stalked the victims’ residence a minimum of 12 times before the murders.
- Kaylee Gonçalves family is seeking the death penalty.
- Steve Gonçalves on Bryan Kohberger: “He was hunting them.”
Per People, the murder suspect followed the three women on Instagram and reached out to one of them via direct message in October 2022.
“He slid into one of the girls’ DMs several times but she didn’t respond,” explains the source, “Basically it was just him saying, ‘Hey, how are you?’ But he did it again and again.”
Undeterred By No Response
The source did not reveal which one of the victims Mr. Kohberger was attempting to connect with. However, they revealed that Mr. Kohberger was undeterred by the fact that the woman did not respond to his messages and continued to reach out to her.
According to the source, “She may not have seen [his messages], because they went into message requests. We’re still trying to determine how aware the victims were of his existence. There’s no indication that he was getting frustrated with her lack of response, but he was definitely persistent.”
Apart from the direct messages, the suspect sent to one of the women, he did not interact with their social media accounts in the public sphere.
Was It Femicide? Kohberger Only Followed The Women
Mr. Kohberger was not following the forth victim, Ethan Chapin. His alleged focus on the female victims of the Moscow murders begs the question: was it femicide?
The term femicide was first conceptualized by Dr. Diana Russell in 1976 to describe the “killing of females by males because they are females.”
According to Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, the attack at King Road was a mass femicide and Mr. Chapin was collateral damage. She believes that the aggression was triggered by rejection, explaining that the killer is likely someone, “who’s never been able to be accepted in the types of group that Kaylee and Maddie were.”
Ms. Coffindaffer believes that Bryan Kohberger suffers from extreme narcissism and it will eventually lead him to confess, “The reason I think he’ll talk is he wants to explain, he wants that attention, he’s a narcissist, he wants to be the smartest guy in the room.”
The Women Were The Focus Of His Alleged Stalking
An alleged pattern of stalking behavior emerged in data obtained from the suspect’s mobile phone that showed he was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times between June 2022 and November 13, 2022.
One of the victim’s fathers, Steve Gonçalves revealed that the suspect has been orbiting around the women. While he did not get into the specifics, Mr. Gonçalves said, “He was stalking them, he was hunting them. He was a person looking for an opportunity and it just happened to be in that house.”
Ms. Gonçalves, Ms. Mogen, Ms. Kernodle, and Mr. Chapin, were killed in a brutal knife attack on November 13, 2022 at their off-campus residence near the University of Idaho. Mr. Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student, was arrested on December 30, 2022, and charged with first degree murder in connection with their deaths
The Gonçalves family are seeking the death penalty. His next hearing is on June 26, 2023.
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