The tragic news that four University of Idaho students were slain in a senseless act of violence last November has shaken the community. Now, more details are emerging about a possible motive in the slayings, as an investigator has revealed that the man now accused of the crime had sent messages to one of the victims on Instagram in the weeks leading up to the attack.
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old graduate student and teaching assistant at Washington State University, has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary in connection with the slayings. More than a month after the crime, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ Pennsylvania home on December 30 and extradited to Idaho the following week.
According to the probable cause affidavit, one of the victims’ surviving roommates said she saw the killer, describing “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask.” DNA evidence and cell phone pings also linked Kohberger to the crime scene.
Now, an investigator has revealed that two weeks prior to the slayings, Kohberger sent a series of messages to one of the female victims on Instagram. He sent a greeting, but when he didn’t get a response, he sent several more messages. It’s unclear why Kohberger didn’t get a response to his messages, but authorities say that the victim may have missed them completely.
“She may not have seen them, because they went into message requests,” says the investigation source. (Instagram users are not notified when they receive a message from someone they do not follow back, and the messages go into a special folder.) “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,” the source adds, “but he was definitely persistent.”
