Bryan Kohberger’s motive for murdering four University of Idaho students– Madison Mogen, Kayle Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—may never be fully known, but a new documentary is shedding some light on the killer’s behavior.
The new four-part docuseries “One Night in Idaho: The College Murders” on Prime Video covers the case, from the horrific night the four college students were killed to the investigation that led to Kohberger’s arrest.
One of the surprising details covered in the third episode is the possibility that Kohberger joined a true crime Facebook group discussing the case.
Kohberger was a doctoral student at nearby Washington State University, just eight miles from Moscow and the University of Idaho campus and had worked as a teaching assistant within the forensic psychology program.
According to Kristine Cameron and Alina Smith, admins for the University of Idaho Murders Facebook page, a user named “Pappa Rodger” joined a few weeks after the murders and gained attention for the types of questions he would ask about the case, and he would often be reported to the FB groups administrators for some of his comments.
They noted that the questions Pappa Rodger asked were similar to the types of questions Kohberger had put in a questionnaire that was part of his doctoral work.
Pappa Rodger also asked a specific question about a knife sheath, a detail not made public at the time of the post that raised eyebrows for Cameron and Smith. Pappa Rodger also tried to deflect interest from the police’s search for a white Hyundai Elantra, the type of car Kohberger drove.
Cameron and Smith cannot absolutely verify that Kohberger was Pappa Rodger in the group, but in their opinion, it is highly likely, given the questions and the fact that shortly after Kohberger’s arrest, the account disappeared. An even stranger detail was that Pappa Rodger’s profile picture looked like a photo of Kohberger with older age and military uniform added to it.
Kohberger has pled guilty the murders of Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle, and Chapin, part of a deal that will allow him to avoid the death penalty. His official sentencing is set for July 23.
“One Night in Idaho: The College Murders” is now streaming on Prime Video
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
