Director behind Netflix's Idaho murders documentary shares chilling theory on why Bryan Kohberger targeted victims
Warning: This article contains discussion of content that some readers may find distressing.
The director of The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare has shared a disturbing theory on why killer Bryan Kohberger targeted his victims.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin after breaking into their student house and stabbing them to death.
The guilty plea meant that Kohberger, 31, avoided the death penalty, although it’s recently been revealed that he is attempting to have his guilty plea withdrawn.
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A motive for the murders has never been revealed, but Skye Borgman, who directed the recent Netflix documentary about the case has said that she believes the house may have been targeted because young women lived there.
The property had been home to Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, and Kernodle, 20, as well as fellow students Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen when the murders took place on 13 November, 2022.
In an interview with Fox News, Borgman said: "The fact that [this] was the house that he chose.
"This was a house that had five women living in it. The night that the murders happened, Xana Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was over, but really, this was a house full of women, and it seems quite clear that he targeted it.
"He watched the house; he was around the house in the days, weeks and months leading up to the murders.
“So, it seems pretty likely that he had a very low regard, if not hatred, for women."
The filmmaker went on to say that it was ‘all conjecture’ but noted that he ‘seemed to struggle with his relationships with women’.
“And we look at this incel movement and the question of whether or not he was an incel, and whether or not he didn’t like women,” she added.
An incel (short for 'involuntary celibate') is someone who describes themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite wanting one. While many people use the term simply to describe loneliness or frustration, it has become associated with online communities where some members express extreme misogynistic views, blaming women for their lack of relationships.
The documentary series featured stories from Kohberger’s Washington State University classmates, who recalled him ‘not being particularly well liked’ and said he had spoken negatively about women.
Kohberger eventually lost his job as a teaching assistant at the university after a female student claimed he followed her to her car.
"There were just strange incidents and strange behaviour," Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger said in the documentary.
Borgman went on to say that we may never know the real reason behind the horrific attacks.
“That's a frustrating thing for myself ... and I know especially for the families,” she said.
The director added that she believes Kohberger had hoped to ‘commit the perfect crime’.
"He failed in doing that," she said.
"But I think his silence is a way of attempting to keep the spotlight focused on him."
Kohberger has launched a bid to have guilty plea withdrawn
Public attention is firmly back on the case, due to the release of the new Netflix series and the shock announcement that Kohberger is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea.
In a statement to the New York Times, Kohberger said: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
The family of Kaylee shared a statement in response to the news, branding Kohberger a ‘narcissist’.
"He chose not to leave his fate - or the facts of the case - to a jury," the statement from the Goncalves family said.
"He never cried foul, never claimed he was uninformed or pressured, and never suggested there were problems with the discovery materials he and his counsel had reviewed for two years that should have been challenged."
Claire Reid