Bryan Kohberger red flags missed by university before murders weren't included in Netflix documentary
Bryan Kohberger’s quadruple murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen is once again in the news due to a brand-new Netflix doc, as well as Kohberger’s new attempt to take back his guilty plea.
The murders are the latest focus of a Netflix documentary, continuing the streamer’s ongoing trend of popular true crime docs.
Kohberger also took advantage of the increased attention from the Netflix doc to announce his plan to try and challenge his previous guilty plea, made in exchange for the state dropping the death penalty, claiming he was given ‘ineffective counsel’.
Netflix’s true crime doc, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, focuses heavily on the victims to try preserve their memory and therefore, understandably, leaves out some of the masses of evidence that police found that proved Kohberger’s guilt.
Advert
Despite thinking he had committed the ‘perfect crime’ Kohberger’s DNA was found on the sheath of his knife left at the scene, a knife he bought off Amazon.
His murder of the four students, leaving two of their housemates alive, appeared to have been selected at random as he had no connection to them and had visited the area 12 times in the lead up to the killing.
What is not included however in the Netflix documentary is that the families of the victims believe that Washington State University, where Kohberger worked as a teaching assistant, ignored obvious red flags that may have indicated that the now 31-year-old killer could have been capable of such shocking crimes.
Kohberger was accused of being ‘creepy’ and female coworkers had to be walked to their car
Netflix’s dedicated true crime podcast Allegedly with Ellison Barber has produced an episode which digs even deeper into the case, and focuses in part on the red flags that may have been missed prior to his quadruple homicide.
Speaking to NBC’s senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett, the pair discuss the fact that complaints were made against the killer alleging that he was ‘creepy’ and misogynistic on multiple occasions.
Barber stated that the ‘baseline reaction seemed to be creep’, with Jarrett saying that it was not just that he was creepy but that complaints painted a picture whereby ‘if he becomes a professor he is going to harass and he is going to assault one of his students’.
This included a staffer at Washington State University who ‘regularly interacted with Kohberger’ and claimed he would stand at her desk and stare at her and a coworker and ‘at one stage blocking the co-worker in her desk area’.
The pair of coworkers, both of whom were female, would be followed to their cars by Kohberger and ended up needing to be escorted to their cars due to concerns around his behaviour.
He also asked out a coworker and later followed her to their car, filing a complaint alleging that he was stalking her.
Family of the victims have sued Washington State University for ‘ignoring’ red flags
The family of all four of Kohberger’s victims sued Washington State University, claiming that the institution received 13 separate complaints about Kohberger’s behaviour in one semester and did not take the proper steps to address it.
This includes an incident of sexism from him which left a student in tears, leading to the entire staff being given behaviour training. Kohberger supposedly sat at the back with his hands behind his head looking at the ceiling during this mandatory training, and according to the lawsuit was not reprimanded for this.
He was fired over his behaviour in December of 2022, a month after the killings but prior to being caught by police.
An attorney for the families said in a statement: “The information now coming to light paints a disturbing picture of institutional inaction in the face of repeated and dire warnings.
“These failures were not the result of a lack of authority or available safeguards, but rather a breakdown in accountability and responsibility at critical moments.”
A spokesperson for Washington State University, which denies all allegations made in the lawsuit, said in a statement at the time: “Our hearts remain with the families and friends impacted by this horrific tragedy. Because this is a legal matter, we are declining further comment at this time.”
The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare and Allegedly with Ellison Barber are both available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: True Crime, Bryan Kohberger, Netflix, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin