It is Sunday morning, the 13th of July, and we’re talking about Brian Kohberger today and the Idaho student murders.

I watched the Amazon Prime new miniseries yesterday, One Night in Idaho. It was okay. I guess if you don’t know very much about the case, you’d have found it really enlightening—really interesting. But for those who’ve been following the case since the beginning, before Brian Kohberger was even a thing, I think there was less new information than I anticipated. I’m saying that because of the recent Dirt Line piece that came out, which was like revelation after revelation—because they were including leaked information. It was a four-part series. I think they could have done it in three, honestly. But it was okay. It was worth a watch.

Anyway, this video isn’t a review of it. I just want to pick up on one particular issue that was discussed, which I find really interesting—and that is Brian Kohberger’s motive. I think more people now are recognizing that this was an incel murder. So let’s discuss that, shall we?

Alright. So, the murders happened in the early morning hours—between just after 4:00 and 4:20 a.m.—on November 13th, 2022, at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho.

Ten days after the murders, before we knew Brian Kohberger was a thing, I developed this possible profile just based on the information that was coming out: that all four victims—Kaylee, Maddie, Ethan, and Xana—had been attacked with multiple stab wounds. Wounds with the same large knife.

At that point, there’d been a couple of press conferences. I think we knew at that point that the surviving roommates weren’t suspects. I thought, “No, this is not somebody who is a disgruntled student who has had an argument with the occupants of 1122 King Road.” I did think that there was potentially some fraternity involvement at one point, but I wasn’t there at that point.

I put together this mini profile:

Male

Known, but not in-circle

Local

Killed before, but not serial killer

Military training or ex-military

Criminal profile, possible record

Used to blood and has knife skill

Hypermasculine and misogynistic

Loner, but not necessarily living alone

Narcissism and Machiavellianism

And when we learned who had been arrested on December 30th—so about, what, 6 weeks, 7 weeks after the murders—we started to learn a little bit about Brian Kohberger. I revisited this profile, and it wasn’t 100%, but it was close.

I was particularly interested, as a psychologist, in the psychological aspects of this killing: the hypermasculinity, misogyny, loner tendencies, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and possible psychopathy. That fits Brian Kohberger, I think.

I believe—and please guys, look, don’t come into my comments saying Brian didn’t do it—because without coercion, without any incentive apart from taking the death penalty off the table, Brian Kohberger pled guilty in court. So I hope that’s put an end to the Pro-Brian revolution—hopefully.

Anyhow, that was my possible profile.

Now, once we learned about Brian Kohberger, I started to put together this handy dandy slideshow about Brian. One thing that was particularly interesting were the forum posts. I think the forum was called Tapatalk. This is from 2011, so Brian Kohberger would have been a teenager at the time. And I believe these were Brian. I do. I know not everybody thought they were, but I do believe these were Brian.

He made some pretty… teenage angst posts, you could say. But knowing what we know now, it was a foreshadowing of things to come.

So May 12th, 2011:

“I always feel as if I’m not there. Completely depersonalized mentally. I experience fog, lack of comprehension at times. Feel like my life is a movie.”

Depersonalization.

Well, your life is now a movie, Brian.

“Depression, no interest in activity, constant thought of suicide. Wish I’d done it. Crazy thoughts, delusions of grandeur, anxiety, poor self-image, poor social skills, no emotion (capitalized). I feel like nothing has a point to it. When I get home, I’m mean to my family. This started when the visual snow hit. I felt no emotion. And along with the depersonalization, I can say and do whatever I want with little remorse. Everybody hates me, pretty much. I am an [__].”

Well, you got that right. You absolutely got that right.

Now, one of the other interesting things to come out in the first maybe couple of months after Brian was arrested, and we started to learn all about him, was “Papa Roger.”

I think I said at the time that I didn’t think this was Brian. I don’t think I was that invested either way. I can’t remember now why I didn’t think it was Brian. But given the totality of the information we’ve got now… actually, I do think it was. I do.

And “Papa Roger” was an account that was opened up on Facebook. It was commenting in one of the biggest Idaho 4 Facebook groups. And looking at some of the details—all of these posts were made before Brian Kohberger was arrested, so while he was still at large.

And what enamored a lot of people was some of the detail that Papa Roger had that we now know to be true.

After Brian was arrested on December 30th, 2022, Papa Roger never posted again.

And he said here, on December 21st—so 9 days before he was arrested—assuming this is Brian:

“Regardless of what has been released, I believe this is a sexually motivated crime.”

Well, there was no sign of SA on any of the victims. But the motivation—if you’re an incel, you’re going to consider the murder of three college girls. I do believe there was only one, possibly two targets—Maddie and possibly Kaylee—and Xana and Ethan were collateral damage, unfortunately.

But all the power he must have felt killing a male while he was asleep. What a big tough guy you are, Brian. What a big tough guy you are.

Okay, there’s more. These are the possible reasons why Papa Roger believed the crimes were sexually motivated:

House full of girls

House full of specific girls

Party house, was familiar with layout

May have been kicked out

Location: dark, woody coverage, lack of cameras

Distance from his own house/apartment

His place of residence

So, he actually hopped over the border. He was from Washington State University—over the border in Washington State, only about 9 miles away from Moscow. Like 10 minutes down the road. But he’d not gone and murdered people at his own university—thought he was being clever by hopping over the state line and doing it to girls from a different university. So, the distance from his house, he would have considered acceptable.

Possible that the house fit a fantasy scenario in the killer’s head—reminded him of something from his past. Possible even a vehicle that reminded him of someone who had spurned him. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean that these girls had spurned him—but maybe one of the girls had a vehicle and reminded him of someone that had spurned him in the past.

Of the evidence released, the murder weapon has been consistent as a large fixed-blade knife. This leads me to believe they found the sheath. This evidence was released prior to autopsy.

Look, if you were astute, you could guess that right from the outset. They said it was a large fixed-blade knife. Did they say that publicly prior to the autopsies? I’m not sure they did. Maybe they did. Maybe they intimated it.

We know they found the sheath. They found more than the sheath—because on that sheath was a little dot of DNA. That was a major factor in honing in on Brian and getting their man.

I think all in all—it’s intriguing.

I think I’m going to say: balance of probability, it is Brian.

The thing that really gets me—apart from the information about the knife sheath—you’ve got the fact that Papa Roger never posted again after Brian Kohberger was arrested. And the name.

The name, for me, is the most intriguing: Papa Roger.

Because one of the things that we did learn from the Amazon Prime miniseries was that what Brian was taught during one of his courses at DeSales University by the serial killers expert Dr. Katherine Ramsland—one of the people that was discussed in class was Elliot Rodger, the king of the incels.

Who is Elliot Rodger?

Well, it’s this guy. This is him.

Born in London, England, Rodger relocated to California with his family as a child. Son of British filmmaker Peter Rodger. He grew up in a privileged household. Not so much for Brian.

The psychological state of Elliot Rodger and Brian Kohberger are similar. Rodger struggled with social isolation, mental health issues, and rejection. He was diagnosed with “Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified” as a teenager. He started treatment and received special education resources and therapy for most of his life. He endured bullying during his time at Midland High School.

We believe that Brian also was bullied—by girls.

Interestingly, several incidents of Rodger’s strange behavior during his time at Isla Vista, along with videos and other writings that mentioned violent intentions, worried his family and acquaintances.

Before starting his planned shooting rampage, Rodger uploaded to YouTube a video announcing his intention to punish women—as well as the men to whom they were attracted. So, murdering Ethan for Brian would have been a big plus. He’d have felt proper powerful. You know—giving himself a thumbs-up when he’s taking that selfie.

He also emailed a 137-page manifesto, in which he described his major life events, personal struggles, and frustrations at having remained a lifelong virgin, to several of his family members, acquaintances, and therapists.

Then, on May 23rd, 2014, Elliot Rodger murdered six people and injured 14 others—using knives, semi-automatic pistols, and his car as a weapon—in Isla Vista, near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He first killed his two roommates and their friend in the apartment they shared, ambushing and stabbing them one at a time as they arrived. Hours later, he drove to Alpha Phi—which was the sorority that Kaylee was in.

Interestingly, the Alpha Phi sorority house—where he intended to murder its occupants—but was unable to enter the premises. Rodger instead shot at three women from the Delta Delta Delta sorority (so good they named it three times) who were walking outside the Alpha Phi sorority house, killing two of them while critically injuring the third.

He later drove to a nearby delicatessen, shooting and killing a man inside.

Afterwards, Rodger drove around Isla Vista, indiscriminately shooting and ramming into pedestrians with his vehicle. He exchanged gunfire with sheriff’s deputies twice, getting shot in his hip. Shortly after, he crashed his vehicle into a parked car. As police examined the vehicle, they found Rodger dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

Now, the difference between Elliot Rodger and Brian Kohberger is striking. I think Brian Kohberger had taken Elliot Rodger’s hatred of women and added to it the information he’d learned about other serial killers, such as Ted Bundy—also someone that was discussed in that class.

I truly believe that if he hadn’t been caught, he would have done it again. And again. And again.

I think the thing for Brian Kohberger—rather than it being just an all-out assault, like a final hurrah, like Elliot Rodger—this would have been a long, drawn-out game that he would have played with law enforcement. And I think he was hoping—he was planning—to become the next Ted Bundy.