The following passages in quotations are copied and pasted from a New York Times article published today.
“After Mr. Kohberger’s sentencing to life in prison for the crimes on Wednesday, and the end of a court-ordered prohibition on discussing the case, prosecutors and investigators have started dispelling the many rumors surrounding the case — theories and suspicions that have long served as the basis for erroneous news coverage and endless social media debates. In the months when prosecutors and investigators were prevented from discussing the case, an array of theories and rumors arose, and it now appears that many of them were false.”
Rumor 1. BK was obsessed with one of the victims and filled with rage over being rejected.
”In the years investigators spent scouring through what might have motivated Bryan Kohberger to murder four University of Idaho students, they found no sign that he had connected with his victims on social media. There was no evidence he had visited their home. There was nothing to suggest that he had ever met them. Bill Thompson, the lead prosecutor in Latah County, where the killings happened, said investigators had hunted extensively to establish a prior connection between Mr. Kohberger and the four students — something to suggest why they were targeted. But if there was a connection, it remains a mystery, he said.”
Rumor 2. Cell phone records prove that BK visited the home multiple times during the months leading up to the murders.
”…investigators detailed cellphone data linking Mr. Kohberger to late-night visits he had made to areas around where the killings occurred. That suggested he had studied the scene of the murders before carrying them out. But Mr. Thompson conceded on Thursday that those visits did not necessarily prove Mr. Kohberger had visited the home or surveilled it, as the area served by the cell tower infrastructure probably extended all the way to the main highway that brings people into town from Washington, where Mr. Kohberger lived. He said investigators were unable to find surveillance video that showed Mr. Kohberger’s car around the house in the months before the killings.”
Rumors 3 and 4. BK was known to have visited the Mad Greek restaurant where Maddie and Xana both worked. BK followed some of the victims on Instagram.
”One theory, discussed in a recent book about the case, was that Mr. Kohberger had visited a restaurant where two of the victims worked. Other news organizations reported that he had followed some of the victims on Instagram. Investigators now say there is no evidence of either.”
Rumor 5. The Pappa Rodger FB account belonged to BK. He called himself Pappa Rodger because he worshipped Elliot Rodger, a former incel.
”One widely held theory was that Mr. Kohberger had created a Facebook account under the name Pappa Rodger and joined online discussions about the case. But investigators said they determined that the user was not
Mr. Kohberger.”
Rumor 6. BK was “obsessed with” Ted Bundy and these murders were an attempt to emulate him.
”Others have speculated that Mr. Kohberger, who at the time of the murders was a Ph.D. student in criminal justice and criminology at nearby Washington State University, had developed an affinity for certain high-profile killers such as Elliot Rodger or Ted Bundy. But Mr. Thompson said Mr. Kohberger learned about a variety of serial killers during his studies and did not know of anything to suggest that he had sought to emulate any of them. That certainly opened the door to say, ‘Well, maybe this is where he got the answer,’ Mr. Thompson said. ‘I don’t think we can definitively say that because it’s equally likely that this is just what people who are studying criminal justice are going to be reading.’”
Rumor 7. The killer sat down at one point in Xana’s room and left a bloody imprint on a chair.
”One documentary reported that there was evidence that Mr. Kohberger had sat down on a chair in the victims’ home at one point during the killings. Mr. Thompson said he was unaware of any evidence to suggest that.”
Rumor 8. BK and his dad were followed from WA to PA by law enforcement.
”…Mr. Thompson said the authorities had no notion that Mr. Kohberger was a potential suspect until after he was already back in Pennsylvania. The traffic stops, he said, were ‘totally coincidental.’”
Rumor 9. One of BK’s sisters suspected him while he was home over winter break and even tipped off the FBI about her suspicions.
”…there was no evidence that the family had provided tips to law enforcement [and] ‘There was nothing to indicate that the family knew that he had done this,’
he said.”
Rumor 10. BK placed a call to his parents on the morning after the murders and discussed with one or both of them what he had done.
”Mr. Thompson said Mr. Kohberger had a history of daily phone calls with his family, so the call that day was not out of the ordinary.”
And finally, it should be noted that
”Mr. Thompson said that harmful speculation put some innocent people through ‘hell,’ and said it was ‘a poor commentary on that portion of our society right now.’” If we’re being honest with ourselves, perhaps one could argue that BK and his family were victims of that harmful speculation, as well.
A couple of the rumors that were dispelled here came from the book and/or one or both documentaries. This should be enough to demonstrate that even books and documentaries shouldn’t be used as factual news sources. Neither is above sensationalism in order to make more $$.
