Idaho suspect repeatedly messaged victim weeks before murders: Report

An Instagram account belonging to murder suspect Bryan Kohberger sent messages to one of the victims, it’s been reported.

Alleged mass killer direct messaged victim. Picture: Picture: Monroe County Correctional Facility; iStock

University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger sent one of the victims direct messages on Instagram weeks before the four students were found fatally stabbed, a report said on Tuesday.

An Instagram account that belonged to Mr Kohberger repeatedly sent messages to one of the university students who was found dead in the share house in Moscow, Idaho – but she never returned his advances, an investigator close to the case told People.

“He slid into one of the girls’ DMs several times but she didn’t respond,” the anonymous source said, as reported by the New York Post.

“Basically, it was just him saying, ‘Hey, how are you?’ But he did it again and again.”

The messages were reportedly sent in October.

University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found stabbed to death in their off-campus house on November 13.

The source did not disclose which of the women Mr Kohberger messaged. The suspect followed accounts for all three women on the social media platform.

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Bryan Kohberger messaged one of his victims repeatedly before the murders, a source said. Picture: Handout/Monroe County Correctional Facility/AFP

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were killed in their sharehouse in November. Picture: Monroe County Correctional Facility

The messages from Mr Kohberger’s account were sent around the same time that detectives claim the suspect was stalking the victims.

His mobile phone data pinged in the same location as the four students in the weeks before the murders.

Mr Kohberger, 28, who was pursuing a criminology PhD at Washington State University, 16km from the University of Idaho, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a count of felony burglary in the gruesome quadruple homicide.

Authorities aren’t completely sure why the victim didn’t respond to Mr Kohberger’s repeated messages but said it could be simply because she hadn’t noticed them.

“She may not have seen them, because they went into message requests,” the source said, implying that the victim didn’t follow Mr Kohberger back on Instagram.

“We’re still trying to determine how aware the victims were of his existence.”

Police allege that Bryan Kohberger stalked the victims. Picture: David Ryder/Getty Images/AFP

It is not yet clear if the student’s unresponsiveness was a motive for murder, the source said.

“There’s no indication that he was getting frustrated with her lack of response,” the source said. “But he was definitely persistent.”

Meanwhile, a former FBI investigator has hypothesised the person behind the killings may suffer from an “incel complex”.

“The murders may have been … an effort to assert some type of dominance,” security expert Pete Yachmetz told The Post this week.

“I believe a continued stabbing of a victim indicates … an uncontrollable rage and extreme anger … I think he may have developed a sort of incel complex.”

A preliminary status hearing for Mr Kohberger has been set for June 26.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission