The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy

Bryan’s father brings him to Jess Harris’ boxing gym. Harris opened the gym “to offer local people who’ve given up—teens, mostly—hope. Purpose” (78). Bryan is “lumbering” and overweight; his dad says Bryan wants to lose weight, build some muscle, and increase his metabolism. The other gym goers are skeptical about Bryan, thinking he won’t fit in—but as Bryan continues to come to the gym consistently and work hard, the other regular gym members start to acknowledge him.

Casey Arntz gets a text from Bryan Kohberger. Her brother and his friends don’t like Bryan, saying he “likes to get physical for no reason” and has a temper (81). Bryan also hangs out with Jeremy Saba, who is known to have a substance addiction. Casey, however, likes Bryan. She thinks he is sweet because he asks her about herself. On this evening, he texts to ask Casey a favor: He needs a ride to his cousin’s house 20 minutes away. Casey agrees and drives him to Luna Rossa, a restaurant near his cousin’s house. He goes in quickly then returns, asking Casey to drive him to the pharmacy so he can buy needles for his diabetic aunt. Casey finds this request “shady” but gives him the benefit of the doubt. Later, another friend tells her that everyone knows Bryan buys heroin at Luna Rossa. Casey feels sick that she was used in this way, especially because she could have been arrested if she’d been caught with heroin in her car. She sends Bryan an angry and disappointed Facebook message. He responds telling her he’s in rehab. As the weeks and months go bye, she forgives Bryan and feels compassion for his loneliness. He texts often to ask if her parents will allow them to hang out, but the texts “become sadder and less frequent” when she doesn’t respond. Casey wishes he was easier to be nice to, because he seems to be struggling. A year after the trip to Luna Rossa, he sends Casey a text: “you know I love you guys / Always will even if we stop talking one day” (82).

Michael Kohberger calls the police on his son Bryan. Bryan has been stealing and using drugs. The family’s attempts to help him—the boxing, the vegan diet, the trips to the gun range, the distance from Jeremy Saba—have not worked. Bryan goes to rehab again but learns to hide his rage and loneliness in real life, letting it out on the internet instead, writing and recording an original song that he posts to SoundCloud.

Jeremy Saba is in jail after being arrested for DUI and possession of illegal substances. Bryan’s mom is pressuring him to attend Bible study with her, hoping it will fix him. Bryan is out of drugs and out of money. He calls Jeremy’s mom, who trusts him even though she shouldn’t. She tells Bryan that she and her husband will be visiting Jeremy in jail the next day and invites him to join them; Bryan says yes but actually plans to go to their empty house and rob them. After the robbery, Jeremy’s mother, Connie, knows that it was Bryan, but chooses not to call the police because she empathizes with the family’s struggles to help Bryan. She “intuits that the Kohberger family is in enough pain right now” without her “adding to their problems” (87).

A very thin Bryan shows up in Connie’s kitchen, startling her. He has come to make amends, but she doesn’t give him the chance to share that he’s working on a psychology degree at the local community college, or that he’s lonely, or that he misses Jeremy. Connie thanks him for the apology and asks him to leave and never come back. She “senses that he is still a threat to their family” (88).

Bryan’s classmates in the psychology program at De Sales University nickname him “the ghost” because there’s something “spooky” about him (89). After class, he works as a security guard. His lab partner, Josh Ferraro, appreciates how organized Bryan is, but finds him unnerving in other ways. Bryan seems to light up in their psychological sleuthing class, in which they are taken into a staged crime scene and asked to investigate. Bryan takes careful notes on the habits and mistakes of killers. They learn about the demographic trends in murderers: “Typically… white men choose knives” (90). The professor emphasizes how difficult it is to spot a killer before they strike and shares a new theory that psychopathy reflects inherited neurological deficits that can be mitigated by early therapeutic intervention.

The book details Elliot Rodger’s infamous murder spree in 2024. Rodger stabbed his two roommates, fatally shot two young women outside of a sorority house, injured a third, killed a young man at a local deli, then drove his car through crowded streets “shooting indiscriminately” through his car window before crashing his car and killing himself. Bryan and his classmates study the case. Rodger’s violence was the result of years of anger and frustration and planning. His trigger was the loss of his only male friend from childhood. He wrote a 137-page manifesto communicating his anger at women for not having sex with him. The professor tells the class about the acronym IS PATH WARM, which lists warning signs: “I—Ideation / S—Substance abuse / P—Purposelessness / A—Anxiety / T—Trapped / H—Hopelessness / W—Withdrawal / A—Anger / R—Recklessness / M—Mood changes” (93). His classmates do not realize how many of these warning signs Bryan displays. They don’t know about the similarities between Bryan and Rodger: both virgins who hate women, visit gun ranges, and experience loneliness alleviated by hours of video games and night drives.

Bryan goes to a bar frequented by students from the nearby Lehigh University to pick up women. He assumes they will “spot his looks, his intelligence, and…want him,” but they do not (95). He gets pushy with female patrons and bartenders to the point where some complain to the owner. The owner, Jordan Serulneck, talks to Bryan and tells him to leave the women alone. Bryan says he has no idea what Serulneck is talking about, but he stops coming to the bar.

Bryan is doing well in his master’s program. A professor wants to recommend him for the PhD in criminal justice at Washington State University (WSU). Bryan is elated. Soon after, he gets the news that Jeremy Saba is dead of a lethal dose of fentanyl. Devastated, Bryan compares himself to Elliot Rodger, whose “tipping point” was the loss of James Ellis, his best friend.

Bryan applies for an internship with the Pullman Police Department. Chief Jenkins, interviews him for half an hour. He sees that Bryan is hyper-focused but there is something odd about him. Jenkins doubts Bryan will be able to build rapport with the other officers. He gives the internship to someone else and forgets about Bryan.

Bryan moves to Pullman, on the Idaho border, for his PhD program. Similarly, Elliot Rodger moved from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara for college, hoping that his “miserable lonely virgin life” would improve if he moved. Bryan considers the move to Pullman “one last try” (99).

WSU’s criminology and criminal justice graduate program is prestigious enough to attract an elite group of graduate students: seven women and four men, Bryan among them. Another member of the cohort is Ben Roberts, the second oldest in the group at age 42. Bryan stands out to him because of his extreme thinness and his rapidly moving eyes. He also notices that Bryan doesn’t take off his jacket even in the heat, but doesn’t realize this is because of Bryan’s past heroin use. Ben tells Bryan about his history as head of security at a small airport. Bryan claims to have had similar experiences, but he is “giving a bravura performance, playing the role of someone he has never been—namely, someone who belongs in the room. The silent, awkward introvert has been replaced, for now, by a confident, articulate intellectual” (102).

Bryan starts using a “manosphere” term for women: “Becky.” He has become involved in the incel movement, which divides women into “Beckys” and “Stacys.” “Beckys” are dominant feminists while “Stacys” are “stereotypically nubile, used to male attention, prolific on social media, and date hunky, rich Chads “(104). Incels long to put the “Beckys” in their place, and Bryan is eager to do this in class, where he interrogates women with questions designed to make him look intelligent and them look stupid. This angers the women, but Bryan is unbothered by their discomfort.

Elliot Rodger’s manifesto details his desire to get “revenge” on the people—especially women—who rejected and excluded him. He refers to women’s disinclination to have sex with him as “crimes that cannot go unpunished” (108). Bryan writes online: “I feel myself slipping away… it is as if the ringing in my ears and the fuzz in my vision is simply all of the demons in my head mocking me” (108). He has no outlet for his hopelessness, as he has made the rest of his cohort angry and uncomfortable, and they exclude him from their social gatherings. Bryan goes to Moscow to find a “Stacy” willing to date him. He goes to the Mad Greek and notices a beautiful blond waitress—Maddie.

Maddie does her makeup at her vanity, which is highly visible from outside at night. Neighbors are easily able to see her, but Maddie has no idea who is watching her in the dark. Her name is spelled out in her window, letting people know which bedroom is hers. She leaves her blinds or curtains open, allowing watchers to see her as she goes about her life. She obviously has a boyfriend—he is often over and mentioned on her social media. The roommates are focused on their lives and oblivious to their vulnerability. Corporal Brett Payne of the Moscow Police Department will later discover, through cell phone records, that Bryan parked outside the house 12 times between August and November, almost always late at night.

Bryan’s cell phone places him outside the 1122 King Road house for an hour on August 21. On his way back to Pullman, he is pulled over because his car, which is still registered in Pennsylvania, does not have the front license plate required in Idaho and Washington. Bryan will later claim that he went for a night drive the way he often does. He claims he goes stargazing.

Bryan is a teaching assistant for an undergraduate criminal justice course, and his female students find him off-putting. He is typically silent but writes a lot of commentary on their papers. One student gets As, but the other female students report lower grades and lengthy explanations of why they are wrong. Some have emailed the professor, accusing Bryan of gender discrimination.

Ben Roberts bumps into Bryan, who offers to give him a ride home on the bitterly cold day. Ben is hesitant but needs a ride. They talk about the way social media can create a bubble or echo chamber. Bryan asks if Ben is dating; Ben says no, but doesn’t volunteer that he’s not straight. Bryan tells Ben that he “believes in traditional gender roles, the implication being that their female colleagues are wasting their time in class and have no business pursing master’s degrees” (115). Ben finds this outdated and off-putting. Bryan then claims that he can get any girl he wants, which Ben finds very doubtful. When they arrive at Ben’s house, Bryan asks to use Ben’s bathroom. He stays, uninvited, for over two and a half hours. Both men remain standing for the entire conversation.

Bryan is called into Professor Snyder’s office to discuss the complaints from both female undergraduate students and others in his cohort who allege that his comments are misogynistic. Professor Snyder tells him to stop interrupting the women and stop writing them “essays on their essays,” calling it offensive (118). Snyder is attempting to help Bryan, but his interference makes Bryan very angry. He decides there is no further point in pretending to be someone he is not. A week later, on October 3, the department chair and graduate director have a meeting with Bryan to discuss his “lack of ‘norms of professional behavior’” (118). Bryan is angry and defiant. He wants to have an open discussion in class to explain his grading, which he says reflects the students’ lack of knowledge. The faculty members are concerned.

Ben remains shocked and horrified by his conversation with Bryan. As the semester progresses, Bryan begins to look like he is physically deteriorating. Ben goes to the university’s student-care network and fills out a form to report his concerns. He believes that the report will be anonymous, but he can’t be sure that his anonymity will be protected. Afraid of Bryan’s reaction, Ben does not turn in the report.

Bryan is pulled over by a female officer who informs him that he’s been stopped because he ran a red light. He lies about what happened, but she explains that she was behind him when he entered the intersection illegally. Bryan apologizes profusely and puts on a performance. The officer lets him go with a warning. The authors speculate that this is an empowering moment for Bryan. He thinks it’s possible he can get away with anything he wants.

Bryan helps neighbor her install cameras. She is grateful until she looks at the camera feeds and sees how exposed she would be to anyone who had the password. She knows one other person has it: Bryan, who has been rumored to have followed a female student to her car. She thinks that Bryan has been acting off lately and got “really mad” when she turned down an invitation to coffee.

Less than a month after their previous meeting, the graduate director and department chair confront Bryan about his behavior. They tell him “what he already knows: Short of a miracle, he’ll be fired” (126). The discussion he held about his grading did not go well. He has stopped showing up to teach. They offer him an improvement plan, but Bryan understands that his career as a graduate student is over. His attempt to reinvent his life has failed.