The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy

The Goncalves family is also relieved to hear of Kohberger’s arrest. They don’t know what the connection between Kohberger and the victims is and they don’t understand how WSU could have sheltered him without realizing it. Now that Kohberger has been arrested, WSU students begin posting to social media about the many red flags they’d observed. Steve is angry that the university “hasn’t published any of the disciplinary problems” they faced with him (329). He wants that information to be released. He intends to “keep up the pressure on the prosecution the same way he did the cops” and is doing his own digital investigation” (329).

Evan Ellis is on the air when the news of Kohberger’s arrest breaks. He reaches out to contacts who tip him off about where Kohberger lives. He arrives just as the raid begins and records it for Facebook. He worries that WSU “will go into communications lockdown” after a history of fighting with the university “about hiding information and shutting out the taxpayers” (331).

The university puts out a vague statement of sympathy and cooperation, but Ellis thinks it lacks transparency and accountability. He reports that their attempts to contact the university have not been answered. Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson shares these frustrations. Both men remember a drunk-driving incident with a former student that killed three WSU students and injured four others. The driver’s father was the head of the university’s criminal justice department. In a meeting with the WSU chancellor, he brings up this earlier case in a push for the university to change its ways.

The Washington State University administration is in “a total meltdown” (335). Kohberger’s superiors are distraught at having accepted and sheltered him. The administration orders faculty and students not to give interviews. When graduate students from Kohberger’s PhD cohort arrive on campus, they are greeted by staff and police counselors. They are quickly besieged by journalists who pose as students and come to their offices wanting quotes. They decide that they will follow the case individually and talk to investigators, but they will not discuss Bryan Kohberger, not even among themselves.

The University of Idaho dean of students is relieved to hear that the killer was not from Moscow or the university. He knows it will make his students feel more secure. He reaches out to Jenna Hyatt, the dean of students at WSU, who has provided enormous support during the last six weeks. He offers his help as the “tidal wave” changes directions and hits her campus (338).

Lexi Pattinson, daughter of local lawyer Mike Pattinson, is angry at the information coming out of WSU. The university has a reputation for “hiding bad news” (340): their more extreme hazing, for example. She questions why WSU has not made a statement about the school’s role in fostering Kohberger. She blames Kohberger for the profound effects on the town: “It isn’t the same. We lock all our doors… all our car doors… our little town isn’t as safe as we thought it was” (341). She thinks WSU is primarily to blame.

Moscow Mayor Art Bettge is in an off-the-grid cabin when Kohberger’s arrest is announced. A neighbor comes to tell him the news. He borrows her internet connection to familiarize himself with the developments. He is relieved that Kohberger is from Pullman and not Moscow, but wonders why Pullman hadn’t flagged Kohberger’s white Elantra. He knows WSU to be on uneven financial footing due to a misallocation of funds toward football and away from the agricultural research they should be doing as a land-grant university. Moscow residents have a sense of pride in their town in comparison to Pullman, which they do not think has the same community aspect.

Emily Alandt gets the news that the police have found the killer. She and the other friends don’t know him and don’t know how he knew Maddie, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan. They try to find Kohberger on social media, but his footprint is already erased. She wonders why he killed only four of the six people in the house that night. Even though she’s relieved the killer has been caught, the fear does not leave her.

When Josh Ferraro sees a photo of Bryan Kohberger on the news, he thinks the man looks familiar. A search through his emails reminds him that Kohberger is a guy he’d called “the Ghost,” a former lab partner of Josh’s who seemed strange and awkward. Like others, Josh and his former classmates wonder what they missed.

Katherine Ramsland, a former DeSales University professor of Bryan’s, is frustrated. The university issues an edict to faculty not to talk to the press. Ramsland is an expert in forensic psychology and extreme offenders and is, ironically, not permitted to apply her expertise to a case she has personal knowledge of. Instead, she has to read accounts of her class from others. Her students tell the media that Kohberger was particularly interested in the Elliot Rodger case. Her students tell the media that “they learned from Ramsland that psychopaths like Rodger and Rader are very hard to detect” (349). Students recall Kohberger as “normal,” but so do many people who have known killers before they killed.

Mark Baylis remembers Kohberger clearly and quickly realizes that the young man must have been his thief. He’d previously suspected it was some of the unhoused veterans he was housing nearby, but he hadn’t bothered to consider his son Jack’s friends as possible culprits.

When Connie Saba sees the news, her first thought is for Maryann Kohberger, Bryan’s mother. She knows Maryann would not want her to reach out, so she resolves to pray for her instead.

Bryan Kohberger is brought to the Latah County Jail, where he is placed in a cell alone under tight security. The priority is to keep Kohberger alive to stand trial.