Bryan Kohberger has been serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students. Still, one question has continued to haunt investigators, the victims’ families and the public- why that house?
A new Netflix documentary has reignited that discussion, with director Skye Borgman suggesting the off-campus rental may have been chosen because it was home to five women.
Highlights
- A new Netflix documentary suggested Bryan Kohberger may have deliberately targeted the Idaho rental home.
- Director Skye Borgman pointed to Kohberger's alleged history of difficult interactions with women.
- Investigators said they found no evidence linking Kohberger to the incel movement.
While she stressed that no one can know Kohberger’s true motive, Borgman believes the house itself may offer one of the strongest clues.
"It seems pretty likely that he had a very low regard, if not hatred, for women," she said.
The Netflix documentary suggested the house itself may have been the real target
Image credits: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images
Speaking to Fox News Digital while promoting Netflix’s The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, director Skye Borgman said she believes the choice of house raises important questions.
The off-campus rental was home to Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Dylan Mortensen, and Bethany Funke. On the night of the murders, Xana’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was also staying there.
Borgman believes that fact may not have been a coincidence.
"The fact that this was the house that he chose. This was a house that had five women living in it."
She pointed out that Ethan was only there because he was visiting Xana.
"The night that the murders happened, Xana Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was over, but really, this was a house full of women,” she said.
Image credits: Netflix
Investigators determined Kohberger had repeatedly driven past the property before the killings.
According to Borgman, he appeared to have watched the home for days, weeks, and even months before the attack.
"He watched the house; he was around the house in the days, weeks and months leading up to the murders,” she said.
Because of that, she believes the location itself may have been deliberately chosen.
"It seems pretty likely that he had a very low regard, if not hatred, for women."
At the same time, Borgman stressed that this remains a theory rather than a proven motive.
"It's all conjecture. He seemed to struggle with his relationships with women,” she added.
The documentary also included interviews with people who knew Kohberger before his arrest
Image credits: kayleegoncalves/Instagram
Former classmate Lilly Karaban described him as someone who had a “his way or the highway” attitude and often seemed disconnected from those around him.
"He lived in his own world,” said Karaban.
Other classmates painted a similar picture.
According to the documentary, students said Kohberger was “not particularly well liked.”
Several claimed he regularly mansplained, talked down to women and became argumentative during conversations.
Some said they found him “creepy,” while others admitted they felt uncomfortable around him.
Image credits: Netflix
Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger said investigators heard about numerous unusual encounters.
"There were just strange incidents and strange behavior."
Former Washington State University Police Chief Gary Jenkins recalled one female student’s account of feeling cornered during an aggressive interaction with Kohberger.
She also believed he occasionally followed her to her car.
Although those incidents alarmed students, Jenkins explained they were never reported as crimes because they did not meet the legal threshold for police action.
"Nothing that occurred rose to the level of a crime."
The documentary also noted that Kohberger eventually lost his teaching assistant position at Washington State University.
Since so many of the victims were women, investigators found no proof he belonged to the incel movement
Image credits: Netflix
Because so many of the victims were women, speculation has continued for years about whether Kohberger had ties to the incel movement.
The online community largely consist of men who describe themselves as unable to find romantic or s*xual partners, with some members expressing hostility toward women.
However, FBI Special Agent Ed Jacobson, who worked on the investigation, said authorities never uncovered evidence linking Kohberger to the group.
"We never saw evidence that shows Bryan Kohberger is part of the incel movement."
Still, Jacobson said investigators believed Kohberger was extremely careful with his digital footprint.
"Bryan Kohberger was very good at hiding his online activity."
Image credits: Netflix
Karaban, however, believes his actions reflected a deep anger toward women regardless of whether he formally identified with any movement.
"People who brutalize women the way Kohberger did dislike them, find them threatening."
She added, "So they take all that anger out on them."
Award-winning author James Patterson, who later wrote a book about the case, said his own reporting uncovered multiple stories from women who described uncomfortable encounters with Kohberger before the murders.
Image credits: Netflix
According to Patterson, female bartenders and customers at Seven Sirens Brewing Company in Pennsylvania said Kohberger often forced himself into conversations and even asked women for their home addresses.
Some reportedly complained to the brewery owner about what they called “the creepy guy with bulging eyes.”
Patterson said nearly everyone he interviewed described Kohberger in similar terms. "This is a strange man with a strange look."
He added that Kohberger seemed to have a very different opinion of himself than the people around him did.
Other accounts added to the questions surrounding Kohberger’s behavior
Image credits: kayleegoncalves / xanakernodle
One of the more unusual accounts featured in reporting on the case came from an exotic dancer who contacted investigators after Kohberger’s arrest.
She said she believed he had visited the club where she worked in 2019, about two hours from his family’s Pennsylvania home.
While she was performing, the man she believes was Kohberger allegedly told her he wanted to ki*l people.
When she jokingly asked who, she said he replied, "Whoever I want."
At the time, she alerted security because the comment made her uncomfortable.
She said she didn’t think about the encounter again until Kohberger’s photograph appeared on television after his arrest.
Although the account has attracted attention, it has not been used as evidence in court.
Borgman said the biggest question may never be answered
Image credits: TODAY
For Borgman, the biggest mystery is not how the murders happened but why.
"I would love to, I think, along with the rest of the world, know why he did what he did."
She admitted that she doubts anyone will ever receive a complete answer. "I don't think any of us will ever know."
According to Borgman, that uncertainty has been especially painful for the victims’ families.
She believes many had hoped Kohberger’s guilty plea would finally explain his motive.
Instead, by accepting the plea agreement, he avoided a public trial where prosecutors might have explored that question in greater detail.
Image credits: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images
Borgman said one FBI investigator told her that sometimes investigators have to accept that they may never understand a k*ller’s reasoning.
"You've got to be OK with not knowing."
She acknowledged that accepting uncertainty is incredibly difficult. "That's really hard for humans to do."
Borgman believes Kohberger also wanted to keep public attention focused on himself.
“I think his silence is a way of attempting to keep the spotlight focused on him."
She added that investigators themselves have struggled with the lack of answers. "The question of the why still lingers with just about everybody."
A few days before the documentary premiered, Kohberger tried to withdraw his guilty plea
Image credits: Netflix
Just days before the documentary premiered on July 29, Kohberger filed a request asking to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in 2025.
In court last year, he repeatedly said he was pleading guilty “freely and voluntarily.”
In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to seek capital punishment.
Now, however, Kohberger claims he was pressured into accepting the agreement.
According to court filings and later interviews, he alleged his lawyers made “false promises,” withheld potentially favorable evidence and warned him about the conditions he would face on d*ath row if he went to trial.
He has also claimed there was previously undisclosed evidence, including references to hair found in Ethan Chapin's hands, that should have been considered before he entered his plea.
Kohberger has since insisted he is innocent and has described his conviction as the result of "coercion, disinformation, false promises, and the withholding of exculpatory discovery,” per the New York Times.
Whether the courts allow him to withdraw the plea remains to be seen.
For many of the victims' families, however, the focus has shifted away from Kohberger.
Borgman said they are now concentrating on preserving the memories of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin rather than waiting for answers that may never come.
"They carry the love forward."
"I still can't believe this happened," wrote one netizen
