By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | The American Report | December 31, 2022
The particularly eerie resemblance between fictional character Patrick Bateman, the well-to-do serial killer in the 2000 movie “American Psycho,” and Bryan Christopher Kohberger, the suspect arrested in the early morning hours of December 30, 2022 for the murders of four college students in Moscow, Idaho, certainly gives pause, as an example of life imitating art.
One wonders whether Kohberger, like the movie character Patrick Bateman, was trying on the mantle of the criminal mind by way of his undergraduate project. Or, did he simply relate?
The American Psycho character Patrick Bateman is depicted as being 27 years old at the beginning of the film, around the same age as Kohberger, who is 28.
“My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet, and a rigorous exercise routine… There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me. Only an entity. Something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there. “ — Opening Monologue, American Psycho
In High School, Kohberger Turned ‘Aggressive’ Former Friend Says
According to the New York Post:
Nick Mcloughlin, of Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania, told the Daily Beast he was appalled when he learned his high school buddy Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested Friday in connection to the brutal November slayings.
The two had been friends during their teenage years…
…But the relationship dissolved after Mcloughlin said Kohberger underwent a personality shift…
…Mcloughlin said Kohberger had been a “down to earth” and overweight teen when they wrapped up their junior year. When they started their senior year, Kohberger was “thinner than a rail” and developed an “aggressive” personality.
Kohberger also began picking up boxing lessons and was itching to put his new skills to use, according to his former friend.
“He always wanted to fight somebody, he was bullying people.”
The New York Post also reported:
A SWAT team entered the location in Pennsylvania where Kohberger, 28, was staying and took him into custody around 3 a.m. Friday, WPVI reported.
Police also seized a white Hyundai Elantra matching the description of a car police had being trying to locate and Kohberger’s DNA has also been matched to samples recovered at the scene of the deaths, according to CNN.
Kohberger, As An Undergraduate “Student Investigator” At DeSales University, Conducted A Research Project Into The Decision Making Process Of The Criminal Mind
The New York Post reported:
While at DeSales, Kohberger posted in a Reddit community for former prisoners to ask for help with a research survey about “how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
In the post “student investigator” Kohberger wrote his project “seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
Questions he asked respondents took on eerie new significance in light of his alleged crimes…
KOHBERGER SURVEY QUESTION: DeSales University
- “WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT VICTIM OR TARGET OVER OTHERS?”
- “DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE CRIME BEFORE LEAVING YOUR HOME?”
- “WHAT WAS THE FIRST MOVE YOU MADE IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOAL?”
- “AFTER ARRIVING, WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE PRIOR TO LOCATING THE VICTIM OR TARGET”
- “HOW DID YOU LEAVE THE SCENE”
Former U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI), filling for Jesse Watters on FOX News on December 30, 2022, broadcast a screenshot of a now-scrubbed Reddit post by Kohberger, who was recruiting participants for a “research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
Fellow Criminology Graduate Student: Kohberger Was “Super Awkward”
According to Yahoo News and the Associated Press:
Ben Roberts, a graduate student in the criminology and criminal justice department at WSU, described Kohberger as confident and outgoing, but said it seemed like “he was always looking for a way to fit in.”
“It’s pretty out of left field,” he said of the news Friday. “I had honestly just pegged him as being super awkward.”
Roberts started the program in August — along with Kohberger, he said — and had several courses with him. He described Kohberger as wanting to appear academic.
“One thing he would always do, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something,” he said. “He had to make sure you knew that he knew it.”
The Daily Beast reported:
A former classmate at DeSales, who asked not to be named, said they got into a disagreement with Kohberger during an introductory biology class group project. While they didn’t remember the conversation, they recalled Kohberger as “very intelligent” and “well spoken” but “seemingly detached.”
“He was very leveled and somewhat imposing. There wasn’t much emotion displayed by him,” the classmate said, adding that he remembers Kohberger’s “intense stare.”
“He took care with how he spoke,” the person said.
According to The Daily Mail:
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary – which he committed ‘with the intention to kill’ the University of Idaho students.
Moscow Chief of Police James Fry added that Kohberger was taken into custody by a SWAT team at a property in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania at 3am on Friday morning.
During a press conference on Friday authorities confirmed that a white Hyundai Elantra was discovered in the search – with sources saying it was towed from outside Kohberger’s home…
…Law enforcement sources told CNN that his DNA was discovered at the scene of the crime – with officers managing to track down who owned the car seen in the area of the slayings.
Former U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI), Guest Host On Fox News Program Jesse Watters Primetime, Interviewed Retired FBI Profiler
Former U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) interviewed retired FBI criminal profiler James Fitzgerald about the Kohberger case on the December 30, 2022 broadcast of FOX News program Jesse Watters Primetime.
SEAN DUFFY:
Let’s go to FBI retired criminal profiler and author of “[A] Journey to the Center of the Mind,” James Fitzgerald for his expert opinion.
James, you know, listen, I read some of these questions that Kohlberger had in his undergraduate research project. What do you make of that in light of his arrest today?
RETIRED FBI PROFILER JAMES FITZGERALD:
Sean, as soon as I heard those questions and read them earlier, it reminded me of the protocol of like 400 questions that we had back in the day as new profilers when we would go through our intensive training in Quantico, Virginia. Within a year or so, we would go out to the prisons and interview serial offenders and violent offenders. They’re convicted, they’re not going anywhere. There’s no deals offered. And we would ask them about 400 questions about how they committed crimes, why they committed crimes. Why they chose certain victims, why they didn’t choose other victims. And you know what? The questions I’ve seen so far in our subject’s, the questions he had prepared for his masters thesis, are very similar to those.
So, this guy obviously is intelligent, this guy has obviously done his research, and he wanted to get inside the mind of these people, but at the same time, perhaps he wasn’t getting all the answers from them himself, so he had to do it himself, commit this type of a crime, to truly answer those questions. And what a heinous way to go about doing your “research,” in this regard…
…So this guy wanted to kill someone. I am sure of that. And once he got more in the world of this whole criminal justice studies and how these prisoners think and operate, he somehow thought he could be one of them. But you know what? He thought he would be smarter. And you know what Sean? It reminds me from 99 years ago, before my time, but I’m certainly familiar with the history of the Leopold and Loeb case in Chicago. They were a couple of college students, thought they were smarter than law enforcement, and they went and kidnapped and killed a fourteen-year-old boy. There was a movie called “Rope” made in 1948, a Hitchcock movie, which captures that. The methodology is different, of course. But I think part of this is a guy who thinks he is smarter than the rest of us, certainly law enforcement, and that may be at least one of the factors which contributed to him committing this crime.
The All-American Murder Victims
The victims, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were discovered stabbed to death inside a Moscow, Idaho off-campus home near the University of Idaho on November 13, 2022.
Kaylee Goncalves was born in Concord, California, moved with her family to North Idaho, and attended the University of Idaho where she “joined the Alpha Phi sorority and was studying to become an Elementary School teacher,” according to her obituary. “Kaylee was the ultimate go-getter and constantly wanted an adventure,” according to a family statement her sister shared with KREM2. Goncalves and Mogen grew up together, CBS News reported.
Madison Mogen was born in Eugene, Oregon and “then moved with her family back to the North Idaho area her parents grew up in,” according to her obituary. “Maddie was so excited to attend the University of Idaho, a little far from home but not too far. Once there, Maddie made the Dean’s List every semester. She joined Pi Beta Phi and met some of her closest friends, all the while having her [sorority] sister Kaylee close by, and the love of her life, Jake.”
Ethan Chapin was born in Seattle. Ethan “played soccer, basketball and ran cross country,” according to his obituary. During tulip season, Ethan worked at Tulip Town in Mount Vernon, Washington. He also worked at Hills Resort in Idaho during the summertime. At the University of Idaho, Ethan joined Sigma Chi with his triplet brother Hunter. Ethan’s triplet sister Maizie joined the University of Idaho’s Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. Ethan also enjoyed golf, surfing, and playing pickle ball or sand volleyball.
“Xana Kernodle of Post Falls, Idaho…was a talented gymnast as a child…attended Post Falls Middle and High School, where she played volleyball, track and soccer,” according to her obituary. “During high school she worked at Texas Roadhouse and went on to attend the University of Idaho…was an active member of Pi Beta Phi sorority”…worked “at her part-time job at Mad Greek Restaurant in Moscow, Idaho” and “loved her dog, Shoeshine.”
“Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle were servers at Mad Greek restaurant in Moscow,” KREM2 reported.
Coroner: Students Were Stabbed More Than Once, Sustained Defensive Wounds
The Spokesman-Review reported:
Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said the size and depth of the wounds indicated a large knife was used. If another weapon was used, it was similar to a large knife, she said. All four deaths were classified as homicides.
Mabbutt said the students were stabbed more than once and may have sustained defensive wounds. There were no indications of sexual assault.
Rabid Monsters Should Be Removed From Society
The Idaho victims’ hands were still tied when law enforcement wheeled out their bodies to preserve the crime scene.
The brutal and grisly murders of four innocent young college students captured the attention of the nation. Concerned citizens called in 1,700 tips to the police.
Not since the horrific murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsome by rabid monsters Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, Vanessa Lynn Coleman, and Eric DeWayne Boyd, who like psychopaths Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, put true evil on display, has America witnessed such depravity.
Because of monstrous acts like those allegedly committed by Bryan Kohlberger, the death penalty has an appropriate place in society in order to eliminate any chance of turning these psychopathic monsters loose on more innocent victims.
COPYRIGHT 2022 MARY FANNING AND ALAN JONES