Crime
Forensic Expert Believes Bryan Kohberger Would Have Killed Again and ‘Gotten Better’ At It
A forensic psychologist believes that Bryan Kohberger’s murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022 was just the beginning of a terrifying pattern.
“I doubt that he had ever killed before but, let’s just say, if he had not been captured, I have no doubt that after a period of time he would have had more victims – and I think he would have gotten better,” Dr. Gary Brucato told the Daily Mail in an article published on Monday, February 23.
Brucato, who helped lead the development of the Columbia University Mass Murder Database — a major research initiative focused on analyzing the psychological characteristics of mass killers — believes that a “psychosexual fantasy” was the motive behind Kohberger’s killing spree.
“When the motive is fantasy, you have to keep doing it to get the fantasy perfect,” he added. “He was motivated like a serial killer.”
Brucato also thinks that the evidence from new autopsy findings indicate that Kohberger, 31, initially planned to only murder Madison Mogen, 21, and not the other victims – Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20. Kohberger also likely “underestimated” how the women would respond in a life or death situation.
“He was probably obsessively watching his victim from afar and thought he knew everything about the movement of this foreign body – almost scientifically – but could never touch it. He could never have a conversation with her,” Brucato explained to the publication.
The psychologist added that he considered the way Kohberger interacted with other people was strange.
“There’s something odd about how he relates to human beings,” Brucato continued. “He understands them in a mechanical, detached way, thinking of people almost like insects in a jar.”
In July 2025, Kohberger was convicted on four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary. He’s currently serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
