Bryan Kohberger waved red flags to a former match on Tinder by questioning her about murder weapons and death in the weeks that led up to the gruesome slayings of four college students.
A woman only referred to as “KC” and “C” in newly-released documents obtained by E! News told an investigator that she matched with Kohberger one or two months before the Idaho four – Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 – were killed.
Kohberger, 30, mentioned that he was a criminology student at Washington State University during their conversation, and at one point, the woman said she discussed her friend who had been murdered in her town “a couple years prior,” Detective Brett Payne wrote in a March 2024 filing.
“The conversation turned to horror movies and which ones C liked the most. C told Kohberger she liked the Rob Zombie Halloween movies,” the report continued. “To this, C said Kohberger asked what she thought would be the worst way to die.”
C told Kohberger that she “thought it would be a knife,” and he allegedly responded “something to the effect of ‘like a Ka-Bar?’”
The woman wasn’t sure what that was and had to Google it.
Prosecutors confirmed they had evidence that Kohberger had bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and a sharpener on Amazon some time between November 1 and December 6 in 2022, per CBS. This would mean that the purchase happened either roughly two weeks before the Idaho Four murders on November 13, or about three weeks after the crime.
“C said she eventually stopped talking to Kohberger because his questions made her uncomfortable,” the report stated.
The detective also noted at the time that there was “nothing to corroborate C’s tip” as she no longer had access to her Tinder account and they would need to “compare the Tinder records located on Kohberger’s phone.”
More than two years after the murders, Kohberger accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. On Wednesday, July 23, he was ordered to serve four life sentences without the possibility of parole, as well as an additional 10 years for the burglary charge.
He declined the judge’s offer to speak in court at his sentencing hearing.
While the Goncalves family was left frustrated that the death penalty was no longer on the table, according to a statement shared to Facebook, Chapin’s parents, Jim and Stacy, said they were satisfied with the agreement during a July 14 appearance on the Today show.
“I think our initial response was like, an eye for an eye,” Stacy explained. “But we’ve spent a ton of time talking about it with prosecutors, and for us, we always felt like this was a better deal. I mean, [Kohberger] gets put away, and there’s no appeal system to it.”
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