Hours After Allegedly Killing Four University of Idaho Students, Bryan Kohberger Took a Selfie

The night leading up to the murders of four University of Idaho students was such a stereotypical college evening, it could have been in a movie. According to WNEP, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, partied at a frat house before returning home around 2 a.m. Madison Mogen, 21, had just graduated but was back at the house visiting her best friend, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves. They went out to a bar and then hit up a food truck before crashing at the house.

A few hours later, two other roommates discovered the four students had been fatally stabbed. In the probable cause affidavit obtained by People, one of these individuals told police they saw a "figure clad in black clothing and a mask," who had "bushy eyebrows." The killings happened on Nov. 13, 2022, and a little over a month later, police arrested 30-year-old Bryan Kohberger. When looking through his phone, they found an unsettling selfie taken hours after the crimes.

Latah County Prosecutor William Thompson said in a file obtained by People that Kohberger's selfie is important to his case because it supports the eyewitness's description of the person they saw the night of the murders. Because he was wearing a mask, the state is focused on the bushy eyebrows described by the other roommate.

In the photo, a haggard Kohberger is wearing a white buttoned-up shirt while giving himself a thumbs-up. Kohberger's attorney, Anne Taylor, filed a motion where she wrote, "In this case, the description provided by [the eyewitness] is unreliable and should be excluded." Taylor also said the witness used the words "bushy eyebrows" while on the stand, in front of her client.

In an appearance on Fox & Friends, Steve Goncalves told host Ainsley Earhardt that when he looked at the selfie, he saw "somebody that was making himself a trophy." He went on to theorize that the selfie was taken after Kohberger allegedly returned to the house and found that no one had called 911 yet. "To him," said Goncalves, "that's his little trophy to let him know that 'Hey, I got away with it.'"

Earnhardt pivoted to the fact that police were able to search through Kohberger's Amazon purchase history. "What did they find?" she asked Goncalves. Apparently, months before the murders, Kohberger purchased a knife and sheath via Amazon. A witness discovered that Kohberger bought these items and planned to make the same purchase again. Goncalves believes that Kohberger was buying another knife because he had gotten rid of the first one. The weapon used in the murders has not been found.

Thankfully, Goncalves and his family are not alone during this ordeal. He told Earnhardt that he keeps in touch with the parents of the other victims. "You come together in these types of tragedies," he said.