A former university professor of accused quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger said he was a “great writer” and a “brilliant student”. Following his arrest, she said “everyone is in shock” that the PhD student has been accused of the heinous crime that has rocked America.
Police swooped in and arrested Bryan Kohberger at his family home in Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, on Friday, for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
All four were stabbed in their beds in the early morning of November 13.
The 28-year-old criminology student attended Washington State University and was based in Pullman before he was arrested, just a 15-minute drive from the off-campus home where the University of Idaho students were murdered.
Michelle Bolger, 33, an associate professor at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, said she is in complete shock Kohberger has been arrested in connection with the crime.
She told Daily Mail: “He’s a brilliant student.
“I’m shocked as s**t at what he’s been accused of. I don’t believe it, but I get it”.
The associate professor at the private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, said he was one of her best students.
“In my 10 years of teaching, I’ve only recommended two students to a PhD programme and he was one of them. He was one of my best students, ever. Everyone is in shock over this,” she told the outlet.
The criminology lecturer said she hasn’t slept since hearing the “upsetting” news of his arrest.
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Ms Bolger explained that she had never met Kohberger in person but had taught him in an online class and helped him with his master’s thesis.
She said: “I never saw him in person, I couldn’t tell you how tall he was or how much he weighed, my only interaction with him was via email and Zoom.
“I didn’t know anything about him, whether he was married, had a girlfriend, etc.”
She added: “He seemed normal to me, but then again, I only knew him from teaching him online.
“I didn’t know anything personal about him. I believe he worked full-time like most of our graduate students do.”
The 28-year-old graduate student is currently in jail and will soon be extradited to Idaho to face four counts of first-degree murder after he waived his right to an extradition hearing.
His defence lawyer, Jason LaBar has said he will not fight extradition as he is eager to be exonerated in Idaho.
Mr LaBar said in a statement: “Mr Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence.
“He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise – not tried in the court of public opinion.”
