Psychiatrist breaks down Bryan Kohberger's possible motive in Idaho murders
Bryan Kohberger has changed his legal strategy in the Idaho murders case after withdrawing his guilty plea and indicating he wants the case to move forward to trial.
31-year-old Kohberger now claims he was ‘convinced to falsely confess’ by his lawyers.
The decision means prosecutors may now have to present their case before a jury, while one major question surrounding the killings remains unanswered: what was the motive behind the attack?
Kohberger was charged with killing University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in November 2022.
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While prosecutors have detailed the evidence they say links him to the crime, no official motive for the killings has been publicly established.
Now, a forensic scientist has shared her own theory about what may have driven the killings.
What did the forensic psychiatrist say?
Speaking to the Daily Mail, forensic psychiatrist Dr Carole Lieberman offered her opinion on what she believes could explain the alleged attack.
Lieberman suggested the killings may have reflected long-term anger stemming from repeated rejection rather than anything the victims themselves had done.
“It is especially significant that Maddie and Kaylee look like a blonde cheerleader who rejected him in middle school,” she said.
“He already had this chip on his shoulder, and he was gathering all this anger… that made it harder and harder for him to meet a girl who wanted to go out with him.
“He took out the rage that he built up over the years, towards this first love and all the subsequent women who rejected him, with each bloody stab of the knife.”
The psychiatrist also suggested that people may have sensed what she described as underlying anger if they interacted with Kohberger socially.
She said: “If he met a girl, they would be turned off by him. Not just because of his looks and being a little awkward... they would be able to sense this anger and rage within him.”
Lieberman also argued that the nature of the attack suggested to her that it was driven by intense emotion.
She said she hoped her analysis could offer some perspective to the victims' families, adding: “Their children didn’t do anything wrong, and what happened is not because of anything their children did.”
Has a motive for the Idaho murders been confirmed?
To date, prosecutors have not publicly identified a motive for the killings, and any explanation for why the victims were allegedly targeted remains unconfirmed.
The case has attracted widespread attention, including renewed interest following Netflix's documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, which explores the investigation and some of the theories that emerged online following the attack.
Among those theories was speculation that Kohberger may have been linked to the so-called 'Incel' movement. However, authorities have previously said they found no evidence to support that claim.
A timeline of the Idaho murders
November 12 2022
Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, attend a party at Chapin’s fraternity Sigma Chi. Meanwhile, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, go to sports bar the Corner Club.
November 13 2022
1.45am - Kernodle and Chapin return home to their house on King Road
1.56am - Goncalves and Mogen arrive home
2.44am - Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is spotted by a CCTV camera at Washington State University. Shortly afterwards, the car is seen again heading towards a road that connects Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims live.
4am - Bryan Kohberger is believed to have entered the property
4.17am - A security camera reveals the sound of a barking dog, voices and what sounds like a thud. At some point around this time, their housemate Dylan Mortensen is awoken and hears a male voice say: “It's OK, Kaylee, I'm here for you.” She later hears crying and sees a masked man in the property.
4.19am - Mortensen attempts to call Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but all calls go unanswered. She started texting Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen joins Funke in her room and they lock themselves in.
11.58am - After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, she and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson come over to the King Road property. Johnson discovers Chapin and Kernodle's bodies and calls 911.
November 17 2022
Preliminary autopsy results show all four victims were attacked with a large knife
December 7 2022
Police say they are looking to speak to any occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra from 2011-13.
December 30 2022
Kohberger is arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Police later reveal they used DNA on a knife sheath to link him to the crime scene, and tracked his car and phone across the area.
May 22 2023
Kohberger remains silent when asked to enter a plea during his arraignment. The judge enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
June 26 2023
Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty.
December 28 2023
The King Road property where the murders took place is demolished to allow the community to heal.
April 17 2024
Kohberger’s defence team claims in court documents that phone mast data shows Kohberger was miles away from Moscow, Idaho at the time of the murders.
March 4 2025
Kohberger’s defence team say he exhibits traits of autism spectrum disorder, and putting him to death would be unconstitutional.
July 2 2025
Weeks before the trial is set to begin, Kohberger pleads guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.
July 23 2025
Kohberger is sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years for the burglary charge.
He comes face to face with the families of his victims for the first time, who read out impact statements.
Goncalves' sister Alivea tells him that if her sister hadn’t been sleeping when he attacked, ‘Kaylee would've kicked your f**king a**’.
Meanwhile, Mortensen says she’s suffered from debilitating panic attacks since the night of the murders, telling Kohberger he has taken away her ‘ability to trust the world’.
July 27 2026
Kohberger announces he is seeking to take back his guilty plea and overturn his conviction.
He tells the New York Times: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
Topics: True crime, Bryan Kohberger, Netflix
Thomas Bamford