Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger has been described as a socially awkward outcast who was overweight and unpopular with girls in high school.
Kohberger is also said to have been a heavy heroin user in his late teens, according to statements by some of his classmates.
By his senior year of high school, Kohberger underwent a drastic transformation, to the extent that he became almost unrecognizable to his fellow students.
“I remember seeing him and thinking it was a new student. He was so heavy and he lost so much weight, he almost looked sickly or like it was an obsession. Around the same time, he became more aggressive and I think he became more of an outcast at that point. He became more withdrawn,” according to Dominique Clark, who attended elementary and high school with Kohberger, the New York Post reported.
Kohberger’s transformation took place just before his senior high school year. He previously appeared stocky in his fourth-grade yearbook at Pleasant Valley High School in Brodheadsville, but by his senior year he lost around 80 pounds, according to Clark.
Clark also described him as very bright but awkward–especially with girls.
“If he liked or was interested in a girl and she wasn’t, he didn’t understand why or just didn’t accept her saying no and move on and so he would have been labeled as a creep or something along those lines. He hung out with the people who were outcasts together. He tried to hang out with people who were smart, he just didn’t really fit in with anybody,” she said.
According to another classmate, Sarah Healey, Kohberger was frequently bullied by girls in high school. Something, she believes, may have been a motivating factor for him.
“It was bad. There was definitely something off about him, like we couldn’t tell exactly what it was,” she told Fox News. “I honestly think that’s what led up to this, because he didn’t get the proper help, and it was mainly females that bullied him.”
Classmates say his disposition changed from victim to aggressor. Another classmate said that he was also using substantial amounts of heroin at the time. A series of videos were posted by fellow student Casey Arntz, where she delved deeper into Kohberger’s past.
Some scenes depict a mostly expressionless Kohberger next to Arntz and other school friends and others show screenshots of messages exchanged between the two.
“I really didn’t have ‘Old Friend of a Murderer’ on my 2022 bingo list,” she told the New York Post.
Kohberger told Arntz at the time that he was clean from drug use.
“It was nice to see him clean up,” Arntz said. “He seemed like he was better. Obviously that wasn’t true.”
According to another classmate at his college, Kohberger’s drug addiction went far beyond his high school years. It also became apparent to others acquainted with him.
Rich Pasqua, a former acquaintance of Kohberger, said that he seemed just like an average guy—polite, yet eager to be liked and fit in. Pasqua told Fox News in an interview:
“I met him through some friends and they told me that he was a little weird and he was a little socially awkward, I guess you could say, but he wasn’t a bad guy,” Pasqua said. “He needed a job, so I worked at a pizza shop at that time and they were hiring and I said, ‘Yeah, come on in and apply.’ And he did, and he got the job. So I worked with him for a little bit, but he was quiet, though.”
Pasqua also confirmed his drug use, saying Kohberger and him were both heroin addicts who bought heroin from the same dealers.
“I work in treatment and everything, but back then I was using. And so that’s how I know for a fact he was using. I’ve got high with him a couple of times and used with him,” he said.
He added that he and Kohberger had not spoken in years when he heard about the murders.
“I haven’t heard from him in so long, and then I heard about this and they said that he was going to college,” Pasqua said.
“I said, I haven’t heard from him. I guess that’s what he’s been doing. He must have cleaned up, I know he was in and out of rehab a couple of times, but he really did, he cleaned up and was going to college all these years.”
Kohberger, 28, has been charged with the murders of students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four students were stabbed while asleep on Nov. 13. He was arrested in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 30.
Kohberger appeared first at Latah County Court on Jan. 5.
To date, no motive for the massacre has been established and no connection between the assailant and the murder victims has been revealed.
