Bryan Kohberger invoked his right to an attorney during his initial police interview on December 29, 2022, according to newly released documents.
On Wednesday, Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of four University of Idaho students. Following the hearing, Moscow Police began releasing documents in the case that detail their investigation.
Bryan Kohberger leaves after an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool)
The interview, conducted after Kohberger was taken into custody at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, began with detectives introducing themselves and reading him his Miranda rights, which he acknowledged understanding.
“You do look familiar,” Kohberger told one of the detectives at the start of the interview.
Before discussing the murders, detectives engaged in small talk with Kohberger about his academic background. Kohberger revealed he was a first-year PhD student in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, having started there on July 1.
Kohberger told detectives that knowledge was far more important to him than money when asked about his career path toward becoming a professor.
Kohberger explained he had applied to both UC Irvine and Washington State University because neither required the GRE exam. He mentioned that he had recently returned home to Pennsylvania to see his family for Christmas break.
When the conversation shifted to the murders, Kohberger acknowledged he was aware of “a homicide” near the University of Idaho campus through a WSU alert he had received the previous month.
Despite initially engaging with detectives, Kohberger ultimately stopped the conversation, saying that although he had the “utmost respect for law enforcement,” it was his constitutional right to speak to an attorney.
The interview ended after Kohberger repeatedly requested to speak with an attorney.
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