- The murder suspect Bryan Kohberger applied for a police department internship, an affidavit says.
- In his application essay, he said he wanted to help rural police collect better data.
Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old suspect charged in the slayings of four University of Idaho students, applied last year for an internship at a police department in Washington, hoping to help rural law enforcement agencies better "collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations," according to an affidavit made public Thursday.
Kohberger, whose DNA was used to help arrest him, submitted his application sometime in the fall of 2022, before the four students were stabbed to death in their beds on November 13, 2022, the affidavit says.
At the time of the killings, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, about 10 miles from Moscow, Idaho, where the students were killed. He graduated from DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where he's from, with a master's degree in criminal justice.
The affidavit also references a Reddit survey Kohberger posted in June, asking people who had recently committed crimes to share their "thoughts and feelings throughout [their] experience."
Kohberger also wrote that he wanted to "understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime."
Prosecutors have charged 28-year-old Kohberger with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in connection to the killings of 21-year-olds Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves and 20-year-olds Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle.
Police say DNA and cellphone tracking tie him to the scene of the crime.
Kohberger appeared in court in Idaho Thursday after being extradited from his hometown of Albright, Pennsylvania, where he was detained on December 30.