Medical and mental health records for Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in a quadruple murder at the University of Idaho, and his family members have been provided to prosecutors, newly unsealed court documents reveal.
Prosecutors and lawyers for Kohberger had both agreed to keep the protective order referencing the records sealed, but Ada County Judge Steven Hippler unsealed it last week, finding there was “no compelling basis” to keep the public in the dark.
The contents of the records, however, remain confidential.
The unsealed protective order states that “medical and mental health records of the Defendant and his family members,” which were given to prosecutors by the defense on Jan. 9, are not to be shared beyond the prosecution team.
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“It’s interesting that the Order specifically references mental health records – a more generic, less telling, term could certainly have been used,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who has been following the case.
“I would imagine those records were given to the prosecution because there is something the defense wants them to consider. Obviously, there is no insanity defense in Idaho. So, whatever those records show is likely as some sort of mitigation.”
The court records show the mental health records were initially handed over on Jan. 9, almost two months after Hippler ruled Kohberger, 30, can face the death penalty if convicted.
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Read the unsealed protective order:
The unsealing marks the second major move in favor of transparency Hippler has made in recent days.
Last week, the judge ordered the transcript of a closed-door hearing regarding the defense’s opposition to investigative genetic genealogy evidence to be made public, at least in part.
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University. If the slayings had happened on the Washington side of the state line, the suspect would not face the death penalty and could invoke an “insanity” defense.
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Kohberger’s mental health could be a potential mitigating factor that spares his life in such a scenario, Elcox told Fox News Digital.
John Kelly, a criminal profiler and president of the System to Apprehend Lethal Killers, said Kohberger’s alleged past abuse of heroin could have been an escape mechanism from severe bullying and childhood ostracization.
“Based on the media reporting of his abuse by kids, boys and girls alike, especially young girls teasing and making fun of him, I think this could have been very traumatic for him as a child,” Kelly told Fox News Digital. “I believe he had a lot of anxiety and depression.”
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Former classmates have described Kohberger as “bright” but awkward and told Fox News Digital he was bullied growing up.
“It was just weird,” a classmate from Pennsylvania’s Pleasant Valley High School named Sarah Healey told Fox News Digital a day after his arrest in December 2022. “But Bryan was bullied a lot, and I never got a chance to say something to defend him, because he would always run away.”
She said he was routinely mocked, especially by girls, and that bullies threw things at him. He was also allegedly bullied for being overweight, but yearbook photos show he slimmed down in high school after getting into physical fitness. He claimed to have lost 130 pounds in a year with a rigorous boxing and running routine while applying for a job as a school security guard in 2015.
His employment there came to an end on June 22, 2021, when he submitted a resignation letter, acknowledging that “I understand that if I do not resign, I have a right to a school board hearing to determine if I should be dismissed from employment with the School District.”
School officials previously told Fox News Digital that additional information regarding Kohberger’s disciplinary record was exempt from public disclosure.
Redacted documents they did supply, however, show that Kohberger was placed on leave without pay for at least one day in February 2021 due to “expired clearance.”
His allegedly awkward behavior continued after high school and into his Ph.D. program at Washington State University, about 10 miles from the Idaho crime scene.
At one point, a TikTok user named Hayley Willette claimed she went on a Tinder date with Kohberger and decided to pretend she was vomiting to get him to leave her apartment. An hour later, according to a series of selfie videos she posted online, he texted her, telling her she had “good birthing hips.”
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Kohberger is accused of killing University of Idaho undergrads Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, as well as Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, in a home invasion massacre at an off-campus rental home on Nov. 13, 2022. Police arrested him at his parents’ house in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on Dec. 30 of that year.
He could face the death penalty if convicted, and state lawmakers are currently looking to make the firing squad the primary means of execution.
According to court documents, investigators allegedly generated a tip that led them to Kohberger’s family after recovering DNA from a knife sheath left under Mogen’s body.
Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
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