Bombshell Claims Idaho 4 'Did Not Have to Die': Newly Released Police Report Reveals Washington Cops Investigated Bryan Kohberger After Man With a Knife Broke Into Home of 4 Sorority Girls
Aug. 6 2025, Published 2:20 p.m. ET
Bryan Kohberger could have been stopped and tossed behind bars months before he killed four college students, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The convicted murderer was investigated by police in Washington after a man was reported to have broken into a student's home, where four sorority girls lived, and entered her bedroom.
Was It Kohberger?
Kohberger was suspected to have broken into a college student's home months before he would attack and kill four students.
The incident occurred on October 10, 2021, eight months before Kohberger moved to Washington and enrolled at Washington State University, but during the same weekend the school's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology hosted an event for incoming students.
Before enrolling at Washington State University, Kohberger was working towards his Master of Arts in Criminal Justice at DeSales University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
The attack, which happened at 3:30 a.m., was reported by a 20-year-old woman who called 911 and revealed she had woken up in the middle of the night to find a masked man with a knife entering her bedroom.
Police looked into Kohberger as possible suspect in that incident, two weeks after he became infamous for the Idaho murders.
According to the report, the masked man walked toward the foot of the bed; however, he was unaware his potential victim was awake, and she was able to kick him in the stomach, which led the intruder, armed with a knife, to flee.
The woman revealed the man did not speak, but another roommate in the house reported she heard someone running up the stairs. The case eventually went cold until 14 months later, when Sergeant Christopher Engle began to investigate Kohberger as a possible suspect, two weeks after he was arrested for the Idaho murders.
Just like the now-infamous Idaho crime, this Washington attack occurred in the middle of the night at an off-campus home where a group of young women were living. The residents were also all sorority sisters.
'Pathetic' Kohberger
The convicted killer refused to say much at court before he was sentenced to life behind bars.
However, Kohberger was ruled out as a suspect as Engle discovered there was no record of the future criminology student attending any campus events that weekend, although they failed to look into whether he attended as a non-sanctioned visit, which would have been while he was enrolled at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
In July 2025, the 30-year-old pleaded guilty to killing Kaylee Goncalves and fellow college students Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xanda Kernodl. He was officially sentenced to four life sentences – one for each victim.
When given a chance to speak for his crime in court, the cold killer simply said: "I respectfully decline."
However, Goncalves' sister, Alivea, made her voice known, calling Kohberger a "delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser" in court.
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The 30-year-old is expected to serve his sentence inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
Alivea later told ABC News: "I was fueled by seeing the rage on his face. Man ... was he mad. That was obviously a big point of why I did what I did, to make him feel small."
Kohberger is expected to rot at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The prison opened in 1989 and houses notable prisoners, including Chad Daybell, who was convicted in the 2019 killings of his first wife and two of his second wife's children.
The facility has faced criticism over its treatment of inmates in solitary confinement, as well as for its poor conditions. The inmates also claimed there are delays in access to medical care, long bouts of isolation, and recreational "cages."
However, the prison has denied these allegations.
