Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the brutal stabbings of four Idaho college students on Wednesday but one major question remains unanswered: what was his motive? Theories continue to swirl as new details emerge about Kohberger's fascination with crime and serial killers, his troubled childhood, and obsession with on one of the victims Madison Mogen, 21.
Despite a more than two-year-long investigation, authorities have yet to uncover any digital connection between Kohberger and the four victims — Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin (20), Kaylee Goncalves (21), and Xana Kernodle (20). Also, no known links have been found between Kohberger and the two roommates who survived the deadly attack, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen.
Obsessed With Madison Mogen?
All of this adds to the ongoing mystery surrounding Kohberger's motive — why he chose those specific targets and who, if anyone, was the primary target that tragic night. However, during Wednesday's plea hearing, prosecutor Bill Thompson may have offered the most revealing hint yet about what may have driven Kohberger.
Thompson said, "We will not represent that he intended to commit all of the murders that he did that night, but we know that that is what resulted."
This statement raises a critical question: if not all the murders were premeditated, which ones were intentional?
This raises another question. Was Kohberger obsessed with Madison Mogen?
The prosecution's suggestion that Kohberger may have had only one intended target on that tragic night has intensified speculation that Madison Mogen was his primary target.
Sources familiar with the investigation previously told Dateline that Mogen was believed to be the focus of Kohberger's attack — partly based on the route the killer is believed to have taken through the three-story student house.
This has led to the theory that the other three killings were collateral after Kohberger found Kaylee Goncalves asleep in Mogen's room, then ran into Xana Kernodle, who tried to flee. He allegedly chased her down the stairs and killed both her and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin.
There have also been unverified reports that Kohberger was obsessed with Mogen. Though officials have not verified this, rumors suggest he may have first noticed her while she was working as a waitress at the Mad Greek restaurant in Moscow — a place known for its vegan-friendly menu, which matched Kohberger's own strict eating habits.
Still a Theory
Author Howard Blum, who wrote a book on the killings last year, proposed that this restaurant encounter may have been the first time Kohberger saw Mogen. "The restaurant was the only one in town to serve the sort of vegan dishes that Kohberger's relatives told me he preferred. It was also where Mogen worked as a waitress,' Blum told Dateline.
"Did they talk? Did he ask her out? The prosecution and the defense have agreed that there is no evidence of any interaction – either in person or on social media.
"But I believe that wouldn't have been necessary for Kohberger to become infatuated with 21-year-old Mogen's pretty face, long blonde hair and sparkling personality. Obsessions came easily to him. He was, after all, a recovering heroin addict."
Last year, the parents of Kaylee Goncalves said they came across a social media profile bearing Kohberger's name, which they believed connected him to Mogen.
"You would go to Maddie's Instagram account and look at her pictures, and he liked them,' Kristi Goncalves told 48 Hours in January 2024. He had liked them. Bryan's name was under a lot of Maddie's pictures. Liked her pictures, liked that picture and that picture, and that picture, and that picture.
"So, he was actively looking at the Instagram account."
