Bryan Kohberger fired from teaching assistant job weeks before arrest: Report

The man accused of killing four University of Idaho students last fall was fired as a teaching assistant at the college where he was a doctoral student shortly before he was arrested in connection to the killings, according to a media report.

Bryan Kohberger also was investigated by Washington State University for his behavior toward women, The New York Times reported. 

The newspaper obtained a copy of WSU’s December termination letter that detailed Mr. Kohberger’s failure to meet “norms of professional behavior” and was dated just weeks before he was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.

He first got into an argument with the professor he was assisting on Sept. 23. He was emailed by another professor on Oct. 21 about “the ways in which you had failed to meet your expectations as a T.A. thus far in the semester,” per the Times. 

Mr. Kohberger was put on an improvement plan on Nov. 2 — 11 days before the four Idaho students were found stabbed to death in their off-campus home. 

However, a second argument with the same teacher on Dec. 9 motivated the university to fire him for not making “progress regarding professionalism.”

An investigation into his conduct around female students was also discussed during an end-of-year meeting among WSU’s criminology department, according to people familiar with the meeting who spoke with the New York Times.

The faculty talked about a female student’s accusation that Mr. Kohberger followed her to her car. WSU didn’t find Mr. Kohberger was guilty of any wrongdoing during its investigation.

Female students at the University of Idaho had previously said that Mr. Kohberger made them uncomfortable because he stared at them on campus.

Mr. Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home on Dec. 30. 

He was extradited days later to Idaho, where he was charged with four counts of first-degree murder for the Nov. 13 killings of Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21. He was also charged with one count of felony burglary.

A combination of cellphone records, surveillance footage of his car and DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene led police to Mr. Kohberger, according to a probable cause affidavit released following his Jan. 5 court hearing. He has not yet entered a plea. 

His next court appearance will be in June. He is being held at the Latah County Jail.