Bryan Kohberger spent Christmas 2022 indulging his twisted obsession, mere weeks after committing murder

Bryan Kohberger spent the 2022 Christmas holiday at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania — just weeks after brutally murdering four University of Idaho college students in Moscow, Idaho, near Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was enrolled as a PhD-level criminology student.

In an exclusive People interview, digital forensics expert Heather Barnhart, who investigated Kohberger’s digital activity for the prosecution, and who was set to testify before Kohberger accepted a plea deal, has revealed how Kohberger spent Christmas that year.

Speaking with People, Barnhart said on Christmas, Kohberger downloaded information on over 20 serial killers on his phone, staying up well past midnight researching them. Prosecutors say Kohberger effectively wiped his devices, but missed his Android phone.

“People think if they download things while their browser is in incognito mode it stays private, but it does not,” Barnhart told the outlet.

Kohberger and Danny Rolling

Among many others, the killers Kohberger researched that day include Rodney Alcala, John Wayne Gacy, Joel Rifkin, Dennis Rader, and Danny Rolling. Kohberger had studied Rolling before, known as the “Gainesville Ripper,” whose crimes inspired the Scream movie franchise.

In the 1990s, Rolling murdered five university students in Florida before being executed by lethal injection. The details of his crimes bear striking similarities to those attributed to Kohberger. Rolling even used a KA-BAR knife, the same knife prosecutors say Kohberger used to murder Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Maddie Mogen in November 2022.

Kohberger’s trip home to Pennsylvania

After the “Idaho 4” murder spree, Kohberger drove home to Pennsylvania from Washington State with his father. According to Kohberger’s public defender, his father flew to Spokane, Washington, to accompany him on a pre-planned cross-country road trip back for the holidays. They traveled together in Kohberger’s white Hyundai Elantra, the same vehicle linked to the Idaho murders.

The drive took approximately two and a half days, and Kohberger and his dad arrived in Pennsylvania around December 17, 2022. During the trip, they were pulled over twice by Indiana State Police for following too closely and speeding. Investigators later tracked their movements across the U.S., using surveillance footage and license plate readers, which placed them in various locations along the route.

Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022, just a few days after he stayed up late into the night researching killers. While there, authorities had been monitoring his movements and had collected DNA evidence from trash recovered outside his parents’ home, which matched DNA found on a knife sheath at the crime scene in Idaho.

Authorities had surveilled Kohberger’s residence and observed him wearing surgical gloves while disposing of trash. During his arrest, Kohberger was reportedly found wearing examination gloves and was in the process of placing trash into separate zip-lock bags.