New details about the convicted murderer's phone activity in the days after brutally slaying four University of Idaho students have come to light -- making it very clear he had serial killers on the brain, even on Christmas Day.
Bryan Kohberger had murder on his mind in the days and weeks after committing it himself.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were all brutally murdered by the convicted murderer on November 13, 2022 -- and, in the month that followed, he not only searched for and downloaded information on a ton of serial killers, but kept tabs on the investigation into the University of Idaho slayings.
This week, digital forensics expert Heather Barnhart opened up to PEOPLE about some of the information gleaned from Kohberger's phone after her team was brought onto the case. Per Barnhart, it seemed Kohberger cleared his desktop computer and hard drive of downloads, but didn't do the same with his Android phone.
"People think if they download things while their browser is in incognito mode it stays private, but it does not," Barnhart added, revealing how they discovered his online behavior.
About a week after the murders, on November 19, Kohberger downloaded information on Danny Rolling. Known as the Gainesville Ripper, Rolling killed five college students over four days back in 1990, sneaking into their homes in the middle of the night, sexually assaulting some of his victims, and stabbing them to death with a Ka-Bar knife.
While there's no evidence Kohberger assaulted his victims, he also broke into his victims' home under nightfall and used the same knife.
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View StoryThen, on Christmas Day, came a wave of additional downloads, all pertaining to killers. At the time of the murders, Kohberger was studying criminology at Washington State University.
Per Barnhart, he looked up and downloaded info on Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, BTK Killer Dennis Rader, Betty Lou Beets, Randy Kraft, William Lee, Cody Neal, Danny Rolling, Joel Rifkin, Altemio Sanchez, Glen Rogers, Cary Stayner, Harvey Glatman, Paul Bernardo, Rodney Alcala, Robert Hansen, Gary Ridgeway, David Parker Ray, Cleophus Prince and Ed Kemper.
Between November 26 and December 28, Kohberger also downloaded updates on the Idaho murders from the Moscow Police Department -- including four different updates that last day, three days before his arrest.
In a separate interview with Daily Mail, Barnhart claimed Kohberger also looked up porn and terms including "raped," "forced," "sleeping," "passed out" and "voyeur" -- similar to findings Dateline reported on back in May.
Kohberger was sentenced to four life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, after pleading guilty in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.
