Idaho suspect Bryan Kohberger was ‘overweight and bullied in school before becoming heroin addict’

The Idaho murder suspect used to get tormented in school and and was a self-destructive overweight heroin addict in the years before the horrific slayings, according to his old classmates. 

Bryan Kohberger, 28, was bullied and dropped 100 pounds in his senior year of high school before taking up hard drugs, two of his former friends have revealed.  

PhD student Kohberger is currently charged with the quadruple murders of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves – who were found dead in a college home on November 13.

Details about the suspect’s past are now coming to light – including that he was a ‘secluded’ person who used his criminology studies to ‘try to understand humans and understand himself.’ 

Kohberger ‘stalked’ the house of his four victims on twelve occasions before killing them, evidence seems to suggest 

Casey Arntz, who was friends with Kohberger, has revealed what he was like at school

Kohberger lost 100 pounds in high school, and was previously bullied, according to his former friends

Two of his high school friends, Casey Arntz and Bree, who asked to have her last name kept private, said Kohberger was overweight and was bullied in school.

The suspected Idaho killer shed nearly 100 pounds in his senior year after being the brunt of his classmates’ jokes – which was when people noticed a switch in him.

Arntz told CBS’ 48 Hours: ‘He was rail thin. It was after that weight loss that a lot of people noticed a huge switch.’

After losing the weight, it was Kohberger who started bullying Arntz’ brother – putting him in chokeholds and getting physically aggressive with him.

Bree said that ‘self-destructive’ Kohberger started also using heroin. She added: ‘You just saw him becoming more self-destructive. He really stayed secluded.’ 

In the years after high school, the suspect seemed to be getting his life back on track, and would tell Bree that he was ‘going to be better.’

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Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on November 13 in the quiet, college town of Moscow, Idaho

Bree (pictured) said that ‘self-destructive’ Kohberger started also using heroin. She added: ‘You just saw him becoming more self-destructive. He really stayed secluded’

She revealed: ‘He was telling me that he wanted to get sober, that he was getting sober. And he wanted to let me know, ‘I’m gonna do better. I’m gonna be better.” 

Both of the women last saw Kohberger at a friend’s wedding in 2017 – where they said he looked ‘good’ and seemed to have a new lease of life.

Arntz said: ‘I gave him a hug and I said, ‘You look so good. I’m so proud of you.”

And Bree said that his new focus on his criminology studies: ‘His goal was just to change the world for the good around him. He wanted to do something that impacted people in a good way. 

‘People were not his strong suit. she added, ‘And I think through his criminology studies, he was really trying to understand humans and trying and understand himself.’ 

The suspect is believed to have driven some 2,300 miles from Moscow to Pennsylvania. He was attending college in nearby Washington State

Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, smiles in court on January 5, 2022 after being denied bail

Speaking about Kohberger allegedly being the Idaho killer, Arntz said: ‘I honestly think he did it because he wants to see if he can get away with it. Where did it go wrong? What happened…why didn’t I see it?’

Damning evidence from a newly-unsealed affidavit this week showed how police were able to link Kohberger to the crime scene – after he allegedly ‘stalked’ the college home twelve times before the murders, and also returned to the crime scene five hours later. 

Kohberger lived eight miles from the murder scene in Moscow, Idaho, and drove the white Hyundai Elantra cops were looking to trace. 

And with the help of genetic genealogy, cell phone data, CCTV footage, and evidence left at the crime scene, they were able to hunt down their suspect and charge him with the quadruple murder. 

The affidavit recounts the moments Moscow Police Officer Brett Payne entered the home on Kings Street and found the four college students brutally stabbed to death. 

If convicted, Kohberger is facing the death penalty for the murders of Idaho students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, and best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21.

Kohberger was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police at a home in Albrightsville, a small town in the heart of the Poconos Mountains on December 30 -more than 2,000 miles from where the gruesome killings took place. 

After the November 13 murders, Kohberger and his father, Michael, drove 2,500 miles in a white Hyundai Elantra from Idaho to Pennsylvania. 

On November 29, police obtained surveillance footage from the parking lot of Kohberger’s apartment building, some 10 miles from the murder scene, in Pullman, Washington State.

Kohberger now faces the death penalty, if he is found guilty or admits killing the four students 

Moscow Police officers visited the parking lot to obtain a license plate for the vehicle – as it matched the description of the car they saw on footage the night the students were killed.

They ran a search, and found multiple incidents in which the car and its owner – Bryan Kohberger – had been pulled over multiple times in the past.

With Kohberger’s name, police honed in on him and reviewed historic surveillance camera footage, along with phone records, going back several months.

Then following their initial suspicions, Kohberger was pulled over over twice as he passed through Indiana on December 15 – once for speeding and the other for following a car ahead too closely. 

Cellphone tower data also seemed to link him to the crime scene – as well as a single male DNA left on a knife sheath next to two of the dead victims at the home in Moscow, Idaho.