He lived ‘so close to us’: What fellow students say about suspect in U of Idaho stabbings

Three students at Washington State University offered varying impressions of the graduate student accused of murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. And two fellow residents of the campus apartments where the student lived say they were disturbed to learn that he lived so near to them.

Bryan C. Kohberger, 28, a student from Pennsylvania who just finished his first semester pursuing a Ph.D. in Washington State University’s criminology and criminal justice department, was arrested Friday, nearly seven weeks after the Nov. 13 slayings 9 miles away in Moscow.

Two students interviewed by The Spokesman-Review in Spokane said Kohberger was a strict grader as their teaching assistant. A third student, interviewed by The Associated Press, said Kohberger seemed to struggle to fit in at the school.

Hayden Stinchfield said Kohberger was the teacher’s assistant in one of her criminology classes. He seemed disengaged most of the time and graded harshly, she told The Spokesman-Review.

“He was definitely kind of a creepy guy,” she said.

Stinchfield said she noticed in the days after the killings that Kohberger seemed more distracted and disheveled, letting his facial hair grow.

“We noticed distinctly, like, ‘Oh, he must be going through it. He’s, yeah, he’s looking a lot worse,’” she said.

Joey Famularo, another criminology student in one of Kohberger’s classes, told The Spokesman-Review that Kohberger “always seemed a little bit on edge.”

“We just assumed he was kind of shy,” Famularo said.

Famularo said Kohberger didn’t show up to class often enough to make much of an impression, but also noted his strict grading. Kohberger said he liked to challenge his students, Famularo told the newspaper.

Around the time of the killings, Famularo said Kohberger shifted to almost rubber-stamping students’ assignments, though it’s hard to say whether the timing was coincidental because students had also recently confronted him about his grading, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Ben Roberts, a graduate student in the criminology and criminal justice department at WSU, told The Associated Press that Kohberger was confident and outgoing but seemed as though “he was always looking for a way to fit in.”

“I had honestly just pegged him as being super awkward,” Roberts said.

Roberts told the AP that he started the program in August — along with Kohberger, he said — and had several courses with him. He described Kohberger as wanting to appear academic, AP reported.

“One thing he would always do, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something,” he said.

Neighboring student residents unsettled

Meanwhile, two residents of Steptoe Village, the campus apartments where Kohberger lived, told The Spokesman-Review that they did not know Kohberger and that learning he had lived near them was frightening.

“He was living just beside me,” said Mahedi Hasan, who lives with his wife. “That’s always scary.”

The apartment complex is for graduate students and students living with families, according to Washington State University’s website.

Grant Harris, who lives with his wife and their child, said he did not recall seeing Kohberger at the complex. Harris told The Spokesman-Review that news of the arrest made Harris question safety precautions he may or may not have taken, such as whether he locked his door when he left his apartment.

“It’s shocking that it was so close to us the whole time,” Harris said.

Read the full story from which The Spokesman-Review’s interviews were excerpted at Spokesman.com. Read the full story from which The Associated Press interview was excerpted at IdahoStatesman.com.

This story was originally published December 31, 2022 at 11:01 AM with the headline "He lived ‘so close to us’: What fellow students say about suspect in U of Idaho stabbings."