The four-time ‘killer’ Idaho criminology professor reveals he was ‘a brilliant student’

Bryan Kohberger, a former university professor and suspected quadruple murderer, told DailyMail.com he was one of the smartest students she’s ever had.

In an exclusive interview, DeSales University professor Michelle Bolger said she was “absolutely shocked” after hearing what her former student was accused of.

“He’s a brilliant student,” she told DailyMail.com exclusively from her home in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

“I am shocked by what he is accused of. I don’t believe it, but I understand it,’ she said.

Kohberger is currently in prison awaiting extradition to Idaho, where he was charged with the murders of college students Kailee Golcalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

All four were stabbed to death in their beds early in the morning of November 13.

Michelle Bolger, a professor at DeSales University, said she was absolutely shocked after hearing that her former student Bryan Kohberger was the Idaho quadruple homicide suspect

Bryan Kohlberger, 28, was arrested Friday after a more than month-long investigation into the Nov. 13 murders of four University of Idaho students

Kohberger is currently in prison awaiting extradition to Idaho, where he was charged with the murders of college students Kailee Golcalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four were stabbed in their beds early in the morning of 11/13

Police had been searching for the killer for seven weeks amid mounting criticism they were getting nowhere. But on Friday, they finally arrested Kohberger at his parents’ home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, 2,500 miles from the crime scene.

They confiscated his white Hyundai Elantra. This model was seen near the murder house in Moscow, Idaho, on the night of the murders, and police had used it as their best lead in tracking down the killer.

Bolger, 33, who has been an associate professor at DeSales for eight years, said she tutored Kohberger, 28, in an online class last year and helped him with his master’s thesis project.

“He was an online master’s degree in criminal justice and graduated in June 2022,” Bolger said.

DeSales is a small private Catholic university in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia.

US News and World Report ranks the DeSales Online Criminal Justice Program 27th in the country.

The program features a mock crime scene house where “our students get hands-on experience investigating criminal activity,” said Joe Walsh, associate professor of computer science and criminal justice and director of the Master of Arts Criminal Justice (MACJ). Program.

The total cost of the 30-hour master’s program is approximately $24,000.

Bolger said she’s never met Kohberger in person but knows him from his work online.

“I never saw him in person, I couldn’t tell you how tall he was or how much he weighed, my only interaction with him was via email and Zoom,” Bolger told DailyMail.com. “I didn’t know anything about him, whether he was married, had a girlfriend, etc.”

Bolger, 33, who has been an associate professor at DeSales for eight years, said she taught Kohberger, 28, an online class last year and helped him with his master’s thesis

Bolger said she’s never met Kohberger in person but knows him from his work online

DeSales is a small private Catholic university in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia

But she said she never saw a “dark side” in the then 27-year-old graduate student. “This news is disturbing; I haven’t slept at all since hearing from Bryan.

“He” seemed normal to me, but then again I only knew him because I had taught him online. I didn’t know anything personal about him. I think he worked full time like most of our PhD students.’

She said she only taught him one class, but called him a “great writer and a “brilliant student.”

“He was always absolutely professional when I dealt with him. In my 10 years of teaching I have only recommended two students for a PhD program and he was one of them. He was one of my best students – ever. Everyone is shocked about it.”

She said she believes Kohberger will want to pursue an academic career after graduating from Washington State University.

Bolger says she was one of his professors, helping him with his thesis proposal, which many have called an unusual research questionnaire.

After leaving DeSales in 2022, Kohberger enrolled as a graduate student at Washington State in Pullman, just 15 miles across the state line from Moscow

“I was one of the professors who helped Bryan with his thesis proposal, his final project. He created a routine questionnaire for his thesis. It looks weird, I understand from the public point of view. But that’s normal in criminology.”

“It’s a criminological theory called script theory, it’s a normal theory about how and why criminals commit their crimes, etc.”

Bolger said Bryan didn’t even use the data he collected from the questionnaire, “You won’t find it anywhere.”

Instead, because he was running out of time, she said “his thesis was a narrative based on the information.”

She then said she went on maternity leave and another professor took her place; She never had a professional interaction with him after that.

Kohberger is currently being held at the Monroe County Jail in Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania. He is due in court on Tuesday.

His attorney, lead defense attorney Jason LaBar, said he will not fight extradition because he is anxious to be exonerated in Idaho.

‘Mr. Kohberger has been charged with felonies, but the American justice system shrouds him in a veil of innocence, LaBar said in a statement.

“He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise – not brought before the court of public opinion.”

After leaving DeSales in 2022, Kohberger enrolled as a graduate student at Washington State in Pullman, just 15 miles across the state line from Moscow.

Bolger says she was one of his professors, helping him with his thesis proposal, which many have called an unusual research questionnaire

Kohberger is said to have followed the students in the weeks leading up to the murders. Pictured is the home where the murders took place, just over 8 miles from where he worked as a graduate student and teaching assistant

Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday officers searched Kohlberger’s office

WSU’s online directory shows that he worked as a teaching assistant for the university’s criminal justice and criminology program. He was also a graduate student in the department.

Ben Roberts, a criminology student, told the Fox affiliate that Kohberger was “confident” and “outgoing” but still appeared like “he was always looking for a way to fit in.”

Of the horrifying allegations against Kohberger, Roberts said: “It’s pretty much out of left field. To be honest, I had just classified it as super awkward.

Roberts began his studies at WSU in August at the same time as Kohberger.

“One thing he almost invariably did was find the most complicated way to explain something,” he said.

BK Norton, a student in WSU’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, said Friday that they don’t know Kohberger well but don’t like him.

“We exchanged views in class, but personally I wasn’t a fan of Bryan because he made comments about LGBTQ+ people,” they said in an email to The Associated Press.