Bryan Kohberger ate vegan cookies and played Christmas party games with his family days before capture, his sister reveals
Kohberger had returned to his family home in Pennsylvania for the holidays in the weeks after the brutal murders in Boise, Idaho, and made little mention of them
University of Idaho killer Kohberger ate vegan cookies and played Christmas games, unaware FBI agents were surveilling him in the days leading up to his arrest in December 2022, his family has revealed.
Kohberger, now 31, had returned to his family home in Pennsylvania for the holidays in the weeks after the brutal murders in Moscow, Idaho, but made little mention of them – despite living just 15 minutes away from the scene.
His sister, Mel Kohberger, recalls telling him: “Bryan, you are running outside and this psycho killer is on the loose. Be careful.” Kohberger had thanked her for checking on him and told her that he would stay safe, she told The New York Times.
In a new interview with The Times, Mel Kohberger said she had been thrilled to see her brother at home for Christmas and had hugged him tightly. Her brother had always been socially awkward and been recovering from heroin addiction, she said.
“We were all so proud of him because he had overcome so much,” she told the newspaper.
It came just weeks after the bodies of four University of Idaho students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were found in their off-campus home. Police had not shared much information about any suspects they were pursuing.
Mel Kohberger recalled that in the days before FBI agents burst through the door to arrest him on December 30, the family had played TV party games and eaten the vegan cookies her mother had made to accommodate her brother’s new, strict diet.
At one point, after she had cut her finger on some aluminum foil, Kohberger had helped his sister clean the injury and bandage it, despite reportedly being disgusted at the sight of blood.
Despite his proximity to the scene, in the days before the explosive FBI raid, Kohberger had only briefly mentioned the murders, telling his family that police were still hunting for a suspect.
Unknown to her and her family, investigators had already zeroed in on Kohberger as a suspect within days of his return to Pennsylvania, having sought help from the public identifying a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen driving in the area on the night of the killings.
Police officers raided the house in the early hours of December 30, 2022, while Kohberger and his parents were alone in the house, bursting into the room with guns drawn and putting him in handcuffs.
Mel Kohberger told The Times she had received a call from her sister, Amanda. “She was like, ‘I’m with the FBI, Bryan’s been arrested,’” she told the outlet. “I was like, ‘For what?’”
“The Idaho murders,” her sister had replied. Kohberger said she wondered if she was being pranked before immediately feeling sick.
In July 2025, almost three years after the killings, Kohberger was sentenced to die in prison for the “senseless slaughter” of the four Idaho college students after refusing to reveal his motive.
Judge Steven Hippler condemned Kohberger to spend the rest of his life behind bars for committing “unspeakable evil” as he handed him four consecutive life sentences, and an additional 10 years for burglary, without the possibility of parole.
The family, including Mel Kohberger, has been constantly supportive of the victims’ families and vehemently denied they had any knowledge of what he may have been planning.
“I have always been a person who has spoken up for what was right,” she said. “If I ever had a reason to believe my brother did anything, I would have turned him in.”
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