Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger’s graduate program at Washington State University maintains a database of police bodycam footage and live surveillance video feeds that an insider claims he may have access to.
WSU’s Complex Social Interaction Lab (CSI Lab) maintains a database of bodycam footage from five police departments, while another study operates a live feed of security footage from WSU’s campus.
A WSU spokesman insisted to Fox News Digital that “Kohberger never had access to CSI lab footage,” but an insider told the outlet that people on campus may have had unauthorized access to the database.
The CSI Lab does not include footage from the police department in nearby Moscow, Idaho, where Kohberger is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger’s graduate program at Washington State University maintains a database of police bodycam footage
WSU’s Complex Social Interaction Lab (CSI Lab) maintains a database of bodycam footage from five police departments
Kohberger was a freshman in a criminology PhD program at WSU when the Nov. 13 murders took place at a home about 10 miles from the WSU Pullman campus.
The source, quoted by Fox News, who works for the university, speculated that Kohberger may have used the CSI lab to view unedited crime scene images and other disturbing footage.
However, Phil Weiler, WSU’s vice president of marketing and communications, told the outlet that Kohberger was never given access to the programs that manage the footage.
“To be clear, Bryan Kohberger never had access to footage from Washington State University’s Complex Social Interaction Lab,” he said.
“Access to this facility is strictly controlled. All research assistants must complete a background check, an FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Level 2 certification, be fingerprinted by the FBI, and sign a confidentiality agreement to enter the facility,” Weiler said.
However, the insider claimed that “several people who didn’t go through the vetting or training” had access to the facility as part of their duties, including “technical support staff.”
Phil Weiler, WSU’s vice president of marketing and communications, said Kohberger was never given access to the programs that manage the footage
Kohberger is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (together left), Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (together right)
The prospect of an accused killer gaining access to the footage worried the insider, who told the outlet, “I don’t think any amount of positive research that has come out of this department is worth the risk, a wolf.” to let in the chicken coop.’
The CSI Lab’s website says the program is designed to empower police departments through the use of “police footage analysis software” and provide “results and guidance for better police departments.”
The project includes bodycam footage from five local police stations, but the Moscow police station is not part of the study.
A separate WSU study by the Department of Government Studies and Services (DGSS) maintains live security camera feeds from around Pullman.
Last spring, Kohberger earned a master’s in crime science from DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where he studied with famed forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland, whose books include How to Catch a Killer and The Mind of a Murderer.
Ramsland also wrote a book based on her correspondence with Dennis Rader, the notorious BTK killer whose serial killings spanned decades.
While at DeSales, Kohberger took to Reddit in May with a post looking for criminals to complete his survey of how they chose their targets and committed crimes.
Police are seen outside the home in Moscow, Idaho where four students were murdered
Last spring, Kohberger earned a master’s degree in criminal science from DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where he studied with famed forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland
Earlier, in statements to , experts had speculated that Kohberger may have been lured out of ulterior motives for his interest in criminology.
“I suspect that Kohberger, aware of his dark nature and murderous idea, was striving to find out more about himself through his studies,” said Enzo Yaksic, a criminal profiler and founder of the Atypical Homicide Research Group in Boston.
“But pursuing an advanced degree to become a better killer is a foolhardy endeavor,” he added, “since you don’t learn more about such tactics and strategies than you can find in a popular true-crime podcast or book.”
Kohberger, 28, faces four counts of first-degree murder and burglary and is being held without bail in Idaho.
His attorneys have said he plans to plead not guilty to the charges and expects to be cleared of any involvement in the crime.
Over the weekend, a former FBI investigator claimed Kohberger may have been motivated by an “incel complex.”
Pete Yachmetz speculated that Kohberger may have attempted to “assert some dominance” in the alleged commission of the murders.
Kohberger, 28, faces four counts of first-degree murder and burglary and is being held without bail in Idaho. His lawyers say he plans to plead not guilty
He noted that 28-year-old Kohberger grew up in Pennsylvania and had a history of social problems — as his former classmates describe him as a troubled, disgruntled young man who didn’t fit into school.
Speaking to the New York Post over the weekend, Yachmetz said he believes the brutality of the killings and Kohberger’s history of social challenges could point to a possible motive.
“I believe continued stabbing of a victim indicates … an uncomfortable rage and extreme anger,” he said, noting that Kohberger has been described as “socially awkward with a long history of interpersonal issues.”
“I think he may have developed an incel complex,” Yachmetz said, “the killings could have been an attempt to assert some kind of dominance.”
The term “incel” — short for “involuntarily celibate” — refers to men who have trouble forming romantic relationships.
It’s been linked to online misogynist tendencies and sometimes even crime, with Psychology Today reporting last year that men who identify as “incels” tend to have poor mental health and are more likely to experience victimization, inferiority and loneliness.