Kim Kenely, 27, contacted FBI agents after learning of the arrest of former sixth grade classmate Bryan Kohberger
FBI agents have interviewed Bryan Kohberger’s middle school crush in hopes of pieceing together the psyche of the man they believe is responsible for the gruesome murders of four Idaho college students.
Kim Kenely, 27, contacted the office shortly after learning that her former classmate had been arrested for allegedly murdering four roommates at a university just 15 minutes from where he studied in November.
The two were sixth grade students at Pleasant Valley Intermediate School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, when Kohberger, 28, fell in love and began romantically pursuing the girl who would go on to become a high school cheerleader.
“She told the FBI everything she could,” Kenely’s mother, Sandra, confirmed to on Wednesday.
‘It was so long ago. I couldn’t imagine what she had to tell the FBI. I think it was for character purpose.’
Kohberger attended Pleasant Valley Intermediate School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, where he fell in love with fellow student Kenely and began to pursue her romantically. They are both featured in their school yearbook photos
Kenely, 27, now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she works as an occupational therapist at an assisted living facility
Kohberger, then a chubby, awkward misfit, would become relentless in his pursuit, repeatedly leaving love letters in her locker and telling her he likes her, the mother said.
“He used to say, ‘Oh Kim, I think you’re very pretty. Just like weird comments. And she would say, “Oh my god, leave me alone.”
“She didn’t tell him the time of day,” remarked his mother. “When kids are little, they’re mean. They don’t say, “Oh my god, thank you, but no.”
Kenely would eventually tell Kohberger to go away and break his heart.
At the time, she lived in Sciota, in rural eastern Pennsylvania, 90 miles north of Philadelphia and a 30-minute drive from Kohberger’s home in Albrightsville.
She has since left the area and now resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she works as an occupational therapist at an assisted living facility.
Kohberger seemed to change his life in high school, where he took up boxing and lost weight
In a yearbook photo, Kohberger’s caption states that he aspires to be an Army Ranger. Previously overweight and bullied, he lost about 100 pounds and transformed into a “completely different person”.
Details about the suspect’s past are now coming to light – including the fact that he was a “reclusive” person who used her criminology degree to “try to understand people and to understand herself”.
Kenely’s awkward encounters in the schoolyard with Kohberger are among several bizarre accounts from recent friends and witnesses that paint a picture of a worried, disgruntled young man who didn’t fit into the school.
He was accused of brutally killing college students Ethan Chapin and his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, both 21, and childhood friends Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, on November 13 at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Former classmates have also revealed that Kohberger was slow-moving and the subject of bullying and cruel taunts in middle school.
“The whole crowd of popular girls made fun of him at school. They were the cheerleaders and the ones every kid had a crush on,” another classmate, who asked not to be named, told .
“They literally tortured him, girls started making fun of him in middle school.”
But Kohberger seemed to change his life in high school, where he took up boxing and lost weight.
“He was a completely different person. He was training all the time and was super aggressive,” the male friend said.
“He had a short fuse and was constantly trying to change his style and personality to fit cliques.”
A third former classmate added, “It’s interesting to me that the girls he’s accused of murdering were good-looking and seemingly popular, much like those who made fun of him as a child.”
His theory supported that of former FBI agent Jennifer Coffinaffer, who told Newsweek before Kohberger’s arrest that she thought the killer might be an “incel” — short for “involuntary celibates,” a term referring to men who are unable to sexually attract women.
Kenely is believed to have told FBI agents about her encounters with Kohberger in hopes of helping investigators piece together the psyche of a suspected killer
In an interview with , Kenely’s mother, Sandra, recalled how Kohberger would often leave her daughter’s love letters in her locker before finally dismissing him
Coffinaffer speculated that Kohberger could see “all these beautiful girls coming and going in and out of the house,” and it’s possible that his anger and “personal, terrible desires” had gotten the better of him.
She posited that the killer was “a person with absolutely horrific, murderous lusts against these women, a femicide-type case, and it came to a boiling point coupled with opportunity.”
Casey Arntz, who attended high school with Kohberger, said he used to get her to drive around his home looking for drugs.
Her brother Thomas said Kohberger would try to bully others to distract from his own weight problem.
“He was mean, he was a bully. I never thought he would do something like that, but at the same time it doesn’t really surprise me,” Thomas said.
A woman named Hayley posted a TikTok video saying she went on a Tinder date with Kohberger about seven years ago.
After watching one movie, they went back to their dorm room and watched another, and Kohberger kept trying to touch her, she said.
“Not inappropriately liking, just trying to tickle and liking, rubbing my shoulder and stuff,” she said.
She went on to ask him why he was touching her, which caused him to get “super serious,” she said.
“I’m not,” he then said out loud to her.
“You are, though,” she recalls, saying at the time that Kohberger was trying “to set me on fire so I’d think he wasn’t touching me, which is weird.”
She clarified that she didn’t feel in any danger and wasn’t “scared of him,” but wanted him to leave after a while, leading to her pretending to throw up in the dorm bathroom.
She then claimed that Kohberger followed her into the bathroom and “standing outside the door,” which she also thought was “weird.”
Former high school friend Casey Arntz (left) previously revealed that Kohberger was bullied at school. TikTok user Hayley also posted a video sharing about her awkward Tinder date with Kohberger
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
Kohberger studied criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, just 15 minutes’ drive across state from the University of Idaho
The vomiting incident apparently put Kohberger off and he left and Hayley said she was glad she never saw him again.
Surely Kim Kenely’s mother is glad that her daughter’s alleged killer didn’t turn her head when they were both so young.
“All the girls he allegedly murdered were blonde too,” Sandra remarked. “She’s definitely freaked out, definitely.”
“I think a lot of the kids that went to school with him are all like that,” the mother continued. “You can’t believe that boy could actually murder four people.”
Moscow police, along with state officers and the FBI, say they have interviewed hundreds of people since the investigation into the mass murder began.
They arrested Kohberger, a criminology graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, on December 30 at his parents’ home. He and his father drove across the country in their white Hyundai Elantra over the Christmas holidays.
Police say a similar white Elantra was seen near the house on King Road in Moscow where the quartet was stabbed and returned repeatedly.
They say DNA found on a sheath the killer appeared to have left at the scene matched that of Kohberger family members.
In an affidavit in support of the prosecution, investigators said Dylan Mortensen, 19, a college student and a roommate with the three dead girls, got up when she heard noises in the house and saw a masked figure, whom she identified as “5.” Feet” denotes 10 or greater, male, not very muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows.”
The sight of the man made her freeze in shock and she locked her door and went back to bed.