Convicted Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger was a bullied, overweight loser who turned to heroin in high school — even stealing his sister’s phone for drug money, the sibling revealed.
Mel Kohberger said her convicted killer brother seemed to turn a corner in later years — only for his life to take an even darker turn when she slaughtered four University of Idaho students in 2022.
“We were all so proud of him because he had overcome so much,” she told the New York Times.
“It’s confusing. It’s painful. It’s like being victimized but not really being a victim.”
The killer was still in school when he started using smack, hitting rock bottom when he stole his sister’s phone and sold it for drug money. That’s when the family finally called the cops on the troubled teen.
“I feel like an organic sack of meat with no self worth,” he wrote at 16, according to records disclosed after his arrest in the grisly slayings.
“As I hug my family, I look into their faces, I see nothing, it is like I am looking at a video game, but less.”
Mel Kohberger said her brother seemed to turn a corner after rehab.
After graduating high school he developed an interest in criminology — particularly serial killers — and studied psychology at DeSales University in his home state of Pennsylvania.
Still socially awkward and occasionally abrasive, Bryan Kohberger was nonetheless accepted into a Ph.D. program in criminology at Washington State University, his sister told the Times.
Bryan Kohberger seemed to be back on track, and when his sister learned of the horrifying Nov. 13, 2022 massacre of four young college students — Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kermodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — her first thought was for her brother’s safety.
“Bryan, you are running outside and this psycho killer is on the loose,” she cautioned.
On Dec. 30, 2022, her own brother was revealed to be the psycho killer.
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in July to avoid potential death by firing squad. He is now serving four life sentences for the brutal slayings that shattered four families — and his own.
“The idea is making me so emotional that I can barely speak to you about it,” Mel Kohberger said.
