Bryan Kohberger diagnosed with 4 mental disorders — including autism and OCD
An older photo of Kohberger. WSU
Newly released court documents show that Bryan Kohberger, the man convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students, was diagnosed with several mental health disorders just months before pleading guilty to the crimes.
According to a mental competency waiver signed in July 2025, the 30-year-old was diagnosed in February with high-functioning autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). The diagnoses came four months before Kohberger accepted a plea deal that spared him the death penalty in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Despite the diagnoses, Kohberger affirmed that his mental health conditions did not impair his ability to enter a guilty plea knowingly and voluntarily. His defense team had previously attempted to argue that his conditions—particularly autism—should disqualify him from facing the death penalty. However, that motion was denied by a judge in April.
On July 2, Kohberger formally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms for the 2022 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle. The students were fatally stabbed in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in a case that shocked the nation.
While a motive has not been clearly established, investigators quickly linked Kohberger—then a criminology Ph.D. student—to the crime through a combination of forensic evidence, digital data, and surveillance footage. His prior diagnoses of autism and OCD had previously surfaced in court filings, where defense attorneys sought to explain his flat affect and intense stare as manifestations of his conditions, rather than signs of psychopathy.
Additional details from the plea form indicate that Kohberger had mentioned some of his mental health issues in online forums prior to the killings. Inmates have also reported behaviors consistent with obsessive traits, such as prolonged showering routines.
The form also noted that Kohberger was taking only one medication at the time—levothyroxine, typically used to treat thyroid disorders. It is unclear whether the medication had any relevance to his mental health conditions.
Kohberger is currently serving his sentence at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise.
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