Bryan Kohberger’s mom refused to believe her ‘angel’ son butchered four college students in FBI interview after his arrest
Newly released FBI interview records show that Bryan Kohberger’s mother reacted with disbelief when agents arrested her son in December 2022, insisting they had the wrong person.
According to transcripts obtained by the Daily Mail, Maryann Kohberger defended her son during questioning at their Pennsylvania home, repeatedly telling three federal agents she was convinced he could not have carried out the killings of four University of Idaho students the previous month. She described him as a gentle, quiet individual and said she trusted him completely.
“He’s my angel,” she told investigators as agents took him into custody, adding that she would stake her life on his innocence.
In her account, she portrayed Kohberger as a reserved graduate student at Washington State University with strong academic performance, noting his 3.8 GPA. She said he largely kept to himself, didn’t have a large social circle or romantic relationships, and preferred activities like running and spending time outdoors over partying or drinking. She also told agents he appeared content and had been making friends.
As agents pressed her about whether he had ever shown signs of violent tendencies, she firmly rejected the idea, saying there had never been anything in his behavior to suggest he was capable of such acts. She maintained throughout the interview that the situation must be a serious error.
Maryann Kohberger also mentioned suggesting at one point that her son consider buying a knife for protection while hiking in case he encountered a bear, though she said she didn’t know whether he had actually purchased one.
Investigators say Kohberger later used a knife in the fatal attacks on Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022. His mother told agents nothing seemed out of the ordinary when he returned home for the holidays following the killings.
During the interview, she described the situation as a nightmare and worried about the public fallout once news of the arrest spread.
Kohberger has since been sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the murders in a deal reached shortly before his trial was set to begin. The agreement allowed him to avoid the death penalty, a resolution that angered some of the victims’ families and left questions about his motive unanswered.
The FBI interviews with his mother are expected to be included in the upcoming book “Broken Plea: The Explosive Search for Truth Behind the Idaho Murders” by Christopher Whitcomb.
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