Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger complains to guards about inmate taunts with target on his back: report

Fox News

3 days ago

Idaho student murderer Bryan Kohberger is facing taunts from other inmates as he adjusts to his new life in prison, weeks after receiving four consecutive sentences of life without parole, plus another 10 years, according to a new report.
The 30-year-old former Washington State University criminology Ph.D. student abruptly pleaded guilty to the murders of four undergrads at the nearby University of Idaho last month – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The deal allowed him to avoid the potential death penalty – which prosecutors said they intended to seek if the case went to trial.
According to the Idaho Department of Corrections, Kohberger is being housed on "J Block" inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution outside Boise.
J Block is a secure housing unit with individual cells, according to the Idaho Department of Corrections. Inmates there are typically high-risk prisoners and are limited to one-hour of outdoor exercise a day and face other restrictions. They get access to the showers every other day.
I have no doubt he's contemplating suicide already because he's not even a month in, and he's losing control. Most serial killers tend to be control freaks.
"J Block is a unit that can house up to 128 individuals and includes populations in general population protective custody, long-term restrictive housing, and death row," a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Incarcerated individuals in long-term restrictive housing live in single-person cells, are moved in restraints, and are provided showers every other day along with one hour of outdoor recreation daily. They have access to religious services, communication through JPay, and can place commissary orders."
But while the killer may be physically separated from other lifers, they are reportedly tormenting him to the point where he has complained to prison guards about the abuse, according to the Daily Mail.
"They are literally getting up into the grate and yelling at him," Chris McDonough, a former detective who is now with the Cold Case foundation, told the outlet. "The inmates are taking it in turns doing it. It's relentless."
The account, based on comments from an unnamed "insider" in touch with McDonough alleges that other J Block inmates have "joined forces" to make killer Kohberger's life hell in his cell.
"It's driving him crazy," he told the outlet. "The inmates are tormenting him at night and almost all hours of the day – taunting him through the vents in his cell."
The Pennsylvania native entered Idaho prison with a target on his back, experts previously told Fox News Digital, due to the notoriety of the crime and the callous selection of victims, whom he had no known ties to.
"I think he'll have a target on his back – child molesters, rapists and woman beaters get smashed, and he'll be stereotyped like that," Seth Ferranti, a former most wanted fugitive turned documentarian, said after sentencing.
"When guys with big cases or who were in the headlines hit the compound, everybody knows," said Ferranti, whose most recent project, "A Tortured Mind," explores a mental health condition Kohberger will never have to worry about called post-incarceration syndrome.
Now Kohberger is reportedly complaining to guards that he can't sleep amid all the harassment.
"He's lucky it's only verbal abuse right now, but what's going to make it a lot worse for him is that he's complaining," Keith Rovere, a former prison pastor, told Fox News Digital. "You can't do that in prison. You stay silent and keep your mouth shut."
Otherwise, Kohberger risks becoming labeled a "rat," according "The Lighter Side of True Crime" podcast host.
"You have a problem with it, you fight back," he said. "Complaining to the guards is ratting. Now they know they're getting under your skin so they're only going to ramp it up even more."
And this is just his reaction to verbal abuse, he added.
"I have no doubt he's contemplating suicide already because he's not even a month in, and he's losing control," Rovere added. "Most serial killers tend to be control freaks. Throw autism on top of that and the chaos that the inmates are causing him is making him lose his mind. And it's only going to get worse."Kohberger, while not fitting the textbook definition of a serial killer, is still a mass murderer who studied serial killers extensively as part of his graduate degree in criminology.
The killer is reputed to be lacking in social skills – illustrated by what his attorneys called a "piercing stare" and lack of social awareness in court filings. Over the past two and a half years of confinement, he appears to have lost some weight, too.
According to documents made public by the Moscow Police Department in Idaho, Kohberger also has a track record of bumping heads with his fellow inmates. On one occasion, Kohberger turned away from a video chat with his mom to snap at another inmate who yelled "you suck" at a jailhouse TV set. Another inmate described him as a "f---ing weirdo" and claimed he would have assaulted him if he wasn't worried about repercussions.
Another infamous J Block resident is fellow convicted killer Chad Daybell, who is on death row for the murders of his ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, and the children of his next wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.
There's no indication whether Daybell may have been involved in any alleged harassment of Kohberger.