Bryan Kohberger Spent Christmas Day After Idaho Murders Downloading Info on More Than 20 Serial Killers

Bryan Kohberger spent Christmas Day with his family in 2022, unaware that it would be his last holiday before being arrested.

Later that night, while many people were asleep after celebrating, Kohberger used his phone to search and download information about serial killers.

It wasn’t just one or two searches. He downloaded information on more than 20 different serial killers, according to digital forensics expert Heather Barnhart, who spoke to PEOPLE.

Barnhart, a Fellow at the SANS Institute and Senior Director of Forensic Research at Cellebrite, was asked by the Latah County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to help investigate by analyzing Kohberger’s phone and hard drive.

By the time Barnhart received the devices, much of the data had already been cleared. However, her team was able to recover key information because of one mistake Kohberger made.

“People think if they download things in incognito mode, it stays private, but it doesn’t,” Barnhart explained.

Although Kohberger deleted files from his desktop and hard drive, he forgot to clear downloads from his Android phone. This is how Barnhart found that he had looked up information on Betty Lou Beets, Randy Kraft, William Lee, Cody Neal, Danny Rolling, Joel Rifkin, Ted Bundy, Altemio Sanchez, Glen Rogers, Cary Stayner, John Wayne Gacy, Harvey Glatman, Paul Bernardo, Rodney Alcala, Robert Hansen, Gary Ridgeway, David Parker Ray, Cleophus Prince, Ed Kemper, and Dennis Rader.

Barnhart also discovered that Kohberger had downloaded information on Danny Rolling — known as “The Gainesville Ripper” — on November 19, just a week after the Idaho murders.

The Idaho killings were eerily similar to Rolling’s crimes in 1990. Rolling murdered five college students — four women and one man — by entering their homes through sliding glass doors and stabbing them with a KA-BAR knife.

Kohberger was accused of doing the same to four students — three women and one man — also using a sliding glass door and a KA-BAR knife.

The key difference: Rolling sexually assaulted his victims, while prosecutors say there is no evidence Kohberger did. Rolling was later executed for his crimes.

Barnhart added that Kohberger closely followed the investigation. Between November 26 and December 28, 2022, he downloaded the Moscow Police Department’s case updates nine times. On December 28 alone, he downloaded four different versions.

Just three days later, Pennsylvania State Troopers arrested him. Soon after, Barnhart was brought in to review his devices.

Barnhart has worked on many other major cases, including the Crystal Rogers case, the Delphi murders, and even investigations related to the Osama bin Laden raid. Her team on the Kohberger case — Jared Barnhart, Josh Hickman, Ian Whiffin, and Mattia Epifani — had to work carefully since Kohberger, a former criminology student, left behind very few digital traces.

Still, the recovered downloads revealed a disturbing amount of research into serial killers.

“In the end, everyone makes mistakes,” Barnhart said.