Bryan Kohberger’s Classmates Recall Seeing Him Covered in Injuries for Weeks After Idaho Murders

On Nov. 13, 2022, Bryan Kohberger killed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin inside their off-campus home at the University of Idaho.

That same day, he returned to the crime scene while speaking on the phone with his mother before heading back to his apartment on the campus of Washington State University.

Kohberger attended class on Nov. 15, 2022, though the professor covering that session told Idaho State Police he arrived extremely late. Two days later, the same professor reported that “Kohberger sent an email about not being there.”

On Nov. 18, Kohberger changed his car registration from Pennsylvania to Washington, complicating efforts to track his vehicle. Following that, he vanished for a week.

The next reported sighting of Kohberger came on Nov. 29, when classes resumed at WSU after Thanksgiving break, according to newly unsealed documents from the Idaho State Police, Moscow State Police, and the Pullman Police Department.

The first thing noticed that day were Kohberger’s injuries, according to an interview with the ISP. A female classmate described “cuts on his hands” that resembled cat scratches, which he attempted to cover with Band-Aids. Another graduate student said she observed “bloody knuckles,” though she was uncertain whether this was before or after the homicides. She added, “the hands looked really beat up like he was hitting something.”

Another classmate reported seeing Kohberger in class after Thanksgiving with visible injuries to his left hand. Sitting just three feet away, she told police she noticed “bruised knuckles,” “redness halfway up the back of the left hand from his knuckles,” and “a cut on his ring finger.” When asked about the injuries, Kohberger claimed to be a boxer.

In December, another classmate said he still had bloody knuckles. She jokingly asked if he had been punching drywall in anger, and Kohberger attributed the cuts to an indoor accident—an explanation she doubted, noting the scratches appeared consistent with asphalt. A third classmate said Kohberger claimed a car accident caused his scratches.

Several classmates observed that Kohberger began wearing a puffy jacket to class for the rest of the semester, possibly to cover his arms. In a selfie taken just hours after the murders, his arms were also visibly covered, though a Band-Aid on his ring finger could be seen.

If these injuries were sustained the night of the murders, they were likely caused by Xana Kernodle, the one victim who was awake at the time. According to police, Kernodle fought back when she realized someone was in the house.

Sgt. Shaine Gunderson noted in his incident report that she was the only victim not found in her bed and that “there was blood cast-off on the walls in various places, including above Xana’s body.” Her autopsy revealed more than 50 stab wounds, mostly defensive, and that she died from one laceration in her right lung and two in her heart. Sgt. Gunderson wrote that “it was obvious an intense struggle had occurred” between Xana and her killer.

The struggle created enough noise to alert Dylan Mortensen, the surviving roommate, who opened her door to check on her roommates. She saw Kohberger exiting the residence, making her the sole eyewitness in the case.