Cellebrite on Kohberger’s search for psychopath
Heather and Jared Barnhart from Cellebrite break down what they found in Bryan Kohberger’s search history – and what they didn’t – based on data recovered from his cellphone and a hard drive.
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Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers didn’t want prosecutors to describe him as a “psychopath” or in other specific terms if his case went to trial – but the criminology Ph.D. student turned mass murderer regularly searched for the phrase, according to digital forensics experts who dug into his phone and computer.
“On his PC (personal computer), psychopath was a normal word that he typed into a browser,” said Heather Barnhart, senior director of forensic research at Cellebrite. “But he could have said it was for his major or research.”
In addition to frequent searches for the phrase and related terms like “psychopaths paranoid,” he also looked up wiretapping, and spent Christmas night reading in depth about serial killers.
BRYAN KOHBERGER FLEXED LIKE ‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’ AND SPENT CHRISTMAS NIGHT READING ABOUT SERIAL KILLERS
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)
“He became paranoid,” Barnhart said.
Before Kohberger pleaded guilty, his lawyers had asked the court to block prosecutors from referring to the word “murder,” his “bushy eyebrows” or from using the terms “psychopath” and “sociopath” in front of jurors.
“To label Mr. Kohberger as a ‘murderer,’ the alleged weapon consistent with an empty sheath as a ‘murder weapon,’ or to assert that any of the four decedents was ‘murdered’ by Mr. Kohberger denies his right to a fair trial and the right to be presumed innocent,” his attorney, Anne Taylor, argued in court filings unsealed in March.
BRYAN KOHBERGER CALLED HIS MOM WHILE RETURNING TO IDAHO MURDER SCENE THE NEXT DAY, EXPERT REVEALS
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Further, according to Taylor, using words like “psychopath” and “sociopath” to refer to the quadruple murderer would have amounted to “name calling” and “unfairly prejudicial” if the case had gone to trial.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder last month after his lawyers failed to convince the judge to toss key evidence or to take the potential death penalty off the table.
BRYAN KOHBERGER PLEADED GUILTY TO IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS, BUT THESE KEY QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED
Bryan Kohberger is seen in the Ada County Courthouse after his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)
The analysis of Kohberger’s computer found that he successfully wiped some key information – including details that could have explained a motive, according to Barnhart’s husband, Jared Barnhart, who also works at Cellebrite.
He used software to fully delete files and also cleared his Google Chrome browser history from Oct. 12 through Nov. 16. The murders took place around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13.
Confessed killer Bryan Kohberger sports a death stare in prison mugshot. (The Idaho Department of Correction)
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“I think that’s the most important point to me, is he cleaned up what was probably the story all the victims’ families need to hear, right?” Barnhart told Fox News Digital. “The why, the how. Why my kid? All of that is gone. And we tried like crazy to find something, you know, to tell these families, and it just isn’t there.”