Editor’s note: A video with incorrect information has been removed from this story.
(NewsNation) — A former college classmate of Bryan Kohberger is reacting to suspicions that the quadruple Idaho murderer modeled himself on Elliot Rodger, the misogynistic killer who went on a deadly rampage in Santa Barbara, California, more than a decade ago.
Speculation persists that Kohberger established a fake identity, “Papa Rodger,” to go online and anonymously discuss the November 2022 murders he’d committed in Moscow. The name Rodger could be a shout-out to Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old “involuntary celibate” who murdered three people at his apartment before killing three others, including two sorority members, near the University of Santa Barbara in 2014, before killing himself.
Was Bryan Kohberger ‘Papa Rodger’?
“Until someone else stands up and says it was them — absolutely,” Josh Ferraro, who attended classes with Kohberger at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, said of the likelihood his former peer was Papa Rodger. “I don’t see any reason to say that it wasn’t him.”
Ferraro tells “Banfield” he learned in class that killers can essentially revisit the “crime scene” by using a pseudonym online and talking with others about a murder case to “relive that high.”
His own recollections of Kohberger is that he kept to himself and always wore long-sleeve shirts but as a student was “very astute, very diligent, and … a pleasure to work with.”
Bryan Kohberger to spend the rest of his life in jail
Kohberger, 30, last week pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus rental property.
Under Kohberger’s guilty plea, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole. Ferraro said he supports the death penalty and would have preferred Kohberger pay for the crimes with his life.
“I’m a prior corrections officer. Jail is not that hard. You’re away from your family, you have tablets, you have TV, you have activities, you have games, you have people that literally hand you food,” he said.
Families of Idaho victims divided on plea deal
The families of victims are divided on the plea. The Goncalves family has criticized the deal, calling it hurried and secretive.
“The state is showing BK (Bryan Kohberger) mercy by removing the death penalty. BK did not show Kaylee ANY mercy,” the family said in a statement on Facebook last week, adding that Kohberger was “too afraid to die, but he wasn’t afraid to kill.”
The Goncalves family also said that Kohberger beat their daughter before fatally stabbing her.
“His life on DEATH ROW while serving his time would have been much worse than serving his time as life in prison. He doesn’t deserve life in prison. He deserved life on death row,” the family wrote.
However, Ben Mogen, father of victim Madison Mogen, told CBS News he was “relieved” to receive notification of the plea agreement, calling it justice: “We can actually put this behind us and not have these future dates and future things that we don’t want to have to be at.”