Bryan Kohberger’s former professor denies contact with suspect
Brian Entin
(NewsNation) — A renowned forensic psychologist has challenged claims made in a recent article suggesting prosecutors believe Bryan Kohberger committed the University of Idaho quadruple killings to impress her, his former professor.
Howard Blum, in an article published in the online newsletter “Air Mail,” wrote that Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, committed the crimes to impress Katherine Ramsland, his former forensic psychology professor at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
According to Blum’s article, prosecutors are preparing to argue that “the pupil was ready to become the teacher… He’d kill and get away with it. He’d prove how smart he was. He would show how much he’d learned.”
Bryan Kohberger’s former professor called his parents
However, in a statement obtained by NewsNation, Ramsland categorically denied key claims in the article, stating she had “no email correspondence with Bryan Kohberger” while he was at Washington State University and has not been in contact with him since his arrest.
“I called his parents as a gesture of kindness, but I do not advise them about the case,” Ramsland said. “I did not call them hours after the arrest, as Blum claims.”
Bryan Kohberger, accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, is escorted into court for a hearing in Latah County District Court on Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court on Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
FILE – Bryan Kohberger listens to arguments during a hearing, Oct. 26, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Late Friday, Dec. 15, a judge ruled that the grand jury indictment of Kohberger, who is charged with killing four University of Idaho students, was conducted properly and will stand. (Kai Eiselein/New York Post via AP, Pool, File)
FILE – Bryan Kohberger, left, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Newly released body camera video shows Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students being pulled over for allegedly running a red light about a month before the killings. The Idaho Statesman reported Thursday, May 4, 2023 that the video shows Washington State University campus police stopping Bryan Kohberger on Oct. 14, 2022 (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)
Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, leaves after an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., on Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool, File)
Bryan Kohberger, facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of four University of Idaho students last fall, is taken by sheriff’s deputies from the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
FILE – Boise State University students, along with people who knew the four University of Idaho students who were found killed in Moscow, Idaho, days earlier, pay their respects at a vigil held in front of a statue on the Boise State campus, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. The arrest of Bryan Christopher Kohberger in the Nov. 13, 2022 fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students has brought relief to the small college town of Moscow, Idaho.(Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File)
A private security officer sits in a vehicle, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in front of the house in Moscow, Idaho where four University of Idaho students were killed in November, 2022. Authorities said Wednesday, Jan. 4, that Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the killings, has left a Pennsylvania jail in the custody of state police. The move means Kohberger could be headed to Idaho to face first-degree murder charges. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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Ramsland also refuted other claims in the article, including that she had discussed a book with Kohberger’s sister or that she had brokered anything regarding legal representation.
In response to Ramsland’s denials, Blum acknowledged the error regarding email correspondence but defended his overall theory as a “hypothesis.”
Bryan Kohberger’s trial starting in August
Kohberger, 30, is charged in the deaths of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, during the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022.
Jury selection is expected to begin on July 30. The trial is slated for Aug. 11 in Boise, Idaho.
An Idaho judge recently struck down another effort by Kohberger’s defense team to take the death penalty off the table. Judge Steven Hippler denied the request, citing no violation by prosecutors during the discovery process.
