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BRYAN Kohberger’s former professor has shot down claims that he allegedly killed four University of Idaho students to impress her.
Forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland was forced to shut down speculation over her relationship with Kohberger, who is charged with committing the brutal quadruple murders in November 2022.
As Kohberger’s trial approaches, journalist Howard Blum reported that prosecutors believe Kohberger, 30, stabbed the victims to death to prove his intelligence to Ramsland.
Ramsland, 72, was Kohberger’s forensic psychology professor at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where he got his bachelor’s degree and studied criminal psychology as a grad student.
“The pupil was ready to become the teacher,” Blum wrote last month for the online newsletter Air Mail.
“He’d kill and get away with it. He’d prove how smart he was. He would show how much he’d learned.”
Blum even suggested that Ramsland and Kohberger were in contact after the murders.
However, Ramsland has shot down all of Blum’s claims and denied any contact with Kohberger, according to NewsNation.
The professor said she had “no email correspondence” with Kohberger while he was a Ph.D. criminology student working as a teaching assistant at Washington State University.
“He has not been in touch with me since his arrest,” Ramsland told NewsNation’s Brian Entin in a statement.
The professor said she reached out to Kohberger’s parents as a “gesture of kindness,” but she didn’t advise them on the case.
“I did not call them hours after the arrest, as Blum claims,” she added.
Ramsland also denied Blum’s claims about her contact with Kohberger’s sister, as well as false claims about her class curriculum.
Blum also claimed the Kohbergers invited Ramsland to Idaho for the murder trial, which the psychologist denied.
“I don’t know who Blum’s source is or why he reports information for which he has no proof.”
Ramsland is known for her expertise on serial killers and crime. The professor and non-fiction author has written books including The Mind of a Murderer and Confession of a Serial Killer.
Katherine Ramsland’s statement
Katherine Ramsland denied journalist Howard Blum’s claims in his recent piece for Air Mail.
“I had no email correspondence with Bryan Kohberger while he was at WSU,” Ramsland said.
“He has not been in touch with me since his arrest.
“I called his parents as a gesture of kindness, but I do not advise them about the case.
“I did not call them hours after the arrest, as Blum claims.
“I have never talked to his sister about any book. I never mentioned Kierkegaard in my classes.
“I did not ‘broker’ anything regarding a lawyer.
“I have not been invited by the Kohbergers to Idaho. I don’t know where they’ll be staying.
“I don’t know who Blums source is or why he reports information for which he has no proof.”
Source: NewsNation
She previously refused to speak on the record because she didn’t want to interfere with the trial as she might be called as a witness, according to Entin.
She broke her silence to defend herself from Blum’s claims.
I still stand by my hypothesis as just that: a theory.”
Journalist Howard Blum
It’s unclear where Blum got his information and whether prosecutors plan to reference Ramsland in court.
Blum acknowledged Ramsland’s response to his article with a series of posts on X.
He apologized for his error in reporting that Ramsland emailed Kohberger while he was at WSU.
“I still stand by my hypothesis as just that: a theory,” he wrote.
Kohberger’s trial is set to start in August in Boise, Idaho.
He is charged with killing students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus house in Moscow on November 13, 2022.
If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty.
His team recently asked Judge Steven Hippler to throw out the possibility of a death penalty due to Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder, but their request was denied.
University of Idaho murders timeline
On November 13, 2022, a brutal home invasion claimed the lives of four University of Idaho students.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in their Moscow, Idaho, off-campus home.
A six-week manhunt ensued as cops searched for a suspect.
On December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger, 30, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania – 2,500 miles away from the crime scene.
He was taken into custody and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, has been linked to the crime scene through phone records, his car’s location, and DNA evidence found at the home where the murders took place.
The house was demolished in December 2023 despite backlash from the victims’ families.
Kohberger is being held at Latah County Jail while he awaits trial.
On September 9, 2024, an Idaho judge ruled to move the upcoming murder trial out of Moscow after Kohberger’s lawyer argued that the town was prejudiced against him.
The state Supreme Court will decide the new venue and judge for the trial, which is expected to start in August 2025.
