Bryan Kohberger was investigated in connection with an armed break-in one year before he fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students.
According to Pullman Police Department records obtained by NBC News, authorities investigated a 2021 break-in at a home in Pullman, Washington, just across the state line from Moscow, Idaho.
A knife-wielding masked individual allegedly broke into a house of four sorority sisters at 3:30 a.m. and stood over one of their beds, according to documents released by the City of Pullman.
A witness told authorities that the person fled the scene after she kicked them in the stomach, police records stated.
The records show that authorities investigated a neighbor but did not have probable cause to take him into custody.
A police official tasked a sergeant with looking into whether Kohberger could have been in the area at the time for an on-campus event for prospective graduate students.
According to NBC News, police deemed the case “inactive” after a coordinator for the school’s criminology department confirmed there were no recruitment events at the time of the break-in and that the school was unaware of any visits from Kohberger.
The incident in Pullman occurred eight months before Kohberger officially moved to study criminology at Washington State University. He was never arrested or charged with a crime in connection with the break-in.
Everything changed for Kohberger in 2022, however, when he was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary after breaking into a Moscow, Idaho, home with the intent to commit a felony.
Following his initial not guilty plea, Kohberger pleaded guilty to the University of Idaho murders in a deal to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced in July to four lifetimes in prison.
Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death, while roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke survived the incident that made headlines across the country.
Before Kohberger’s sentencing, Mortensen delivered an emotional victim impact statement and explained how the deaths of her friends changed her life forever.
“What happened that night changed everything,” she said through tears, per CBS News. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason. What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break. I should have been figuring out who I was. I should have been having the college experience and starting to establish my future. Instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”
During sentencing, Judge Steven Hippler also shared a few words and insisted that no parent should find themselves burying a child.
“This unfathomable and senseless act of evil has caused immeasurable pain,” he said. “This is the greatest tragedy that can be inflicted upon a person.”
