Any tie Bryan Kohberger has to ‘Pappa Rodger’ could become clear when gag order is lifted
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The mysterious figure emerged in late 2022 in a Facebook group dedicated to the discussion of the Idaho student murders case — and vanished around the time of Kohberger’s arrest on Dec. 30 of that year, prompting speculation that the account could have been linked to the killer.
In the final weeks of 2022, the account emerged in a large Facebook group dedicated to seeking justice for the victims: University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Authorities have made no public comments or court filings linking Kohberger to the account. But with the gag order preventing most extrajudicial discussion of the case expected to end soon, authorities could finally address posts from the account — or the public could find out through unsealed search warrant returns, discovery disclosures, or digital forensics from Kohberger’s devices.
“At the very least, we might see warrant requests for social media accounts,” said Joshua Ritter, a former Los Angeles prosecutor and host of “Courtroom Confidential.” “Which would indicate they had the same suspicions.”
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Previously released court records show authorities sought information from dozens of tech companies, including Amazon, Google and Meta, Facebook’s parent company. The records they received remain unclear.
Using a profile photo that appeared to show a man in an old-fashioned military uniform that some have suggested looks similar to Kohberger’s actual appearance, the account was known for cryptic posts about specific evidence, including a reference to a knife sheath before police revealed they recovered one.
Some observers — in Moscow and beyond — believe Kohberger was behind the account. Especially since no one has come forward and claimed responsibility in the three years he’s been behind bars. But posts from the account have largely vanished.
Screenshots taken before the account was taken down show Pappa Rodger predicted that the killer left behind a knife sheath as early as Nov. 30, 2022. Although a Ka-Bar knife had already been identified as a potential murder weapon and other people said they had already speculated about a sheath by then, it was the phrasing that set off alarm bells for one of the administrators.
“He also didn’t say ‘a sheath’ — he said ‘the sheath,’ which is really eerie,” said Kristine Cameron, one of the people behind the “University of Idaho Murders – Case Discussion” group on Facebook.
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On Dec. 5, 8 and 21, the account posted diagrams of the King Road home that purported to show the locations of the bodies.
However — based on statements from Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson made in court at Kohberger’s plea hearing — the locations appear incorrect. He said Chapin had been killed in his sleep in Kernodle’s room — not in the living room like Pappa Rodger asserted.
“As the defendant was either coming down the stairs or leaving, he encountered Xana, and he ended up killing her, also with a large knife,” Thompson told the court on July 1, 2025. “Ethan Chapin, Xana’s boyfriend, was asleep in their bedroom — in her bedroom. And the defendant killed him as well.”
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On Dec. 22, the account asserted that, “The killer is not in the victims (sic) immediate circle,” and, “The killer is not a student.” Kohberger was not friends with any of the victims and attended a different school nearby, Washington State University.
On Jan. 5, 2023, Cameron told Fox News Digital Pappa Rodger’s chats and posts had been “wiped from FB.”
“The night prior to Bryan getting arrested, Pappa Rodger was going back and forth with another member, calling the member names,” she said at the time. “We had spoken to him numerous times about the way he was talking.”
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She recalled the poster challenging other users to “fight me” and grading comments “like a professor.”
“His particular post that asked how long the killer was in the house caused all kinds of speculation, but he was adamant that the killer was in the house for 15 minutes,” she added. Most people doubted four slayings could’ve been carried out in that span, she said, but it’s close to what prosecutors would later allege in court documents.
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Then the posts stopped around the time of Kohberger’s arrest, she said, and to this day she believes the killer could have been behind the account.
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Kohberger himself did not respond to a question about the account from Fox News Digital for this story.
“Until prosecutors or law enforcement come forward, I’m gonna go ahead and speculate that Pappa Rodger is Bryan Kohberger,” said Lauren Conlin, a PopCrimeTV host who has been closely following the case.
In a new book by crime fiction legend James Patterson and investigative journalist Vicky Ward, the authors compared Kohberger directly to Elliott Rodger, a mass murderer who killed six students near the University of California, Santa Barbara, and injured 14 other people in May 2014.
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“No one knows that, like Rodger, Bryan is a virgin who hates women,” the book reads. “No one knows that Bryan copes with loneliness by immersing himself in video games. Like Rodger, he goes for night drives. Like Rodger, he visits the gun range. And, like Rodger, he goes to a local bar and tries to pick up women.”
Elliot Rodger, 22, wrote a 137-page manifesto airing his grievances as an “involuntary celibate,” or incel, and social outcast. Kohberber, to the dismay of many members of the public and some victims’ families, did not explain a motive for his crimes when he pleaded guilty on July 1, weeks before his trial would have kicked off.
Some of Rodger’s victims were members of their school’s Greek life — as were all of Kohberger’s.
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Rodger killed himself after the murder spree. Kohberger nearly got away with his. Authorities said they didn’t even have his name until more than a month after the murders, after the FBI used investigative genetic genealogy techniques to come up with a new lead based on the single-source DNA sample taken from the Ka-Bar sheath.
Eleven days later, they had Kohberger in handcuffs.
The plea deal took the potential death penalty off the table. Kohberger is expected to receive four consecutive life prison sentences plus another 10 years at a formal sentencing hearing on July 23. As part of the deal, he waived his right to appeal or seek a sentence reduction.
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A hearing on whether the court should lift the gag order before sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.
Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.