Bryan Kohberger’s Chilling Tinder Date: He Asked About Murder Weapon Weeks Before Idaho Slayings, Unsealed Files Reveal
A trove of unsealed documents reveals Bryan Kohberger’s chilling Tinder date, where he discussed murder and the specific Ka-Bar knife used in the slayings.
Newly unsealed police documents offer a disturbing glimpse into the mind of Bryan Kohberger just weeks before the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students. In a chilling account provided to investigators, a woman who matched with Kohberger on Tinder detailed how he immediately steered their conversation toward murder and specifically mentioned the type of military-style knife used in the slayings.
The woman’s tip was one of many detailed in a large volume of case files released by law enforcement. Her encounter provides a harrowing look at Kohberger’s behavior in the period leading up to the Nov. 13, 2022, killings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
A Sinister Conversation
According to the police report, the woman, identified only as “C,” told authorities she matched with Kohberger on the dating app shortly before the attacks. She ended the interaction after his questions became deeply unsettling.
The conversation reportedly began with a discussion of a murder that had occurred years earlier in the woman’s hometown. From there, Kohberger allegedly shifted the topic to horror films.
- “C told Kohberger she liked the Rob Zombie Halloween movies. To this, C said Kohberger asked what she thought would be the worst way to die,” the files state.
- When the woman responded that she “thought it would be a knife,” Kohberger’s follow-up was unnervingly specific.
- He asked, “something to the effect of ‘like a Ka-Bar?’”
A Glimpse into the Killer’s Mindset
The mention of a Ka-Bar knife is a crucial detail. Investigators have confirmed that Kohberger purchased the same brand of combat knife on Amazon months before the murders, and it is believed to be the weapon used to kill the four students.
The woman told police she had to search for the term “Ka-Bar” online to understand what he was referring to. She ultimately stopped communicating with him “because his questions made her uncomfortable,” the report notes.
While investigators noted there was “nothing to corroborate” her story because she no longer had access to her Tinder account, the account stands as a haunting piece of the puzzle in the ongoing University of Idaho slayings case. The documents containing this and other tips were released as part of the pre-trial discovery process for Bryan Kohberger, who faces four counts of first-degree murder.
