Idaho Murders Update: Kohberger Worked As Fish Cutter, Forbidden From 'Ever Interacting With Customers'

A former employer of Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the November 2022 killings of four University of Idaho students, opened up on Kohberger's behavior while working as a "fish cutter" at a lake in Pennsylvania more than a decade ago.

Charles Conklin, the owner of Big Brown Fish and Pay Lakes in Effort, Pennsylvania, revealed to People magazine that then-high school student Kohberger worked for him as a seasonal employee for about four months in 2011.

Conklin trained Kohberger to cut and filet raw fish using industry-standard knives. But the store owner said he forbid Kohberger from "ever interacting with customers" due to his problematic behavior.

"He never warmed up and got friendly. Most kids that work here, we consider like family," Conklin said.

"He was withdrawn and didn't show improvement," Conklin added.

Kohberger, 28, was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022, for his alleged role in the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.

The ongoing investigation into the quadruple murder case continues to unearth details revealing Kohberger's troubled demeanor.

Thomas Arntz, Kohberger's former friend, told the Idaho Statesman that he ended his friendship with him because Kohberger "always wanted to be dominant physically and intellectually."

Kohberger's domineering behavior tormented Arntz, who claimed that his former friend would try to grapple and put him in headlocks "for no reason."

Jack Baylis and Arntz's older sister Casey Arntz, who were also former friends of Kohberger, said the murder suspect's drug use ruined their friendship with him.

"He literally used me to get it," Casey alleged. "I was freaking out and not happy I had heroin in my car and didn't even know."

Kohberger was also investigated by Washington State University (WSU) over allegations of misconduct and troubling behavior around women.

Kohberger was a graduate student in the criminal justice program at WSU's campus in Pullman, Washington, when he was arrested in December 2022. Shortly before his arrest, the university's criminal justice department fired Kohberger from his teaching assistant role, The New York Times reported.

Some female students reported that Kohberger had made them feel uncomfortable, with one alleging that he once followed her to her car, two unnamed people familiar with the situation told the publication.

However, the university's investigation into those allegations did not find Kohberger guilty of any wrongdoing. Instead, Kohberger was fired due to his unsatisfactory performance in his job, including his failure to meet the "norms of professional behavior" in his interactions with the faculty.

Kohberger also allegedly posted disturbing questions on Reddit asking criminals about how they executed their crimes.

"Did you struggle or fight the victim? How did you travel and enter the location that the crime occurred?" Kohberger reportedly wrote on Reddit.

"What was the first move you made in order to accomplish your goal?" he reportedly added.

Caitlyn Becker, a senior reporter for the Daily Mail, expressed concern about how Kohberger used the word "goal" in his Reddit post. Becker suggested that Kohberger may have found crime to be "something to aspire to."

Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony. He is in jail in Latah County, Idaho, where he is being held without bail after his extradition from Pennsylvania.

He is expected to return to court on June 26 for the continuation of the preliminary hearing.