Three Idaho University students have claimed that they saw quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger at their university's Student Union weeks before he brutally murdered the four students. However, the three students recognized Kohberger only after they saw his photo after he was arrested.
The students told PEOPLE that they recognized Kohberger as a loner from the Union building after his arrest for brutally stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. Kohberger had been on the run for more than six weeks before he was arrested in December. He has since been charged with four counts of murder.
Staking His Victims
Kohberger didn't attend the University of Idaho but he was a student at Washington State University, approximately eight miles away across the state line. Police had earlier said that Kohberger most likely stalked his victims for weeks before killing them. Now, three students claim to have seen him at the Student Union.
One of the students who identified herself as Chelsea, a sophomore, claimed to have seen Kohberger, eating alone in the food court just a few weeks prior to the murders on November 13.
"It was really early in the semester," recalled Chelsea. "He was at the food court [of the Student Union], drinking water. He sat by himself."
"He was the type to stare," she added. "He wouldn't look away if you caught him staring. Like he wanted you to notice that he was looking at you. He didn't smile, didn't nod, didn't say anything. Just stared."
Chelsea claimed to PEOPLE that she was feeling "uncomfortable" as a result of Kohberger's stare and that she and her friends had left the restaurant to eat outside "because we wanted to get away from him."
Another female student at the university claimed that after supposedly bumping into Kohberger several times on campus, she also felt "uncomfortable" about his look.
She claimed that because the school is small, she has grown to recognize many people on campus and is confident that she has seen Kohberger on numerous occasions.
"I definitely saw him more than once," she told PEOPLE. "He was just really quiet and really intense, staring. He made me uncomfortable."
Kohberger 's alleged sighting comes after authorities indicated they thought the quadruple murder suspect spent time on the University of Idaho campus before committing the horrifying murders.
Strange Discovery
The University of Idaho hired additional campus police and increased the number of officers on the ground following the killings. Officials announced that the heightened enforcement would continue despite Kohberger's arrest.
However, this isn't the first time that women have said Kohberger had scared them off or made them uncomfortable, as was the case with the supposed sightings at the University of Idaho.
Jordan Serulneck, 34, the owner of Seven Siren Brewing Company in Kohberger's home in Pennsylvania, claimed that the suspect engaged in questionable behavior with women there
Serulneck claimed that NBC workers had flagged Kohberger as a person who "makes creepy comments" and claimed that he had called a staff member "a b***h" for rejecting his approaches.
Serulneck of Central Valley noted in his staffers' notes about Kohberger: " Hey, this guy makes creepy comments, keep an eye on him. He'll have two or three beers and then just get a little too comfortable. He'll have two or three beers and then just get a little too comfortable."
On November 13, four students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were fatally stabbed at a Moscow, Idaho, rental home. The four students were stabbed to death with a fixed-blade knife by a masked attacker who broke into the house.
Authorities detained Kohberger, a 28-year-old graduate student and teaching assistant at Washington State University, more than a month later. He was accused of committing four murders and one felony burglary.
On December 30, Kohberger was taken into custody at his parents' Pennsylvania home.
One of the surviving roommates of the victims claimed to have seen the murderer, according to the probable cause document that PEOPLE acquired. A "person clad in black clothing and a mask," according to the roommate, strolled by her as the offender left the crime scene.
Additionally, the affidavit claimed that Kohberger's DNA and cell phone pings connected him to the crime site.
Though they have not confirmed these specific sightings, officials do suspect Kohberger spent some time on the University of Idaho campus, a law enforcement source told the outlet last month.
The school community, including parents of students, is alarmed by the sightings.
