According to a top body language expert, Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old Ph.D. student accused of ambushing four University of Idaho undergrads in their sleep with a knife in November, exchanged an intense gaze for one of dread as he approached the court for a status conference Thursday.
“As he crosses the corner into the courtroom, he takes a breath in, indicating that something big, mainly dread, is about to happen,” Susan Constantine, a behavioral analyst who specializes in body language and detecting dishonesty, told Fox News Digital. “Worry causes the horizontal forehead lines.”
Kohberger slouched into the room, big wounds on his face that the sheriff later explained were caused by a shaving incident.
A split second later, the judge sat forward, elbows on the table.
Following his extradition from Pennsylvania, he made his first appearance in the Latah County Courthouse on January 5. Fear and focus were visible in his body language, according to Constantine. However, after a week in county jail, the intensity observed during the first had worn off.
“What I did detect was a strong pulse as evident in his cheek,” Constantine stated of Kohberger’s look on January 5. “From deep internal feeling, that blood artery was throbbing.”
She also saw something odd about the way he looked across at Kootenai County Public Defender Anne Taylor.
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENT STABBINGS TIMELINE
“Kohberger’s uneasy look, followed by a short micro grin that flashed and vanished swiftly,” she explained. “With a strong head nod and a leaning back, this indicates a deceptive attempt to recognize his counsel.”
He didn’t say much during the court, only nodding and responding “Yes” when the judge asked if he understood the allegations and his circumstances. He also admitted to the court that he required the services of a public defender.
“His eyes are separated, demonstrating focus as seen in an intense look,” Constantine explained. “Fixation is observed in murderers.”
Kohberger is accused of breaking into a six-bedroom rental property in the early hours of Nov. 13 and reportedly stabbing four pupils to death. According to officials, at least some of them were sleeping at the time of the ambush.
He is now charged with criminal burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, all of whom were 21 years old.
Kernodle’s boyfriend, Chapin, was in town for the night. The other three victims shared a residence in Moscow, only steps from the University of Idaho campus, with two other housemates who were not attacked.
One of them, named DM in court records, reportedly saw a masked guy with “bushy eyebrows” leaving the house minutes after the murders.
She is anticipated to testify during Kohberger’s preliminary hearing, which is planned for the final week of June by Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall.
Meanwhile, Kohberger remains in jail without bail. If convicted of any of the murder counts, he may face the death sentence.