PULLMAN, Wash.— Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old graduate student accused in the grisly killings of four University of Idaho Students, lived in a Washington State University apartment right near the bustling campus, but few people in the complex knew much about him.
Angela Alvarez, a WSU senior majoring in psychology, first met Kohberger last August when he moved into Steptoe Village in Pullman, WA. He filled the apartment above her and her husband, which had been vacant since they moved in Jan. 2021.
Alvarez said Kohberger’s father introduced the couple to the now-quadruple homicide suspect. Nothing was off or suspicious. She felt he was another “normal” college student and let him know to ask if he ever needed anything.
Following their initial interaction, Alvarez said she ran into Kohberger occasionally, but he was typically gone. She said he would usually park his car right out front of her window, and it was rare to see him home anytime before midnight.
Alvarez often worked night shifts in town, so she got home around the same time as Kohberger.
“I’d come home kinda around that time,” she told The Daily Beast. “We’d see him. I’d smile and say hi.”
She said she had no idea what he was up to, but it didn’t seem like there was anything to be suspicious of at the time. Kohberger generally kept to himself. It was rare to get anything other than a smile or hello out of him.
After his alleged murders of the four University of Idaho students nine miles away, Alvarez said she never saw Kohberger. But his white Elantra, which police spent weeks searching for, would periodically appear.
“I always see his headlights flash in my front windows,” she said.
Once she found out Kohberger was arrested and named as the lead suspect, Alvarez realized how all the pieces fit together: his late-night routines, the “lone-wolf” persona he seemed to embody.
“He always carried a backpack around with him. I figured he was just working,” Alvarez said, “with whatever that entails, ya know.”
After the four murders, Alvarez said, she stopped attending class due to the widespread fear in the community. The apartment was her safe place as long as her door was locked.
Little did she know, an alleged murderer had been living above her for over a month after killing four students, and Alvarez never suspected a thing, she said.
Gaurav Narang, Steptoe Village resident and WSU Ph.D. researcher, said he came across Kohberger a handful of times in the apartment complex and lived on the floor above him.
Kohberger was always friendly, Narang said. The two exchanged numbers and talked about each other’s research.
“There was nothing suspicious,” he said. “I even knew he drives an Elantra, but I didn’t know that cops are looking for a white Elantra. I just knew they were looking for a white sedan, which anyone could have.”
Although Narang and Kohberger only came across each other a few times, he said the suspect was always pleasant and even invited him for coffee and a drink. Narang said the two never actually hung out aside from their brief chats, though.
“We shared some friendly bond. Not really a friend, but still, I feel sad for him,” he said. “If he has done it, it’s shocking.”
