Convicted quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger was diagnosed with four mental disorders months before he made his guilty plea, new court documents show.
Kohberger, 30, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), according to the mental competency waiver he filled out before submitting the July plea.
Each of those disorders were diagnosed in February 2025, Kohberger noted on the form.
That was just four months before news broke that Kohberger had agreed to a plea deal that would see him dodge the death penalty in return for life in prison without parole.
Despite the diagnosed disorders, Kohberger did not try to claim they prevented him from pleading guilty with a sound mind.
His lawyers tried to use his conditions — particularly autism — to argue that he should not be eligible for the death penalty, but a judge knocked down that request in April.
He made his guilty plea on July 2 before being sentenced to four consecutive life terms — one for each of his victims, University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle — and has been held at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise ever since.
The four students were butchered with a knife as they slept in November 2022.
It still remains unclear why Kohberger targeted the group, but he was arrested within weeks of the killings after the criminology student who fancied himself a criminal mastermind left an embarrassingly obvious trail of evidence that lead straight back to him.
Kohberger’s autism and OCD diagnosis were previously disclosed when his defense filed motions to call experts to trial who would testify that Kohberger’s piercing stare and cold demeanor were not the hallmarks of a psycho killer — but merely the effects of his conditions.
Evidence also showed Kohberger discussed some of his diagnoses in online chatrooms before he committed his crimes, while inmate accounts from his time in prison described obsessive behaviors like hours-long showers.
Kohberger was only taking one medication — levothyroxine — to treat his ailments, the plea form noted.
Levothyroxine is generally used to treat thyroid conditions, and it is unclear if it had any connection to addressing Kohberger’s mental health.
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