When the world learned of the horrific murder of four college students in Idaho back in 2022, many asked the same haunting question: what drives someone to do something so brutal, so cold, and so calculated?
Now, in a new episode of the podcast On The Case: The Idaho Murders, forensic psychologist Dr. Gary Brucato tries to unpack that terrifying mindset — and what he shares is deeply disturbing.
Not Just Hatred — A Craving for Control and Power
Dr. Brucato, speaking with journalist Laura Collins, explained that Bryan Kohberger wasn’t fueled by a general hatred toward women.
Instead, what lay at the heart of his crime, he said, was a twisted need for domination and recognition — a desire to be remembered, feared, and in control.
Kohberger, now 30, accepted a plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty, despite being charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the 2022 killings.
Echoes of Ted Bundy in Kohberger’s Behavior
Dr. Brucato didn’t shy away from making an unsettling comparison — he likened Kohberger to one of the most infamous serial killers in history, Ted Bundy.
Like Bundy, Kohberger was intelligent, educated, and appeared superficially charming.
And like Bundy, his crimes weren’t random. They were fantasies turned real.
According to court records, Kohberger had even researched Bundy extensively on Google before committing the murders — a sign that he didn’t just admire Bundy, he sought to emulate him.
The Knife Came Before the Victims
One particularly chilling detail highlighted by Dr. Brucato was the fact that Kohberger bought the murder weapon — a knife — months before he chose his victims.
To the psychologist, that spoke volumes. It wasn’t about rage. It was about fantasy.
He described it like casting a role in a movie: Kohberger knew the kind of person he wanted to kill, and then set out to find someone who fit the part.
“He was looking for someone who symbolized the group he felt rejected by,” Brucato said. That group? Attractive young women.
Public Grief May Fuel the Killer’s Fantasy
Dr. Brucato also weighed in on the impact of the victims’ families’ emotional statements at the sentencing.
While their intent was clearly to confront Kohberger and try to break through to him emotionally, Brucato feared it might have had the opposite effect.
“For people like Kohberger,” he said, “those emotional outpourings don’t break them — they feed into the fantasy.
The attention, the drama, the grief — it becomes part of the control.”
He even suggested Kohberger may have been mentally reliving the murders while sitting silently in court, saying he appeared “like a calculating machine.”
Misogyny or Something Much More Sinister?
Some media outlets initially linked Kohberger to the “incel” (involuntary celibate) community, especially comparing him to Elliot Rodger, the misogynist who killed six people in California in 2014. But Dr. Brucato disagreed.
Rodger acted out of a personal vendetta against women who rejected him.
Kohberger, in contrast, was all about domination, not rejection.
He wasn’t lashing out at a world that ignored him — he was trying to play god in it.
Intimacy Issues and Social Disconnect
Interestingly, Dr. Brucato also pointed out Kohberger’s deep discomfort in intimate situations.
On the rare occasion he did get close to women, he would reportedly behave in unsettling ways — one woman recalled him saying she had “great birthing hips” and that he wanted to tickle her.
“That’s very different from an incel,” Brucato said. “An incel doesn’t even get the opportunity.”
All About Control — Even in the Courtroom
Throughout the trial and plea deal, Dr. Brucato saw a consistent theme in Kohberger’s actions — control.
Even his decision to accept a plea deal and avoid execution was, in Brucato’s view, another way for Kohberger to assert power.
“He was arbitrating who lives and who dies — including himself,” Brucato said.
“That’s what makes it so depressing. He walked away with his life.”
A Textbook Serial Killer Profile
Summing up his psychological profile, Dr. Brucato called Kohberger a “textbook serial killer.”
Everything — from his prior online searches to his emotionless courtroom demeanor — pointed to someone who wasn’t driven by rage, but by carefully curated fantasies.
“He idolised sexually motivated serial killers,” Brucato explained.
“He viewed disturbing pornography and fantasised about domination.
He wasn’t looking to punish one person — he wanted to act out a role in a fantasy world he created.”
The Podcast That Digs Deeper
For anyone wanting a deeper dive into the disturbing psychology behind the Idaho murders, the full podcast episode featuring Dr. Gary Brucato’s chilling insights is now available.
Just search On The Case: The Idaho Murders on your favorite podcast platform.