The Idaho murder suspect used to get tormented in school and and was a self-destructive overweight heroin addict in the years before the horrific slayings, according to his old classmates.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, was bullied and dropped 100 pounds in his senior year of high school before taking up hard drugs, two of his former friends have revealed.
PhD student Kohberger is currently charged with the quadruple murders of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves - who were found dead in a college home on November 13.
Details about the suspect's past are now coming to light - including that he was a 'secluded' person who used his criminology studies to 'try to understand humans and understand himself.'
Kohberger 'stalked' the house of his four victims on twelve occasions before killing them, evidence seems to suggest
Casey Arntz, who was friends with Kohberger, has revealed what he was like at school
Kohberger lost 100 pounds in high school, and was previously bullied, according to his former friends
Two of his high school friends, Casey Arntz and Bree, who asked to have her last name kept Best Private University, said Kohberger was overweight and was bullied in school.
The suspected Idaho killer shed nearly 100 pounds in his senior year after being the brunt of his classmates' jokes - which was when people noticed a switch in him.
Arntz told 'He was rail thin. It was after that weight loss that a lot of people noticed a huge switch.'
After losing the weight, it was Kohberger who started bullying Arntz' brother - putting him in chokeholds and getting physically aggressive with him.
Bree said that 'self-destructive' Kohberger started also using heroin. She added: 'You just saw him becoming more self-destructive.
He really stayed secluded.'
In the years after high school, the suspect seemed to be getting his life back on track, and would tell Bree that he was 'going to be better.'
Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on November 13 in the quiet, college town of Moscow, Idaho
Bree (pictured) said that 'self-destructive' Kohberger started also using heroin. She added: 'You just saw him becoming more self-destructive.
He really stayed secluded'
She revealed: 'He was telling me that he wanted to get sober, that he was getting sober. And he wanted to let me know, 'I'm gonna do better. I'm gonna be better.''
Both of the women last saw Kohberger at a friend's wedding in 2017 - where they said he looked 'good' and seemed to have a new lease of life.
Arntz said: 'I gave him a hug and I said, 'You look so good.
I'm so proud of you.''
And Bree said that his new focus on his criminology studies: 'His goal was just to change the world for the good around him. He wanted to do something that impacted people in a good way.
'People were not his strong suit.
she added, 'And I think through his criminology studies, he was really trying to understand humans and trying and understand himself.'
The suspect is believed to have driven some 2,300 miles from Moscow to Pennsylvania.
He was attending college in nearby Washington State
Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, smiles in court on January 5, 2022 after being denied bail