Hi there. I was a local news producer in the market where the four University of Idaho students were killed. I became the station’s go-to digital producer for the case from the day the students were killed… through the now-convicted killer’s first court appearances. I continued to follow the case closely as a producer in a big market as well.
I will never forget the night before he was arrested, getting a call about that.
I’ve seen a lot of very wrong comments about how the media does things, which is very frustrating and the reason I want to answer questions.
At the time, I was a senior producer making 35k a year. I worked insane hours covering this case… because it was important to the community. The biggest compliments came from friends and family of the victims.
AMA!
Comments
Is the book coming out going to do it justice?
What is the most widely accepted theory on why he committed the murders?
Thanks for doing this! I followed the case and noted a ton of misinformation flying absolutely everywhere, touted as facts, and a lot of people complaining that the news was “withholding” information it couldn’t reasonably share without losing credibility. Reddit comment threads move much faster than any reasonable fact checker could, and many criticize outlets for lagging or releasing only very minimal information (in my understanding because they can only report what is proven)
Do you feel like there was pressure to report hearsay just to capitalize on all the attention on this case?
What’s your opinion on the girl who survived but didn’t call anyone all night? Not looking for facts because no one really knows, just your opinion
Not necessarily about the murders, but it’s kinda related. When big stories come out, do news outlets purposely twist narratives or spread misinformation knowing it could be false? I feel like the news has lost most of its credibility because of situations like this where facts are misrepresented or straight up wrong. Not saying every news reporter is purposely doing this, but wondering if it’s more of a “getting the facts out first then reporting changes later” or straight up changing the narrative to fit an agenda or make a more interesting story.
Was this the first really big story you’ve covered?
Was there a ton of competition with local media for news, updates and interviews or was the some sort of sharing agreement?
Being in the Inland PNW with numerous universities abound, did any school reach out with concerns of threats against their respective student population?
I’m following this case. It’s apparent that he premeditated it.
There were 4 alternate suspects but only 1 spoke about in the court hearings so far.
Its my theory that he left the 2 girls behind to be alternate suspects, and he also planned to go in during the DoorDash delivery timeframe window in order to create another alt suspect. His classes at Desales show he learned coding and hacking. And the prosecutor said he connected to their cell tower.
Do you think it’s possible he hacked in their phones or the door Dasher’s phone to pin it all on them?
There are a lot of reckless rumors about this case. I’m wondering if you have knowledge of the FBI tracing/following the two Kohberger men from Idaho to PA or if that is just another rumor?
Also – this just have been rough to cover. Thanks for doing what you do!
Was anyone from BK’s family at last week’s hearing where he admitted the murders? If so, please describe their reactions as he admitted.
Do you know if the prosecution intended to call the DoorDash driver as witness?
From a journalistic standpoint, I assume if given the opportunity you would interview Bryan Kohberger. How would you prepare for this interview and what questions would you ask?
Hey! Your experience being a local news producer in general, and then on this case specifically is something that we’d love to chat about with you on our show, The Predictably Random Podcast. I’ll shoot you a DM, let me know if you’d be interested in coming on.