BOISE, Idaho — Dateline NBC aired a new two-hour special on the Moscow murders, "The Killings on King Road" Friday night, giving new insight into Bryan Kohberger - the man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students.
Dateline's Keith Morrison spoke with KTVB about the special before it aired and NBC's reporting to uncover this new information.
Despite the gag order on the case, Morrison and the Dateline crew were able to uncover more about Kohberger, his personality, and possible motives through interviewing people outside of the case - including a forensic psychologist, an FBI profiler, the victims' friends and one of Kohberger's classmates.
"In this case, there has been so much interest," Morrison said. "So much continuing discussion of the case, that we felt it was reasonable for us to do some pretty thorough research on it and see what we could put together to help people understand where things are, and where they might be going."
That thorough research lead Dateline to discover disturbing details of Bryan Kohberger's actions before the murders in November of 2022.
"We have sources in and around the investigation, and we have spoken to some of the leading authorities anywhere on some of the questions involved in this particular case," Morrison said.
Dateline uncovering exclusive details on Kohverger's car ride across the country:
"A lot of discussion about what may or may not have happened, and the FBI must have been involved, and so on, and so on," Morrison said. "We have found what really did happen, and that's an interesting story in itself."
The origins of the KA-Bar knife used in the killings:
"The question of how the KA-Bar knife came into his possession, and when he may have decided to go to the west coast to go to school - and whether or not that had some bearing on decisions about purchases of knives and so on," Morrison said. So how much planning may have been involved? We can't say for sure, but there are some interesting indicators."
Additionally, Dateline shared the story of a student who was in one of Kohberger's TA classes at Washington State University:
"Who thought she had a break in, and needed somebody to put in a security system - a camera in her apartment, and he volunteered to do so," Morrison said. "He is now a suspect both in the initial break in, and for reasons of putting a camera in her apartment, to which he would have had access."
Experts also dove into behavior that lies behind that type of criminal activity.
"When you trace his early life, it matches certain kinds of behaviors," Morrison said. "Talking about seeing visual snow, for example. About the kind of dissociative episodes he would have gone through as a young person, and the resulting need to kind of level the playing field in a very visceral and intimate way, with people who have rejected him in the past, or some representative of people who have rejected him in the past - especially young women, with whom he had always been awkward and had some difficulty relating to."
Friday's special was Dateline's second show on the Moscow murders, Keith Morrison told KTVB about the tremendous interest in this case.
"It's an absolutely fascinating story. The character study involved here is disturbing, but I think it's probably important to know and to think about," Morrison said. "It certainly wouldn't be the only kind of character like that, but rather is like others who have made their way through the history of this country, and people will find it fascinating."
When Dateline began reporting on this story, the world was expecting to see a preliminary hearing for Kohberger in June.
Morrison told KTVB the indictment wasn't a surprise - and that defense attorneys around Idaho said they expected it to happen.
The indictment didn't change much of Dateline's story - despite it happening days before the special aired. The Dateline team just had to changes bits and pieces of the show.
Bryan Kohberger will appear for arraignment on Monday morning.
Watch more coverage of this story
Ongoing coverage of the University of Idaho investigation can be found in our YouTube playlist: