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Idaho murders: Bryan Kohberger required 'tummy tuck' for loose skin after his weight loss, claim friends

Kohberger's personality also changed after his weight loss, with one of his friends claiming he 'desired to be the alpha' and the 'dominant' male
PUBLISHED FEB 23, 2023
Bryan Kohberger reportedly required 'tummy tuck' to deal with excess skin after his weight loss (ricelyl/Reddit and Getty Images)
Bryan Kohberger reportedly required 'tummy tuck' to deal with excess skin after his weight loss (ricelyl/Reddit and Getty Images)

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA: Bryan Kohberger, the suspect charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students, required a “tummy tuck” in order to deal with excess skin after his drastic 100lb weight loss, his friends revealed. The 28-year-old PhD student, currently housed in Latah County Jail, was arrested in December 2022 for allegedly murdering Kaylee Gonvalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21 in their off-campus home on November 13.

Kohberger’s close family members and friends recently shared details about his life in Pennsylvania before he moved to Washington State University in Pullman, where he was a PhD student in criminology and a teaching assistant. His two friends, identified as Thomas Arntz and Jack Baylis, revealed that the suspected murderer weighed over 300 pounds at his peak. They also noted that he had to be hospitalized at one point for an eating disorder after shedding half his body weight, Inside Edition reported.

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'He always wanted to be dominant'

Kohberger's friend Thomas Arntz further stated that after his drastic weight loss, Kohberger “desired to be the alpha.” Arntz revealed, “For no reason, he’d try to grapple me and put me in headlocks when I didn’t want to. He tried to portray it as just boys being boys, but that’s not the way I ever took it,” as reported by The Idaho Statesman. “He always wanted to be dominant physically and intellectually. He had to show that he was smarter and bigger than you, and try to put me down and make me feel insecure about myself. So much of that was a torment and I didn’t want to be around him anymore.”

Bryan Kohberger, right, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court on January 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger has been arrested for the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022.
Bryan Kohberger, right, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court on January 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger has been arrested for the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Photo by Ted S. Warren - Pool/Getty Images)

However, Jack Baylis, Kohberger's other friend, claimed that Kohberger's alleged drug use deteriorated their connection over time. “I think drugs goofed him pretty badly. He was having a time,” said Baylis. “He’d tell me, ‘I’m clean now, I’m totally clean now,’ and he’d have bleeding track marks.” He also revealed that the suspect had lost two friends to overdoses in the years before the murders. Kohberger got clean in 2016, a former friend previously told Inside Edition Digital.

“He almost looked sickly

These claims from Baylis and Arntz came after another close friend of the Ph.D. student revealed that he became aggressive after his weight loss. “I remember seeing him and thinking it was a new student. He was so heavy and he lost so much weight, he almost looked sickly or like it was an obsession. Around the same time, he became more aggressive and I think he became more of an outcast at that point. He became more withdrawn,” Dominique Clark, who attended elementary and high school with Kohberger, told New York Post.

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen (L), and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (R) were stabbed to death (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram and @xanakernodle/Instagram)
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen (L), and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (R) were stabbed to death (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram and @xanakernodle/Instagram)

Kohberger has been charged with one count of burglary and four counts of first-degree murder for allegedly murdering the four college students. He is currently waiting for a preliminary hearing in the case, which is scheduled for June. His public defender in Pennsylvania recently released a statement, saying: “Mr. Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence… He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise—not tried in the court of public opinion.”

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