Who is Hayden Stinchfield? Bryan Kohberger’s former student says he had an altercation with class over grades
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Bryan Kohberger's former students have come forward to talk about a disagreement they had with him a few weeks before he is accused of killing four people: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, on November 13 2022, reported Radar Online. Following a midterm exam, students argued with Kohberger over whether he was assigning them too harsh grades, according to a student who spoke with 'The King Road Killings' podcast.
The altercation occurred in late September or early October during Kohberger's first semester as a PhD student at Washington State University. He worked as a teaching assistant in the school's criminology department as part of his funding package. Collectively, the class decided to question the 28-year-old about their grades in order to win back some points. Hayden Stinchfield, the student, described the discussion as a contentious argument in which 50 students questioned his grading procedures.
Who is Hayden Stinchfield?
Hayden Stinchfield is a student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. He was a former student of Bryan Kohberger, a PhD student in criminology at the institution who was a teaching assistant for one of his classes. Kohberger has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the deaths of four University of Idaho students. Stinchfield has remarked about his interactions with Kohberger as a teaching assistant in his class.
Kohberger's behavior changed after the encounter, according to Stinchfield. He noticed that the 28-year-old looked disheveled toward the end of the semester, sporting a beard and untidy hair. The student assumed that his anxiety over exams may have been affecting him. He further mentioned that Kohberger had changed his marking procedures, awarding excellent grades without providing any notes. "That was like a turning point, I think for us," Stinchfield said. "We felt like when we did that, our grades got better."
Bryan Kohberger 'looked a little bit more disheveled'
Although Kohberger never raised any "serious red flags," he did seem "distant" and "a little bit weird," according to Stinchfield. "He'd look at the ground when he was up at the front of class," Stinchfield stated, adding that his TA "never was super engaged with [the students]." "Later in the semester, like the last time he came was probably a couple weeks before the class ended physically, I remember he looked a little bit more disheveled. He had like some stubble coming on, and his hair was a little, you know, messed up or whatever. Nothing like crazy," the student detailed. "But enough that I remember seeing him and thinking like, oh man, you know, finals must be really getting to him or something like that." "What happened is he started giving everyone, everyone just like high marks and not leaving any notes," he added.
Kohberger’s trial is set to begin in October.