In the early hours of November 13th, 2022, four students had their lives taken away from them by a man who thought he could outsmart the police. The current suspect is 28 year old Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student with a degree in criminology. Kohberger’s next court hearing will be in early June as he has waived his right to a speedy trial.

Many factors played into his arrest as the alleged murderer and evidence were collected in correlation to him. Moscow law enforcement put an extreme amount of effort into finding the person who committed such horrid crimes and claimed him as a suspect around two weeks after the murder. However, they lied to the public about this for a month for investigation purposes. Before he was named as their suspect though, social media threw allegations at about five different people and accused said people of the crimes committed. Those friends and others accused were already grieving the loss of the young students, and to have the so-called “TikTok detectives” slandering their names most definitely caused harm. But when law enforcement named Kohberger as their prime suspect, many people who followed the case were shocked.

 Bryan Kohberger was a TA at a college in Washington in a class that studied crimes. Even his students who were in that class came out with statements saying after the murders, Kohberger graded assignments less harshly and even participated in a class discussion about the crimes. A past high school friend claimed he abused illegal substances and was an odd person. But, as of right now he is innocent until proven guilty and prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the crimes. Until then, he is still considered just a suspect, and everyone posting claims about him or slandering any names of friends, roommates, or anyone else in connection to the slain students needs to be careful as they can get into legal trouble. Many people have posted apologies, but some are continuing to post false claims or give threats to people’s lives who have been affected and changed forever as they have to grieve the loss of these young women and men who had their lives taken away. Anyone following this case needs to get their facts from trusted news outlets and not from social media because rumors are flying and false claims will always be out there.

 Lastly, remember and honor the four students, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin rather than the alleged murderer Kohberger. He likely wants the publicity, but he does not deserve it, the students who had their whole lives ahead of them and had all of it taken away need justice. And though they will not get to see how they have changed the lives of many others, they have left a mark on everyone who has followed the case.