Killer Bryan Kohberger has no trouble admitting to violently killing four people with a knife in a sneak attack in the middle of the night, but after just one night in J-Block at the Idaho Maximum Security Prison, he is begging to be transferred out.
He submits a handwritten note telling the deputy warden he is being subjected to minute-by-minute verbal threats and harassment and asks to be transferred out of Unit 2 on J-Block because he says, “J-Block is an environment I wish to transfer from.”
In his first note of complaint and begging, Kohberger violates a cardinal rule of prison: never rat out your fellow prisoners. Kohberger writes he is “not engaging in any of the recent flooding/striking….”
“Flooding” in prison jargon refers to inmates intentionally causing water to overflow in their cells, creating a disruption on the block, and by saying he isn’t taking part, he is pointing his bony finger of righteous indignation at others on J-Block.
After sending his first note of complaint after his first night in prison, Kohberger follows it up a few days later with another note, this one given to a guard and claiming he is the victim of sexual harassment.
In the note, Kohberger claims one inmate is threatening to rape him, while another inmate says, “The only ass we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s.” Kohberger offers up the name of a guard he says heard the threats and harassment, so his claims can be verified.
An incident notification report is filled out by the guard who received the second Kohberger note, and the guard named by Kohberger is questioned about the claims made by the admitted quadruple murderer.
In a report filed three days later, the guard says he recalls vulgar language being used and directed towards Kohberger, but he doesn’t know which inmates made the threats.
In his note, Kohberger tells the deputy warden that he wants to be transferred to B-Block immediately. Immediately.
Kohberger also wants to speak to the deputy warden soon. In response, Kohberger is told J-Block is “generally a fairly calm and quieter tier,” and the flooding is a relatively rare occurrence.
“He isn’t given his transfer and is told “to give it some time.”
Joining Nancy Grace today:
Additional Guests
- Heather Barnhart – SANS Institute Fellow (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security), Senior Director of Forensic Research at Cellebrite (one of the Digitial Forensic Investigators in the Bryan Kohberger case), and Co-Author of “Practical Mobile Forensics” (now in its 4th edition); Blog: smarterforensics.com
- Dr. DeWayne Hendrix – Former Warden at the MDC in Brooklyn (also served as a Warden in Sheridan, Oregon), Former Senior Warden with the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Founder and President of A New Daylight Foundation, and Author: “Who Are You? See it Say it and Seize it;” @anewdaylight (IG) @drdewaynehendrix (LinkedIn), @anewdaylight (X-Twitter)
- Annie Elise – Host of True-crime Podcast “SERIALously“
“Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” is also a national radio show on SiriusXM channel 111, airing for two hours daily starting at 12 p.m. EST. You can also subscribe and download the daily podcasts at iHeart Podcasts.
[Feature Photo: Bryan Kohberger is is seen in the Ada County Courthouse after his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)]
