Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the killing of four University of Idaho students, may have spoken about battling demons in his head online as a teenager.
Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
Prosecutors allege Kohberger, then a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University broke into an off-campus rental house in Moscow in the early hours of November 13 and fatally stabbed Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
His attorney did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment, but Jason LaBar, the public defender who represented him in Pennsylvania, has said Kohberger is "eager to be exonerated."

A probable cause affidavit said investigators connected Kohberger to the crime through DNA evidence, surveillance footage, and cell phone records. He made an initial appearance in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday following his extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightsville on December 30. He has not yet entered a plea.
More details about Kohberger's past have surfaced since his arrest.
Now, it appears that Kohberger wrote a series of posts on a website called Tapatalk in a forum for people who suffer from visual snow syndrome, an uncommon neurological condition that affects the way visual information is processed by the brain and eyes. People with the syndrome see many flickering dots, like snow or static.
Newsweek has not independently verified that the posts were written by Kohberger.
Lauren Matthias, the host of Hidden: A True Crime Podcast, said on NewsNation's Banfield that the posts were uncovered by the podcast team and linked to Kohberger through an email address and other details.
"The photo looks to be a side-by-side of Bryan, the username is an email that he used as well as his rapper name... and he confirms his own birthday and a relative's address as well as living in Pennsylvania," she said. "Everything matches up to look like this is Brian Kohberger writing as a 16-year-old boy."
Matthias has been contacted for further comment.
One post, apparently written by Kohberger in July 2011, says he has been suffering from "horrible Depersonalization" and how he feels demons in his head are "mocking" him.
"As I hug my family, I look into their faces, I see nothing, it is like I am looking at a video game, but less. I feel less than mentally damaged, it is like I have severe brain damage. I am stuck in the depths of my mind, where I have to constantly battle my demons, am I here or am I fake?" it reads.
The post continues: "Being me is this horrible disease that I was given. I think of this as I succumb to sleep, but I see a large intensity of black/yellow/white fuzz; it makes my mind fizzle and I can barely keep in the bounds of reality.
"It is as if the ringing in my ears and the fuzz in my vision is simply all of the demons in my head mocking me. I fall asleep, but I wake up quickly to bloody screams. Is any of this here?"
Another post from that year talks about having depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts as well as "delusions of grandeur," "crazy thoughts" and "NO EMOTION."
In some posts, the writer talks about how they believe visual snow syndrome is caused by toxins in the body and suggests dietary changes to cure it.
"He works really hard to try an array of diets, which actually confirms what you know relatives and friends have said about him being a very strict vegan or strict eater," Matthias said on NewsNation. "It seems that he thinks that's the cause of what is called visual snow."
Her husband and podcast co-host, forensic psychologist John Matthias, told NewsNation that some of the posts "really kind of speak to his mental state at the time."
"I think the overall picture that emerges here is this is a very troubled adolescent with many mental health issues," he said.
"In fact, there's so many symptoms that he identifies, it's hard to know where to start."
John Matthias added that "one of the issues here is that he wants to attribute all of his problems and all of his mental health problems to the visual snow and that's a big question mark... is the visual snow causing the mental illness or is it the other way around?"
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jpupspmeYriwtMGeqaCdomKxprnOp6pmp56htq%2BxjKmmrKyjYralrceoZGpvZ2eGcX4%3D