Michelle Bolger, who taught Bryan Kohberger at DeSales where he is suspected of murder, called him “one of my best students, ever,” adding that he was one of only two students she recommended for a Ph.D. programme
Kohberger was apprehended by police on Friday, December 30, at his parents’ house in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, after a nearly seven-week manhunt.
He is awaiting extradition from Pennsylvania to Idaho, where he is charged with the murders of four kids. In the early hours of November 13, he allegedly stabbed to death four young adults: Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Bryan Kohberger DeSales university professor Michelle Bolger says he was the smartest student in the class
Bolger, a professor at DeSales University, was reportedly taken aback by the claims made against her former student. She raved about his academic prowess to the local media. “I’m shocked as s**t at what he’s been accused of. I don’t believe it, but I get it.”
Bolger, who is now 33 years old, has been an Associate Professor at DeSales for eight years. She lectured Kohberger in an online class in 2020 and assisted him with his master’s thesis research and writing. “He was an online student in the criminal justice master’s degree program and graduated in June 2022,” she said.
Bolger praised Kohberger’s “great writing” and “brilliant student” qualities. That’s what she told me, “He was always perfectly professional when I had any interactions with him. I’ve only ever recommended two students for a PhD programme in my whole ten years of teaching, and he was one of them. He was without a doubt one of my top students ever.
Everyone is in shock over this.” After finishing up at Washington State University, Kohberger reportedly had academic aspirations. She claimed to be one of his teachers and to have assisted him with his proposal for a graduate thesis. Which included what some detectives may call a peculiar research questionnaire.
Who is Michelle Bolger? Bryan Kohberger professor at DeSales!
Dr. Michelle (Coyne) Bolger, as stated on the DeSales University website, completed her doctoral studies in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. Before going to grad school, she was a case manager at a men’s community residential facility outside of Cincinnati. Her primary area of interest in research and teaching is “quantitative analyses surrounding criminological perspectives and predicting behavioral outcomes.”
Michelle Bolger has recently moved out to publish and perform research on people’ fear of crime, satisfaction with the police, and other criminal justice policy concerns. In addition to her role as a member of the Executive Board of the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium, Bolger “facilitates and oversees the student-run group, the Criminal Justice Association.”
Her specialties include “Corrections and Community Corrections courses for undergraduates.” And “Criminology and Research Methods for both undergraduates and graduate students.”
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