By Kevin Fixler
The Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — No criminal charges will be filed against the corrections officer suspected of recording and releasing prison security footage of Bryan Kohberger, the man serving life in prison for killing four University of Idaho students, state police told the Idaho Statesman.
Prison officials and the Idaho State Police concluded their investigation into the leak of the video, which the state prison system said last month was determined to be “authentic” and “in clear violation” of Idaho Department of Correction policy. After the footage made its way online in August, prison leadership committed to finding the person and holding them accountable — including with termination and, potentially, criminal prosecution.
Creepy Bryan Kohberger gets no expectation of privacy in prison. pic.twitter.com/x84KNCsHkM
— JLR© (@JLRINVESTIGATES) August 15, 2025
Investigators said they believe they settled on the male IDOC worker responsible, state police spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman. But even if the prison system strictly prohibits filming a security video feed, it was found the action did not rise to the level of breaking state or federal law, he said.
The employee quit their job with the state prison system before he could be fired, Snell said.
“He has now resigned, and there is no criminal violation we can charge him with,” he said. “This video does not fall under the definition of contraband.”
Prison officials declined to provide more information about the former worker, citing Idaho law concerning personnel.
“The individual responsible for the policy violation was identified and has since left the agency,” IDOC spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic said in an emailed statement. “The case was referred to the Idaho State Police, which determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges. We remain committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct and will continue to enforce all policies to protect the security of inmates and staff.”
Kohberger, 30, was sentenced in July to four consecutive life prison terms for murdering the four U of I undergraduates in Moscow in November 2022. In a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, he accepted no chance of parole and waived all of his appeal rights in exchange for dropping the death penalty.
The four victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20. The three women lived at an off-campus home on King Road and Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and slept over when they were killed in an early morning knife attack.
Kohberger was transferred from the Ada County Jail in Boise to the state’s maximum security prison near Kuna on July 23. He entered in the prison’s medical unit, where he was kept for six days before he was moved to a solitary confinement cell in another wing, called J Block, where death row prisoners are held.
Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s public defender, emailed state prison leadership on Aug. 14 about the leaked footage of her client in prison with two links on Reddit, according to a document obtained by the Statesman in a public records request.
Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based criminal defense attorney, told the Statesman she thinks criminal charges could have applied to the corrections officer for possibly bringing a cellphone into a secure prison facility without permission. With some limited exceptions for command-level staff, including wardens and chiefs, IDOC’s standard procedures restrict staff and contractors from bringing cellphones into a prison without prior written approval.
It is unclear whether the corrections worker believed to have recorded the security of Kohberger in his cell was permitted to have a cellphone, or in that area of the maximum security prison. The standard procedures state introduction of such a device into the prison system “is contraband and could result in administrative action or criminal charges or both” and references Idaho statute 18-2510.
“Their very own policy references the criminal statute,” Elcox said in a phone interview. “I think they could make a case for this if they wanted. And if you weren’t authorized to have it, you were told you could be prosecuted and this is what you did.”
Kohberger was listed Wednesday as remaining in his J Block cell at the maximum security prison.
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