Keith Jesperson, the Pleased Face serial killer, needs Bryan Kohberger to spend the remainder of his life in the identical Oregon jail he’s caught in, claiming it is going to be safer for the Idaho scholar assassin.
“His best hope is to be transfered (sic) to here, the max prison in Oregon to be away from those who want to make a name for themselves by killing him,” Jesperson wrote in a word to Keith Rovere, a former jail minister and podcaster who shared it with Fox Information Digital.
“This prison gets inmates from other states in order to protect them from the drama.”
Jesperson, a former truck driver, killed no less than eight ladies within the Nineties and picked up the nickname for his behavior of drawing smiley faces on letters to the media and investigators. He’s additionally identified to commerce letters with different high-profile killers and has claimed to have dedicated dozens extra murders, though authorities don’t imagine him.
“I will write to the Idaho Department of Corrections to tell them to consider sending Kohberger here to save them the high-risk security issues in protecting him in Idaho,” Jesperson wrote in one other word.
Rovere, host of “The Lighter Side of True Crime,” advised Fox Information Digital that Kohberger could have a tough time becoming in at any jail as a result of he lacks two key qualities, “street smarts and prison smarts.”
Kohberger’s social awkwardness got here up repeatedly in his courtroom battles and within the media earlier than a shock plea deal earlier this month. He prevented the loss of life penalty and can serve life in jail with no likelihood of parole for the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The Idaho college students’ killer is anticipated to spend no less than just a few weeks in isolation earlier than particulars of his long-term housing on the Idaho Most Safety Establishment in Kuna are finalized.
Jesperson is serving a number of life sentences on the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, about 475 miles from Kuna. And there’s a precedent for his declare. Oregon is a part of a bunch of western states which have an settlement to deal with prisoners throughout state traces if there are considerations about security, particular housing wants or overcrowding. Idaho, nonetheless, is just not a part of the pact.
Authorities within the state have given no public indication they have been even contemplating such a transfer.
“The safety and security of staff and the population are a priority in everything IDOC does, including placement,” mentioned Blake Lopez, public data officer for the Idaho Division of Correction.
Main as much as the trial, a physician for the protection recognized Kohberger with autism, and his legal professionals described quirky persona traits, a staring drawback, “atypical eye contact, including an intense gaze” and his issue carrying on regular conversations. He sat rigidly in courtroom for many of his hearings and stared on the victims’ family as they delivered impression statements this week, sometimes elevating a smirk, a half nod or swiveling in his seat solely barely.
Whereas asserting that Kohberger has a “high baseline intelligence,” his legal professionals wrote to the courtroom that he “exhibits slow verbal processing and weaknesses in certain areas of executive functioning, including cognitive flexibility and organizational approach.”
Right here’s the most recent protection on Bryan Kohberger:
“In the general population, he will be singled out right away to be made a target for those who see him as weak for the crimes of that kind of murder,” Jesperson wrote. “Most likely, Idaho will put him in protective custody like [Jeffrey] Dahmer. But we all know how that ended.”
Dahmer was a cannibalistic serial killer and rapist who focused males and boys between 1978 and 1991. In 1994, a fellow inmate named Christopher Scarver beat him to loss of life in a Wisconsin jail. Dahmer was 34 years previous when he died. Kohberger is 30.
Scarver advised the New York Put up in 2015 that he was disgusted by the serial killer and believes guards left them unattended collectively simply to offer him a chance to kill Dahmer with a metallic bar from a weight room.
The IDOC mentioned earlier this week that Kohberger could be screened and evaluated earlier than authorities would decide applicable housing and safety measures.
“Once in IDOC custody, the person goes through a Reception and Diagnostic Unit (RDU) process to evaluate their needs and determine appropriate housing placement; this process takes 7-14 days,” a spokesperson advised Fox Information Digital. “We wait until a person completes RDU to determine their classification, housing placement and privileges.”
Kohberger has a excessive profile. His crime shocked the nation and far of the world as a result of brutality and randomness and the weeks-long seek for a suspect who primarily bought caught as a result of he left just one piece of proof, a knife sheath together with his DNA on alongside Mogen’s physique.
He had no identified connection to the victims, a bunch of younger associates who had achieved him no improper. And he’s proven no regret — or any emotion by any means — in 2½ years of courtroom appearances.
Inmates who’ve killed ladies and youngsters are sometimes singled out behind bars, insiders inform Fox Information Digital. Three of the 4 Idaho victims have been additionally asleep through the assault, making it much more cowardly. And Kohberger’s social awkwardness is anticipated to rub different prisoners the improper means.
