Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Bryan Kohberger's Christmas Comes with Cookies... and Complaints

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

Bryan Kohberger is spending his first Christmas serving life behind bars at Idaho’s maximum-security prison — a stark contrast to the holiday traditions families across the country are celebrating. After pleading guilty to the murders of University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle, Kohberger is now housed in long-term restrictive housing, where prison officials say Christmas is treated much like any other day, with limited movement, isolation, and tightly controlled conditions. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy examines what the holiday looks like inside Idaho’s most secure prison in this episode of Crime Fix - a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Chris McDonough https://www.youtube.com/@TheInterviewRoomCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This is your go-to for the absolute best in 2025 audio entertainment. Whether you love thrillers, romance, or non-fiction, your next favorite listen awaits. Discover why there's more to imagine when you listen at audible.com slash best of the year. Admitted murderer Brian Coburger is spending Christmas in a cell with restrictions while other families enjoy lights, company, and tradition. I'm taking a look at Koberger's first Christmas behind prison walls and what that day really means inside a maximum security institution.

I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Let me tell you, there's nothing scarier than logging onto your computer and finding out that someone has stolen your personal. information and guess what all of that info like your name phone number and address it's just sitting online for scam artists to steal and data brokers to sell well guess what i have something that can fix that incogni will track down which data brokers have your info and demand they remove it they found more than 50 brokers with my info and within days poof it started to disappear just create an account authorizing cogni to act for you and they do the rest the new unlimited plans custom removals feature allows you

to submit custom links where your data shows up and then a team of privacy expert removes it for you. So if you care about your online safety and you really should take your data back with Incogni, use code crime fix for 60% off an annual plan. Christmas for so many people means lights, family, warmth, and joy, but for the four families of Maddie Mogan, Kelly Gonzalez, Ethan Chapin, and Xanacernodal, their Christmases will never ever be the same. But one thing that may bring those four families a little comfort this year is knowing the man who took the lives of their precious children will be behind bars in a cell and he is not going anywhere. And guess what? He's not exactly happy about where he is either. This is Brian Coburger's first Christmas in prison and there is

no warmth and there is no joy. He had been in a county jail before as he awaited trial for the murders. But this is his first Christmas inside Idaho's maximum security institution in CUNA. There's no tree. There are no decorations. There's no family dinner, just concrete, steel, and a cell door. But there are cookies, and I'll have more on that in a moment. Coburgger is being held in long-term restrictive housing, the most isolated conditions in the Idaho prison system. This isn't county jail. This isn't pretrial. This is forever. And according to the Idaho Department of Corrections, Christmas inside the facility, it's kind of like any other day. A spokesperson wrote to me in an email. During the holidays, an organization called St. Vincent DePaul runs a program called

Cookies for Corrections through which they deliver cookies to every Idaho Department of Correction facility, including the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. Incarcerated individuals in long-term restrictive housing have limited access to activities because they live in single-person cells and must be moved in restraints. They receive showers every other day and one hour of outdoor recreation daily. They also have access to religious services, communication through J-Pay, and the ability to place commissary orders. So let's break that down. Coburger is moved in shackles. He lives alone. He is out of his cell for about one hour a day, but it's my understanding he's opted to stay in his cell. And on Christmas, the Idaho Department of Corrections says that doesn't really

change. The only real difference is that box of cookies. St. Vincent DePaul describes that program on its website like this. In the spirit of Christmas, members of our reentry team deliver store-bought cookies to residents at the South Boise Correctional Complex. This small act of kindness is an opportunity to extend compassion, fellowship, and community to incarcerated individuals in Idaho. Receiving a Christmas cookie as a resident might be the only act of humanity and kindness shown to them during the holiday season. And yes, according to the Idaho Department of Corrections, Brian Coburger receives those cookies too if he wants them. And that is about as festive as it gets. And when it comes to food, Christmas inside a maximum

security prison does mean just a slight change. But according to the Idaho Department of Corrections holiday menu provided to law and crime, it is still very much prison food. According to that official menu, incarcerated individuals are served a holiday turkey roast or for those with dietary restrictions, a holiday vegan stuffed pepper. The meal also includes mashed potatoes, corn casserole or vegetables, white bread with margarine, and a pumpkin dessert like pumpkin crumble or pumpkin pie, along with a vitamin beverage. What about calling family? Well, according to correctional policy and public reporting on restrictive housing, for most inmates, phone calls on holidays are limited, pre-scheduled, and short. For high-profile inmates in restrictive housing,

they may not get a call at all. Mail is screened, visits are rare or non-existent, and there are no Christmas visits. But I want to stop there because as much as there is curiosity about how Brian Coburger is spending Christmas, really what is most important is how the four families of the victims in this case are affected. Maddie Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Ethan Chapin, and Santa Cernodal. Their families are celebrating now a third Christmas without their loved ones. their lives are never going to be the same. Koberger pleaded guilty this past summer to breaking into the house at 1122 King Road

and murdering Maddie Kaley, Ethan, and Zana. And I can't overstate the fear that that crime caused in the small college town of Moscow. Koberger's attorneys had claimed more than two years ago that he was innocent. But essentially on the eve of trial, Koberger asked for a deal and he got one, a deal that did not require him to disclose any details about the crime. all he had to do was say in court, yes, I'm guilty. I did it. And now as he spends his first Christmas serving life in prison, there are still a lot of questions about what this kind of sentence means and what life actually looks like for someone like Brian Coburger inside of a

maximum security prison. Coburger hasn't exactly been a model inmate. As far as we know, he hasn't gotten into any trouble, but he's been causing the staff a lot of headaches with complaints about food and his claims that other inmates are taunting him, and much more. All right. So let's bring in Chris McDonough. He's the host of the interview room, also a retired homicide detective, and he has a pretty good pipeline into that prison in Kuna, Idaho. So, Chris, we've heard from the very beginning that Brian Koeberger is not happy with

the accommodations, if you will, at the maximum security prison there. He's on J Block, which apparently is not a bad block there at the prison, but he's not happy. So what is the very latest that you're hearing out of the prison, aside from him, not liking his bananas? You know, Antonet, you can't really make this stuff up, right? I mean, here's a guy that kills four people, ends up in the, you know, Department of Corrections. He's in isolation, basically, in the J-block. So they do what they call a 23 and 1, which is 23 hours a day in the cell one hour out. And when they do let them out, they put them in these little cages.

And the inmates call him dog cages. And what they have to do with Brian Coburger right now is they have to keep him away from other inmates because they've been taunting him so much. And they're also worried, you know, obviously if something were to happen to him, you know, what the exposure to the prison would be based on some of the complaints that Brian's been making. The bananas is just the start. He's really out there complaining about just about everything. When you say complaining about everything, we know from his prior handwritten grievance forms that, you know, like his meal, you know, one time I think he didn't get his apple and then

another time he was complaining that this doesn't meet the dietary guidelines, you know, according to the handbook and you know he's getting very particular um you know i'm sure the prison is just handing out the food that they order from whatever food service brings it in or whether they have a prison kitchen i don't know um but it's prison it's not the hilton so what are you hearing about these complaints from the the prison insiders yeah so i think he has forgotten he that this is a prison, right? And it's not only a prison, it's a maximum housing prison, meaning, you know, they send the worst or the worst to the CUNA prison system there in Idaho. And that's what they call a shoe unit. It's a special housing unit,

S-H-U, okay? And in there are all the individuals who like are like-minded Brian Coburger. And like I was talking about a little bit earlier, you know, the 23 and 1, one of the things they have to keep an eye on is if they put him out there with another inmate, other inmates, believe it or not, have been known to throw, you know, like body fluids through the chain link fences at each other. And so those are the kind of things they want to keep him away from right now. And because of that, he has a litany of complaints. He's writing about, you know, wanting to harm himself still to the staff. He's talking about the relentless taunting from the other inmates, and they're still not letting up on him.

Now, the problem with that, obviously, from a staff perspective, is that takes a lot of time, you know, away from them. because they have to respond to each one of those notes or any communication that's given from an inmate to staff member, they have to run that up the flagpole. And if it's a mental health issue, then of course they've got to get the medical staff involved. And so the question is, is he playing this, you know, like Brian Colbert or almost as if he's a, you know, a prison diva?

Okay, and now they're having to respond to all of these you know, ridiculous type of things to your point where he's pointing out, you know, violations from the manual, et cetera, or is in fact he going to harm himself and that he needs now a psychological evaluation and plugged into the mental health word? Remember that leaked video. That was a whole different cell, but, you know, so is this a play or is it, you know, is he serious? They don't know right now. So they're keeping him isolated away from everybody. So my personal thought on this, and obviously I've never spoken to Brian Koberger, I don't know him. I just know what we've been able to glean from the court hearings. I think he was a major pain to his defense team in the way they described him and their interactions with him.

I think that he thinks he's smarter than everybody else. He may be a prima donna there in the prison like, hey, I'm the most well-known guy here. Like, you know, I should get to get what I want and all of this. Or maybe he's just thinking, well, mother always placates me. So, and he's not even thinking. He's just expecting to be treated how mother treated him or whatever, you know, mother and father. You know, not every day's there to respond to your every text message and every call in prison. Like, sorry, dude, that's just not how it goes.

Get on the tablet and call mother, I guess. But my thing is, I'm sure that medical unit cell that we saw in the leaked video, it looked pretty nice. So it looked nicer, at least. I don't know. I haven't been there, but it looked like it was roomier. You know, it might have a nicer setup. up. So to me, I'm thinking he probably was like, I want to go back to the medical unit. That was a better space. Yeah. And, and is this a play to that, right? Where he's saying, you know, because he's very ambiguous.

Like, you know, we've mentioned before, he's, he's not saying, you know, I'm going to, you know, take my life or anything like that. He's just, it's very ambiguous. He just, he tells the staff, you know, I'm going to harm myself. And so everybody's sitting back going, what exactly does that mean bryan you know how do we get to understand what exactly that means and so he's going to have to come to the waters right of baptism for lack of a better term and realize that his family dynamics have changed and he's got a prison full of crazy brothers though and these these are the individuals that are going to make or break him ultimately for his life sentences and he's not making very good path or good pathway into those relationships.

In fact, they hate him. And that's the other problem that he's developing, you know, underneath the surface here. So as he continues to, you know, kick up that current of complaints, you know, complaints about the guards, complaints about the prison, complaints about the facilities, you know,

and his food, all of that encompasses this whole idea around him from the other inmates is you know what this guy's not going to assimilate here and therefore we're going to make it miserable for him and you know they're going to continue the psychological you know pressure on him and the torture from the other inmates i'm sure they will because he's he's made himself an easy mark he has not he has not shown the guys in the prison that hey i'm tough i can handle it i mean You're complaining about getting razzed, you know, by these other people.

So you're not a tough guy and they know it. So you've kind of made yourself, you put a target on your own back as far as the prison culture goes. We're going to get to what goes on in prison on Christmas here in just a moment. But I do want to ask you, you know, about this information you received about him reaching out to other murderers, other serial killers, things of that nature. You know, he, of course, would be considered, I guess, a mass murderer, not a serial killer. But he certainly was obsessed with serial killers, according to the celebrate experts. So what, who is he reaching out to? Why is he doing this?

Does he think he's, like, part of their club? What's going on there? So the information that I received was that he goes into the prison system thinking, you know, he's, you know, just slaughtered four people. for, you know, he's made his mark into the, into the serial killer game, for lack of a better term. So my understanding is a couple, one specifically, the smiley face killer, they tried to attempt to communicate with each other as my understanding via the email communication. I do not allowed. Pardon me for interrupting you. Is that allowed? Well, and that's how I think it got interrupted because somebody flagged something and I was told that, you know, they were trying to

communicate. That's the gist of the information that I have on that. Now, whether or not that ever went through, I don't know that for sure. I just know that there was an attempt. You know, why that would be, I have no idea. However, I do believe that Brian thinks he's in that category of, like I said, a moment ago, you know, as a serial killer, when the other inmates around him, again, you know, there's a pecking order in prison. And if you don't fit that, okay, then to them, you're just a number in a cell next to you, okay? And so I don't know if he's, again, trying to push himself into a bigger, you know,

hey, look at me, I'm Brian Kohlberger, and the other inmates are going, well, you're nothing. Okay, you're like a bug in a jar here. They've got their own hierarchy. Like, he's nobody. They do. That's right. That's right.

And it's all based on respect. So if you disrespect, you know, any of your fellow inmates around, you that gets that gets out there pretty quickly in terms of information so this is his first christmas not in jail of course but in the prison there in cunha and so i i reached out to the prison a while back and i'm like so what's it what's it like there you know and basically they say it's like any other day on j block because these are people they're the worst of the worst they're in their cells 23 hours a day, you know, the 23 and 1, like you talked about. He doesn't even do the wreck time

because, you know, he's afraid. So he's afraid he's going to get hurt. So it's my understanding he stays in his cell all the time anyway. So it's not going to be any different, except that this organization, St. Vincent DePaul, he might get a cookie from them. They have this program, cookies for corrections, which is very nice. That's very kind of them to do that. I don't know if they'll be making vegan cookies, especially for Brian Koberger. I'm thinking no, but maybe they do. Maybe they know, but that there are inmates with different dietary needs and issues. But they do this.

They will deliver the cookies to the prison to give them cookies. So that makes the day maybe a little more special. So he might get a vegan cookie. We don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's certainly is a great job. gesture, I mean, right? It's a somewhat of a lift for those individuals that have been in there, you know, 20 plus years, you know, trying to get to the rest of their life. It's a good thought

process. You know, the whole mentality sometimes, even with Department of Corrections there in Idaho, is this idea that there's somehow, you know, within side of each of us, there's a something that could be rehabilitated. And that's why they call them, you know, residences. They don't even call them inmates or clients. And so this idea of, yeah, we'll bring them Christmas cookies. May soften their thought process in relationship to, you know, slaughtering for college students in a bedroom while they're sleeping, by the way. That cookie's going to really pay off for Christmas in other people's minds, not necessarily the perpetrator's mind. These people are very dangerous, and they need to be locked up 23 hours a day, period. And Brian Coburger hasn't quite caught that wind yet, but he will.

It's coming. If you're on J-block, you're irredeemable. I mean, sorry, that's just basically how it is. going anywhere else. You're on J Block basically for good unless you win an appeal or something like that. And we know he's, you know, waived all of his appeals. Let's go over the menu a little bit, the vegan menu. And they have a, you know, the Department of Corrections, I've got the menu pulled up here. They're taking care of everybody. You know, they've got the mainline meal, they've got the healthy choice meal, they've got the lacto-o-vegetarian meal. If I mispronounce the Ovo part, I apologize. Vegan, no pork, common fare.

So I've got the vegan meal pulled up. We've got the pineapple carrot for breakfast. That's a muffin. You get a cup of farina. That's a finely milled wheat porridge of sorts, similar to oatmeal. Vegan, sausage, breakfast patty, margarine, sugar, vegan milk, vitamin beverage. then, and I'm sure you can get stuff from the commissary snacks, things of that nature. And then, you know, there are some other options they've got for lunch, fresh fruit, banana.

I guess that's where the bananas are coming from, the banana for lunch. Peanut butter, we got some jelly, we got whole grain breads. You get PB&J for lunch. Cookie number six, maybe that's the cookies from, you know, St. Vincent to P.B. fall. That's a peanut butter cookie. And then tortilla chips. And then we've got for dinner a two-piece holiday vegan stuffed pepper, holiday corn casserole, white bread, margarine, mashed potatoes, garden salad number one, ranch dressing, holiday pumpkin crumble, and whipped topping along with a vitamin beverage. So quite the smorgasbord of things there, but they must serve the cookies at lunch.

you know, that doesn't sound so bad. No, and, and, you know, to think that there are four families with four empty chairs. Exactly. And he's completing out of the dinner table. Yeah. And here we are, you know, talking about his menu or his menu options, right, his choices. You know, we really, I think Brian Coburg's case and other cases, that are coming up on the horizon,

you know, these high-profile murderers that, you know, like Luigi, where you even have the defense team setting up websites now for the defendant, even before a trial. Yet they go and argue before the court. You know, Your Honor, we don't want cameras in the court because we don't want to taint a jury.

Yet they're setting up websites for their client, okay? You know, what are they going to talk about with him? a happy meal because he got arrested at McDonald's. You know, we really need to take a hard look at our criminal justice system again and get back to basics because it seems like the accountability aspect within inside of our culture is being lost. And that's why there's such a recidivism, you know, why these guys continue to commit the amount of crimes that they do. New York City's a mess and other states, you know, and it just needs to be taken a hard look at. And this menu is a perfect example of that. Well, and you are right. Really the most important thing this Christmas

is those four families and the four empty chairs that exist in the holes in the family's hearts. And he's got it pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Chris McDonough, thank you so much for your time. Thanks, Sanjanette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I mean, Jeanette, thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.