Searches and selfies: Idaho college murder suspect Bryan Kohberger's online habits emerge in new details

Six weeks before a masked intruder slipped inside a rental home on the edge of the University of Idaho campus and fatally stabbed four students, Bryan Kohberger was coming under pressure.

Six weeks before a masked intruder slipped inside a rental home on the edge of the University of Idaho campus, fatally stabbed four students and ducked into the darkness, Bryan Kohberger was coming under pressure.

During the fall semester of 2022, Kohberger was a 27-year-old doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University, an 8-mile drive west of the University of Idaho. His role as a teaching assistant, leading classes and grading papers, was not going well, students and sources who spoke to “Dateline” said. Some students complained that he was overly demanding, and they didn’t feel comfortable. A dean summoned him to discuss his professional behavior after he also clashed with colleagues.

But around that time, Instagram may have served as a distraction.

Read more on this story at NBCNews.com and watch “Dateline” at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT Friday or check local listings.

Kohberger’s cellphone browsing history, obtained by “Dateline” and in the possession of law enforcement, shows dozens of pictures of female students at Washington State and the University of Idaho, many in bathing suits. A review of those accounts found some of them were close friends with or followers of three of the murdered students: Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21.