Did convicted killer Bryan Kohberger's sister, Melissa Kohberger, write a book about his murder of University of Idaho students that is for sale on Amazon? No, that's not true: The attorney for the Kohberger family told Lead Stories that Melissa Kohberger has not published anything relevant to her brother's case. Amazon told Lead Stories the book has been removed for violating the content guidelines of the site. The text of the book available on Amazon was deemed likely AI generated. There are no details about the author on the website and no news stories of a book that was written by the sister of the man who pleaded guilty to killing four college students in Idaho.
The claim appeared as a question in an October 19, 2025 video on TikTok account @londonsnotebook (archived here). It opened with the woman in the video asking if the book was legitimately written by Bryan Kohberger's sister:
Is this real?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of TikTok post at www.tiktok.com/@londonsnotebook.)
This is what the book looked like on Amazon.com on October 20, 2025:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Amazon.com listing.)
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle, students at University of Idaho. He has two sisters, Melissa and Amanda, the latter of whom attended the hearing where he was sentenced for the murders in July 2025, as People magazine reported.
The book with the author Melissa J. Kohberger is titled, "The True Crime Biography of Bryan Christopher Kohberger and the Moscow Murders that Stunned the Nation" by a "Melissa J. Kohberger."
Martín Souto Díaz, the attorney for the Kohberger family, told Lead Stories via email on October 22, 2025, that the book was not written by Bryan's sister:
Melissa Kohberger has not published anything relevant to her brother's case. The book that appeared on Amazon was nothing more than a poor attempt at making a quick buck by using artificial intelligence and her name. We are still considering legal action against those responsible.
Lead Stories reached out to Amazon for details about the book to determine if it was legitimately written by Bryan Kohberger's sister. Amazon told Lead Stories via email on October 22, 2025 that the title was no longer available for sale because it violated the content guidelines of the site.
Lead Stories ran the text in the description of the book from Amazon on GPTZero.me and the results said that snippet was 100% likely written by AI, as this screenshot shows:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of GPTZero.me report.)
Amazon removed the title listing (archived here) from the website. This was what a search for it showed as of October 22, 2025:
(Image source: Amazon.com website screenshot taken by Lead Stories.)
There are no other titles by a "Melissa J. Kohberger" listed on Amazon, as a search of the site found on October 23, 2025:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Amazon.com search bar.)
