Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, agreeing to spend the rest of his life in prison in order to avoid a trial that could have landed him on death row.
Kohberger, 30, was set to go on trial beginning Aug. 18. But he accepted a plea deal offered by prosecutors, agreeing to four consecutive life terms for the murders and 10 years for a burglary charge, and waiving his right to appeal. He is being held in the Ada County jail. He appeared in the county courthouse in Boise looking gaunt, wearing a white shirt and blue tie. He responded “Yes,” when the judge asked if he was pleading guilty because he is guilty.
FILE - Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, is escorted into court for a hearing in Latah County District Court, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho.
Ted S. Warren / AP
Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Madison Mogen, 21, were at an off-campus home when, sometime after 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, Kohberger broke in and stabbed them to death. The four were mourned by the university and surrounding community, their lives remembered with a healing garden and memorial on campus, and through vigil and scholarship funds. Goncalves’ father, Steve, told ABC News on Monday that the family “had no idea” the plea deal was going to happen, and said it is not what the family wanted.
“It’s sad, it’s disgusting, and I can’t pretend like I feel like this is justice,” he said.
But other family members of the students, including Madison’s father Ben Mogen and Chapin’s family, said Tuesday that they support the plea deal.
The deal came just a month before jury selection was scheduled to start, and just days after Hippler had granted Kohberger’s request to seal his defense team’s additions or objections to the jury questionnaire.
Kohberger, a criminology graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested about six weeks after the murders. On Dec. 30, 2022, law enforcement took him into custody at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania.
He was extradited to Idaho to face the criminal charges. At his arraignment on May 22, 2023, Kohberger told the court he would “stand silent,” meaning he did not enter a plea. On his behalf, the court entered a plea of not guilty.
His defense team succeeded in getting the trial moved from Latah County to Ada County to pull from Boise’s bigger population for a jury pool. His lawyers argued that a small town closely connected to the case, along with the constant media coverage, would make a fair trial impossible.
Prosecutors collected evidence against him that included his Amazon order history showing he purchased a Ka-Bar knife and then deleted the purchase history. No murder weapon had been found at the scene, but a sheath for a Ka-Bar knife was left lying on Mogen’s bed.
Investigators raided Kohberger’s car and his room at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, and seized books, black clothing, gloves, and multiple computers and hard drives.
Kohberger’s sentencing date was set at hearing.
Lauren Paterson is a reporter with the Northwest Public Broadcasting newsroom. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
