A prosecutor has emotionally detailed the step-by-step account of how Bryan Kohberger brutally killed four Idaho students.
On Wednesday (June 2), Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
As the 30-year-old former criminology PhD student entered his guilty plea, he waived his right to a trial that had been scheduled for August.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop the death penalty, sparing him execution by firing squad. Kohberger will serve four consecutive life sentences without parole, plus up to 10 years for burglary, while waiving his rights to appeal.
The plea deal has divided the victims’ families. The Goncalves family wrote on Facebook: “It’s true! We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us.”
Moscow Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson acknowledged the family’s pain, stating: “This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals.”
During the hearing, Thompson choked up as he laid out what a weeks-long trial would have revealed about the cold-blooded murders that Kohberger admitted to committing.
“He killed - intentionally, willfully, deliberately, with premeditation, and with malice and forethought - Maddy Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle,” Thompson told the court, cited by The New York Post.
The suspect's confession came as prosecutors presented extensive evidence pointing to his guilt.
They revealed that Kohberger may have spent nearly six months planning the murders, purchasing a military-grade Ka-Bar knife from Amazon in March 2022 while living in Pennsylvania, then moving to Pullman, Washington, in June to attend Washington State University, just minutes from the Moscow crime scene.
Kohberger's phone began pinging near the victims’ home at odd hours, including 23 instances between 10PM and 4AM, but prosecutors said there was no evidence he ever had direct contact with the victims.
On November 13, 2022, he turned off his phone around 2AM in Pullman before it reconnected near Moscow around 5AM, during the time prosecutors say he killed the four students. Security footage captured his white Hyundai Elantra near the scene.
Donning a dark face mask, he entered the house through a sliding glass door around 4AM and climbed to the third floor, where 21-year-olds Mogen and Goncalves were sleeping.
Using his seven-inch Ka-Bar knife, Kohberger killed them both, leaving behind the sheath containing his DNA. As he left the room, he encountered 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, who was awake after receiving a food delivery.
“Her room was not on the third floor, it was on the second floor,” Thompson said, his voice shaking. “He encountered Xana, and he ended up killing her, also with a large knife.”
Kohberger then entered Kernodle’s room, where her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, was sleeping, and killed him as well.
“We will not represent that he intended to commit all of the murders that he did that night, but we know that that is what resulted,” Thompson added.
Two roommates survived the brutal murders, including one who saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” leaving the house.
Security footage captured Kohberger’s car leaving the neighborhood around 5:30AM. Later that morning, his phone data put him back at the crime scene around 9AM, before returning to Pullman, where he took a picture of himself giving a thumbs-up in his bathroom mirror.
In the days after the murders, Kohberger traveled to Lewiston, Idaho, a town with fast-moving rivers where prosecutors believe he may have disposed of the murder weapon, which has never been found.
He also searched online for another knife, tried to delete his Amazon purchase history, and changed his car registration from Pennsylvania to Idaho to avoid suspicion.
“Mr. Kohberger proceeded to finish his semester of studies at Washington State University and return to Pennsylvania for the holidays,” Thompson said.
Investigators identified Kohberger as a suspect after DNA from a Q-tip found in his parents’ trash matched DNA on the knife sheath left at the crime scene. Police later discovered his Pullman apartment nearly vacant, with his car “meticulously cleaned” inside.
“Spartan would be a kind characterization,” Thompson said. “Those compartments in the doors where you try to keep them clean, where you put stuff? There’s always some degree of crud in there – they were spotless.”
During a search of his family’s Pennsylvania home, cops discovered black gloves, a Glock pistol, a black hat, a black face mask, and a knife. Prosecutors noted Kohberger’s criminology studies appeared to help in his attempts to cover up the crime.
“In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his pre-doctorate degree,” Thompson said. “He had that knowledge and skill.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence, prosecutors said Kohberger’s motive remains unclear, and his guilty plea means he has no legal obligation to explain why he killed the four students.
Kohberger’s sentencing is set for July 23, where families will deliver victim impact statements before the court imposes his life sentences.
It remains unclear if he will address the court.
Our thoughts continue to be with the families of all the victims.