Just days after prosecutors added his sister, Amanda Kohberger, to their witness list, Bryan Kohberger agreed to a plea deal, abruptly ending the case before it could go to trial, new court filings reveal.
Newly unsealed court documents show that Amanda Kohberger appeared on the state’s amended witness list and was also named on the defense’s mitigation witness list by lead attorney Anne Taylor.
The overlapping filings show that Amanda was positioned as a potential witness for both sides in the weeks before Kohberger’s plea. Within days of the June 25 filing that listed his sister as a prosecution witness, he accepted a plea deal that spared the case from going to trial.
Maryann Kohberger (wearing sunglasses), mother of Bryan Kohberger, along with her daughter, Amanda Kohberger, exit Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The pair were in attendance for Bryan Kohberger's sentencing for the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
The filings highlight the contrasting strategies at play. Prosecutors’ June 25 witness list spans 180 names, from investigators and forensic experts to victims’ relatives, and notably includes Kohberger’s sister, Amanda.
According to an ABC News report citing copies of 2014 police records, Michael Kohberger, Bryan’s father, once told officers that his son had stolen his sister Melissa's iPhone. Police declined to comment but confirmed the case had been expunged and the record "no longer exists."
By contrast, the defense’s mitigation list, filed June 6, named 56 witnesses intended for the sentencing phase, including psychologists, corrections experts and nearly every member of Kohberger’s immediate family.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. Kohberger pleaded guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty for the stabbing of four University of Idaho students. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
BRYAN KOHBERGER CALLED HIS MOM WHILE RETURNING TO IDAHO MURDER SCENE THE NEXT DAY, EXPERT REVEALS
The case has drawn national attention since the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when four students — Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves — were found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger, a former Ph.D. criminology student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in December 2022 after a cross-country investigation.
Exterior view of Idaho State Correctional Complex in Kuna, Idaho, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Bryan Kohberger is being housed at this facility after being sentenced for killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022 (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.