Topline
Bryan Kohberger agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022, accepting a plea deal that will see him avoid the death penalty in exchange for multiple life sentences without the possibility for appeal.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho before changing his plea to ... More
Kohberger pleaded guilty to five criminal charges including burglary and four counts of first-degree homicide.
Kohberger agreed to serve a 10-year sentence for burglary, three consecutive life sentences for the murder charges, and agreed not to advocate for a lesser sentence.
When asked if he understood the plea agreement, charges, and penalties Kohberger responded in single-word answers of “yes,” and said “no” when the judge asked if he was not threatened or promised leniency for his plea.
Before the hearing, Kohberger signed a document confirming the written factual basis of the case, admitting to entering the Idaho home and killing each victim, then confirmed each charge to District Judge Steven Hippler with a calm answer of “yes.”
Kohberger’s trial was scheduled to begin in August, and prosecutors said they were seeking the death penalty.
A Facebook post reportedly from the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves first confirmed the rumors, while admonishing the state of Idaho for offering the deal.
The bodies of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were discovered on November 13, 2022 in an off-campus apartment the women shared. Kohberger, a criminology graduate student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington, was arrested over one month later in Pennsylvania. Investigators identified Kohberger, 30, as the suspect through DNA evidence left on a knife sheath at the crime scene, as well as cell phone GPS data that placed him as the likely driver of a Hyundai Elantra seen near the site of the murders in Moscow, Idaho. A judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf, after he stood silent when asked to enter a plea.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.