In a stunning reversal just weeks before his scheduled trial, Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students, ending a nearly two-year period in which he had maintained his innocence.
The 30-year-old had faced the death penalty for the November 2022 slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. The plea agreement spares Kohberger his life but has left the victims’ families with conflicted emotions and lingering questions.
While Kohberger has confessed to breaking into the home and killing the four students, he has offered no explanation for his actions. The lack of a motive has been a source of anguish for the families. Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, told reporters the state made a “deal with the devil.” For Madison Mogen’s father, Ben, the deal brings a measure of closure, avoiding a grueling trial that would have kept the family in the national spotlight. “It’s been this nightmare that’s approaching in our heads,” he told the New York Times.
Kohberger’s sentencing is set for Wednesday in Boise, where families will have the opportunity to deliver impact statements.
The crime shook the close-knit college town. On the night of November 12, 2022, the four students enjoyed a typical Saturday night out. Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Chapin, 20, attended a fraternity party, while best friends Mogen and Goncalves, both 21, visited a local bar. All four returned to their home on King Road around 2:00 a.m.
Hours later, a masked intruder entered the house through a sliding glass door and stabbed the four students to death in their bedrooms. Two other roommates in the home were left unharmed. The killer was briefly spotted by one of the survivors as he exited, leaving behind a bloody and horrific scene.
For more than a month, the case baffled investigators and terrified the community, prompting an explosion of online speculation from amateur sleuths. On December 30, 2022, police announced the arrest of Kohberger at his family’s home in Pennsylvania.
Investigators pieced the case together using surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra matching Kohberger’s car near the crime scene and cell phone data that placed him in the area. The most crucial piece of evidence was a knife sheath left at the scene, which contained DNA that matched a sample from trash at Kohberger’s family home.
Despite the evidence and his recent confession, Kohberger’s motive remains a mystery. A criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University at the time, he had no known connection to the victims. Public fascination has delved into his past, uncovering writings about depression, a lack of remorse, and a history of heroin addiction. He studied under forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland, who expressed shock that the polite student she knew could commit such a violent act.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Moscow community has tried to heal. The house on King Road was demolished last year, which the university called a necessary step to remove a “grim reminder” and allow for collective healing. In its place, a memorial garden with a circular steel structure engraved with the victims’ names serves as a place of remembrance, honoring the lives of the four students.
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