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BOISE, Idaho – It’s judgment day for Bryan Kohberger, the former aspiring criminologist who killed four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion ambush in November 2022.
The 30-year-old was studying for a Ph.D. at Washington State University in Pullman when he drove about 10 miles to the off-campus rental house at 1122 King Road, just across the state line, in Moscow, Idaho.
At a change of plea hearing July 2, he admitted to killing four young people inside: Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. But he did not give a motive or explain anything other than admit his guilt.
Their families are expected to address him directly in court today with victim impact statements in a sentencing hearing expected to take all day.
Mogen and Goncalves, who were best friends, were killed in a third-floor bedroom. Kohberger’s key mistake — the only publicly known physical evidence tying him to the crimes — was a Ka-Bar knife sheath he left under Mogen’s body. Police found his DNA on the snap.
On the second floor, Kernodle was awake, having received a DoorDash delivery minutes earlier. Kohberger killed her, then turned his knife on her sleeping boyfriend, Chapin, who was spending the night.
A surviving roommate told police she heard crying and a man’s voice say something to the effect of, “It’s OK. I’m going to help.” Then she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” leave out the back door. For whatever reason, he didn’t attack her.
The victims’ families have been split over the plea deal, which required Kohberger to waive his right to appeal and to forfeit his right to seek a sentence reduction under Idaho law. Some of the families, but not all, are expected to deliver victim impact statements in a proceeding court officials predicted would run for the full day.
It remains unclear what, if anything, Kohberger will say.
While the plea deal specifically didn’t require Kohberger to explain his actions at the July 2 hearing, Goncalves’ father and many others, including President Trump, have said they hope he is required to give greater detail at sentencing.
Chapin’s parents and the mothers of Kernodle and Mogen have all voiced support for the plea deal, which will spare them from years of appeals and the trauma of a trial.
In exchange for his guilty plea, Kohberger avoids the death penalty and is expected to receive the maximum punishment of four consecutive life prison sentences with no possibility of parole, plus another 10 years.
His sentencing begins Wednesday at 9 a.m. Mountain Time, 11 a.m. Eastern.
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