Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to all counts in the killings of four University of Idaho students, sparing him from the death penalty, according to a letter sent to victims’ family members informing them of the plea deal.
Kohberger — who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the 2022 killings of roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin — will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count, according to the plea agreement.
He will waive all right to appeal, the agreement said.
Prosecutors anticipate sentencing to take place in late July, as long as Kohberger enters the guilty plea as expected at a change of plea hearing that’s scheduled for Wednesday, according to the letter received by the family of one of the victims.
The plea comes just weeks before Kohberger’s trial was set to begin. Jury selection was set to start on Aug. 4 and opening arguments were scheduled for Aug 18.
Prosecutors said in the letter to families that the state was approached last week by Kohberger’s defense team asking to be presented with an offer. Prosecutors said they then met with available family members last week, “weighed the right path forward and made a formal offer” to Kohberger.
“This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,” prosecutors wrote in the letter. “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. Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.”
The state also will seek restitution for the victims and their families, according to the agreement.
The four University of Idaho students were all stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Two roommates inside survived, including one roommate who told authorities in the middle of the night she saw a man walking past her in the house, according to court documents. The roommate described the intruder as “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to the documents.
The shocking quadruple killings shook the small college town of Moscow, catapulted to national media interest and launched a nearly seven-week manhunt.
In December 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
DNA matching Kohberger’s was found on a KA-BAR knife sheath by one of the victim’s bodies, prosecutors have said.
Defense lawyers have said Kohberger was driving around alone on the night the killings occurred.
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