Bryan Kohberger admits to killing 4 Idaho students but motive remains
unclear
[July 03, 2025]
By JESSE BEDAYN and GENE JOHNSON
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A criminal justice student who avoided a potential
death sentence by pleading guilty Wednesday to the brutal stabbing
deaths of four University of Idaho students carefully planned the attack
for months and took multiple steps to cover his tracks, the lead
prosecutor said.
Bryan Kohberger, who was a graduate student at nearby Washington State
University, pleaded guilty to murder in the killings that terrified the
Idaho campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later
when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger remained impassive as he admitted to breaking into a rental
home through a kitchen sliding door and killing the four friends who
appeared to have no connection with him. Prosecutors did not reveal a
motive behind the slayings.
The killings initially baffled law enforcement and unnerved the rural
college town of Moscow, which hadn’t seen a murder in five years until
Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were
found dead near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed each was
stabbed multiple times.
In the two years since Kohberger’s arrest, his attorneys unsuccessfully
attempted to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and
challenged DNA evidence, leaving a plea deal their final alternative to
spare his life before the start of a trial in August.
At least one of the families opposed the plea deal that calls for
Kohberger to serve four life sentences and removes his ability to
appeal. But others supported the agreement, saying they were ready to
begin healing.
Emotional scene in Boise courtroom
Family members became increasingly emotional as Idaho Fourth Judicial
District Judge Steven Hippler explained each charge to Kohberger, naming
each victim individually. Some cried into tissues, while other wiped
tears away with their hands.
As Kohberger pleaded guilty, some in the family section looked down and
others craned to see him. The judge set the official sentencing for July
23.
Hippler said as the hearing began that he would not take into account
public opinion when deciding whether to accept the agreement.
“This court cannot require the prosecutor to seek the death penalty, nor
would it be appropriate for this court to do that,” he said.
The families left the courthouse without directly speaking to media
gathered outside.
One of the Idaho victims was awake
The plea hearing provided a few new details about the killings but key
questions remained, including why Kohberger spared two other roommates.
After breaking into the home, he climbed to the third floor where he
first killed Mogen and Goncalves together, Latah County Prosecuting
Attorney Bill Thompson said Wednesday.
He then ran into Kernodle, who was still awake after getting a Door Dash
order, and stabbed her and her boyfriend, Chapin, who was still asleep,
Thompson said. There were no signs of sexual assault, he said.
Police have said they used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a
possible suspect and accessed cellphone data to pinpoint his movements
the night of the killings.
At the time, Kohberger had just completed his first semester at
Washington State and was a teaching assistant in the criminology
program.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, weeks
later. Thompson said investigators recovered a Q-tip from the garbage at
his parents’ house to match Kohberger’s DNA to genetic material from a
knife sheath found at the crime scene.
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The family of Ethan Chapin including mother Stacy Chapin and father
Jim Chapin walk to the Ada County Courthouse for Bryan Kohberger's
plea deal hearing on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP
Photo/Jenny Kane)
Murder weapon still not found
Online shopping records showed that Kohberger had purchased a
military-style knife months earlier — as well as a sheath like the one
found at the scene.
The county prosecutor said the murder weapon has not been found and
revealed new details about how Kohberger tried to cover up the killings.
He bought another knife sheath to replace the one left at the home and
scrubbed his apartment and office, Thompson said. His car had been
“pretty much disassembled” and he changed its registration, Thompson
said.
“The defendant has studied crime,” Thompson said. “In fact, he did a
detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his
Ph.D., and he had that knowledge skill set.”
Motive remains unclear
There was no indication he had a relationship with any of the victims,
who all were friends and members of the university’s Greek system.
Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video show that
Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times
before the killings, and that he traveled in the same area that night.
Kohberger’s lawyers had said he was simply on a long drive by himself
around the time the four were killed.
Families split on plea deal
Although the Goncalves family opposed the agreement and sought to stop
it, they also argued that any deal should have required Kohberger to
make a full confession, detail the facts of what happened and provide
the location of the murder weapon.
"We deserve to know when the beginning of the end was,” they wrote in a
Facebook post.
Kaylee Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, left the courthouse before
Kohberger entered the courtroom. “I’m just getting out of this zoo,” he
told reporters.
The family of Chapin — one of three triplets who attended the university
together — supports the deal, their spokesperson, Christina Teves, said
this week.
Attorney Leander James read a statement from Mogen’s mother and
stepfather after the guilty pleas that said they supported the
agreement.
“While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they
respect our belief that this is the best outcome for the victims, their
families and the state of Idaho,” the family said.
“We now embark on a new path,” they said. “We embark on a path of hope
and healing.”
___
Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Nicholas
Ingram and Rebecca Boone in Boise; Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery,
Alabama; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu
contributed to this report.
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