Idaho student stabbings: Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murder to avoid death penalty
The plea deal means he will serve four life sentences for the brutal killings, which shocked the nation and set off a US-wide manhunt
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murder on Wednesday in the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 that stunned and terrified the campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger, who was a criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University, admitted to the slayings before entering a formal guilty plea in a deal with prosecutors that will allow him to avoid the death penalty. He had been set to go to trial in August.
The small farming community of Moscow, in the northern Idaho panhandle, had not had a homicide in about five years when Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead at a rental home near campus on November 13, 2022.
Autopsies showed each of the four victims was stabbed multiple times and some had defensive wounds.
Kohberger killed Mogen and Goncalves together and then ran into Kernodle, who was still awake, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said at the hearing on Wednesday. He then stabbed Kernodle and her boyfriend, Chapin, who was still asleep, Thompson said.
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 with their hands. Kohberger remained impassive as he confirmed to the judge that he stabbed the four victims.