A judge sentenced Bryan Kohberger to serve life in prison for the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years ago.
No motive has been offered and Kohberger chose not to speak at the hearing.
The hearing gave the families of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves the opportunity to describe the anguish they’ve felt since their loved ones were killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. The victim impact statements lasted about two hours.
Here’s the latest:
Sentence was in line with the plea deal Kohberger agreed to earlier this month
Judge Hippler sentenced Kohberger to 10 years for burglary and four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, along with $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.
Judge Steven Hippler spoke next, reading from a statement and holding back tears
Kohberger “senselessly slaughtered” the four victims, Hippler said.
Hippler credited law enforcement and “the killer’s incompetence” for the court’s ability to prosecute him.
“The world and this court unmasked this unfathomable and senseless act of evil has caused immeasurable pain and loss,” Hippler said.
Kohberger declined to make a statement at the sentencing hearing
“I respectfully decline,” he said.
One person said, “surprise, surprise,” in the courtroom. Another said, “coward.”
Thompson choked up as he made his sentencing argument to the judge
He placed four individual pictures of the victims, one at a time, as he stated the four consecutive life sentences the state is recommending for Kohberger.
The livestream cut away from Kohberger to show each individual photo.
Thompson said the sentences should run back to back, not at the same time, to respect the “unique individuality” of each of the victims.
“We can never undo the horror of what occurred on the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, in Moscow Idaho,” he said.
After impact statements, prosecutor Bill Thompson clarified reasons the state offered plea deal
Thompson said a trial could have resulted in years or decades of appeals, in part because of the huge number of motions that were filed in the case.
The defense team made “dozens” of attempts to dismiss the case.
Among those efforts, Thompson noted that the defense unsuccessfully suggested that other people were somehow responsible for the crimes.
He said he respected each family’s “candid” reactions to the plea deal.
Members of Xana Kernodle’s family spoke of how religion factored into understanding of justice
Xana Kernodle’s mother, Cara Northington, said Jesus allowed her to forgive Kohberger, even though he never expressed remorse.
“Nothing man can do to you can ever compare to the wrath of God,” she said.
Towards the end of her testimony, she read from the Bible, taking multiple breaks to wipe her tears away and catch her breath.
Northington said she wouldn’t share good memories of her daughter because she didn’t want Kohberger to know them.
“You don’t deserve our good memories that we have,” she said.
Victims’ families not the only ones ruined by the killings
Randy Davis, Xana Kernodle’s stepfather, said Kohberger had also ruined the lives of the Kohberger family.
“He has contaminated, tainted their family name, and pretty much made a horrible miserable thing to ever be related to him,” he said.
Then he turned to Kohberger.
“I don’t know what my limits are here. I am struggling man,” Davis said. He said he wished he had five minutes with Kohberger in the woods to teach him about loss and pain.“You are going to suffer man. I’m shaking because I want to reach out to you but I hope you feel my energy,” he said, banging on his chest. “Go to hell.”
The courtroom applauded as he walked away from the podium.
Xana Kernodle’s aunt, Kim Kernodle, was the first to forgive Kobherger in her testimony
“You know, this is probably gonna bother everybody, but Bryan, I’m here today to tell you that I have forgiven you because I could no longer live with that hate in your heart,” she said, turning to face Kohberger directly.
“Any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number, no judgment because I do have questions about what happened,” Kim Kernodle said.
Xana Kernodle’s family began testimony after a 10-minute break
Jazzmin Kernodle, her sister, said she was unsure if she would be capable of testifying Wednesday.
“I believe in a god whose justice is not bound by this courtroom,” she said.
Xana Kernodle’s father, Jeff Kernodle, testified next.
“On my way up here, flying up here on the plane, about halfway through the flight a little girl was calling out for her dad. ‘dad, dad, dad,’” he said. For a minute, it sounded like Xana, he said.
When Xana Kernodle was gone, Jeff Kernodle said he realized how important his daughter was.
The way she influenced him was “way beyond what I ever thought,” he said.
Kohberger’s mother and sister sat in the gallery near the defense table
His mother quietly wept at times as the victims’ parents described their grief. She sobbed briefly when Maddie Mogen’s grandmother said her heart goes out to the other victims’ families, as well as to Kohberger’s family.
His father did not attend the sentencing hearing, though he was present when Kohberger pleaded guilty earlier this month.
Kristi Goncalves continued her family’s polemic against Kohberger
“You’re not that good. In fact you’re not that good at anything. You couldn’t secure a job, you couldn’t get along well with others,” she said.
Goncalves said she was disappointed that Kohberger wouldn’t be executed by firing squad and reveled in how he would suffer in prison.
“You will always be remembered as a loser, an absolute failure,” she said.
“Hell will be waiting,” Goncalves’ mother said.
Her testimony was also followed by applause.
Alivea Goncalves’ voice didn’t waver as she asked Kohberger about details of the killings
Among the questions was what her sister’s last words were.
The family has previously blasted the plea deal because it thwarted the opportunity to reveal those details in a trial.
“If you were really smart, do you think you’d be here right now? What’s it like needing this much attention just to feel real?” she said.
Kohberger remained expressionless as Alivea Goncalves insulted him.
“You didn’t win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are. You’re a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser,” she said.
The courtroom applauded after Goncalves’ sister delivered her final line, saying that if Kohberger hadn’t attacked the victims in the middle of the night, Kaylee Goncalves would have beaten him up.
Kaylee Goncalves’ sister, Alivea Goncalves, matched her father’s angry tone in her testimony
She said she didn’t immediately cry when she first heard about her sister’s death — she listened to the details of her final night.
“I’m angry every day” she said.
Alivea Goncalves said her sister and Maddie Mogen had “always known her love,” she said, and would never ask her to prove it by further victimizing herself by showing vulnerability to Kohberger now.
“I won’t offer you tears, I won’t offer you trembling. Disappointments like you feed on fear,” she said.
Goncalves’ heated testimony emphasized how quickly police were able to find Kohberger
“You were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,” he said, noting investigators had his DNA right away.
He taunted Kohberger and referenced Kohberger’s degree in criminal justice.
“Master’s degree? You’re a joke — a complete joke.”
He said Kohberger would die nameless, while the world would remember the legacy of the four victims.
“You picked the wrong family, and we’re laughing at you on your way to the pen,” he said.
Kaylee Goncalves’ dad, Steve Goncalves, was first to speak to Kohberger directly during testimony
“Today we are here to finish what you started,” Goncalves said.
Kohberger nodded subtly in response.
“You tried to break our community apart, you tried to plant fear, you tried to divide us. You failed,” he said sharply.
Testimony from Ben Mogen, Maddie Mogen’s father
His voice cracked as he described his only child as “the only great thing that I ever really did and the only thing I’m proud of.”
He described his personal struggle with addiction and substance abuse — but said his daughter kept him alive by being such a beautiful person.
“Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. I love you lots and lots. Love Maddie May,” he said.
He cut his testimony off as his emotion overcame him and his breathing became labored.
“I wrote a bunch of stuff but I just don’t know what to say right now,” he said.
“I just love you, Maddie, and I wish you were still here,” he finished.
Mogen’s grandma, Kim Cheeley, recounted her fondest memories of her granddaughters’ childhood
People in the courtroom chuckled softly as Cheeley recounted the nickname Mogen gave her grandmother — “Deedle” — when Mogen was little.
Before she died, Mogen gave her grandmother a necklace with “Deedle and Maddie” engraved on it. She got an angel wing tattoo in her memory after she died.
“The foundation fell out of our world,” when the murders happened, Cheeley said.
Cheeley said they also created a holiday called Maddie May Day on Mogen’s birthday and encouraged the courtroom to do random acts of kindness in her memory.
Mogen family attorney Leander James read a statement for Maddie Mogen’s mother, Karen Laramie
“Any one of us would have given our own life to have been outshone by hers,” Karen Laramie’s brief statement read.
Mogen’s mother also declined to address Kohberger directly, as he remained expressionless, but closed her statement by saying the family might never forgive him or “ask for mercy” for what he did.
“His acts are too heinous,” Karen Laramie’s statement read.
At the end of his testimony, Laramie said he supported the plea agreement
The family of Kaylee Goncalves was initially outspoken in their opposition to the plea deal that took the death penalty off the table.
“Society needs to be protected against this evil,” Laramie said.
But Mogen’s stepfather declined to address Kohberger directly.
“We will not waste the words. Nor will we fall into hatred and bitterness. Evil has many faces, and we now know this, but evil does not deserve our time and attention. We are done being victims. We are taking back our lives,” he said, before thanking the judge.
Maddie Mogen’s stepdad, Scott Laramie, and Karen Laramie were first of victims’ families to testify
Scott Laramie’s voice cracked as he spoke. Kohberger’s eyes locked on the stepfather, occasionally darting to glance at the gallery where people listened intently to the heart wrenching descriptions of Mogen.
Laramie described Mogen as “an easy child to raise.”
“This world was a better place with her in it,” Laramie said. He described how she brightened family events, barbecues and picnics with her bright personality.
“Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie. Maddie was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil,” Laramie said.
Second surviving roommate, Dylan Mortenson, who was in house during the killings, testified next
She tearfully described panic attacks that force her to relive the trauma of that night relentlessly throughout the years that followed the murders.
“I was too terrified to close my eyes, terrified that if I blinked, someone might be there. I made escape plans everywhere I went,” Mortenson said.
Kohberher’s head bobbed slightly as she spoke. Mortenson ended her testimony with an emphasis on her determination to heal.
“He may have shattered parts of me but I’m still putting myself back together piece by piece,” Mortenson said.
Funke’s testimony brought many people in the courtroom to tears
Much of her statement was devoted to remembering her four close friends who died: recounting the nights they spent binge watching reality television, making dinner together, going to parties at their university and the love that they had for each other.
She described one of the victims, Xana Kernodle, as “one in a million. She was the life of the party.”
Funke’s statement said she received backlash online after the killings got national attention
“I was getting flooded with death threats and hateful messages from people who do not know me at all,” Funke’s statement read.
Kohberger’s gaze remained locked on the friend reading Funke’s statement.
Bethany Funke’s statement described her long recovery
“I hated and still hate that they are gone, but for some reason, I am still here and I got to live. I still think about this every day. Why me? Why did I get to live, and not them?” Funke’s statement read.
For a year after the killings, Funke said she slept in her parents’ rooms.
Funke said she still checks her room every night before bed.
“The fear never really leaves,” her statement read.“For a long time, I could barely get out of bed. But one day I realized, I have to live for them,” it read.
Roommate who survived the attack, Bethany Funke, provided a statement a friend read on her behalf
She described the day her four friends died as “the worst day of my life, and I know it always will be.”
Kohberger remained expressionless as the testimony went on.
Kohberger entered the packed courtroom wearing a bright orange prison jumpsuit
His attorneys asked Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler for a five minute break, which the judge granted.
The father of Kaylee Goncalves, Steve Goncalves, walked into the courthouse before the hearing
The Goncalves family has been outspoken about their opposition to the plea deal Kohberger entered earlier this month. Steve Goncalves stormed out of the early July hearing, saying the deal denied his family clarity about his daughters last moments, and calling the process “a zoo.”
It’s not yet known if Kohberger will take the opportunity to speak when he’s sentenced
His team of defense attorneys, led by Anne Taylor, announced last week that they won’t be releasing any statements after the sentencing.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson will take part in a news conference after the sentencing is over, along with Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger, Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne, and Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson.
The news conference is intended to provide some insight into the investigation and key developments in the case, the Moscow Police Department said.
Interest in the case has been high
By 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, more than 50 people were already lined up outside the Ada County Courthouse in hopes of getting a seat in the courtroom.
Security at the courthouse is tight in preparation for Kohberger’s sentencing hearing on four counts of first-degree murder.
Some onlookers arrived as early as 10 p.m. Tuesday night, but they were shooed off by courthouse officials who cited a Boise city ordinance prohibiting overnight camping.
Shortly after the sun rose, an Idaho State Police officer ran a K9 trained in smelling explosives through the plaza in front of the courthouse, carefully checking the camera equipment brought by news outlets and the more than 60 people lined up outside the courthouse.
A Q-tip and spotless car were key evidence linking Bryan Kohberger to murders of 4 Idaho students
The lead prosecutor tasked with finding justice for the four victims laid out his key evidence earlier this month at a court hearing.
The evidentiary summary spun a dramatic tale that included a DNA-laden Q-tip plucked from the garbage in the dead of the night, a getaway car stripped so clean of evidence that it was “essentially disassembled inside” and a fateful early-morning Door Dash order that may have put one of the victims in Kohberger’s path.
These details offered new insights into how the crime unfolded and how investigators ultimately solved the case using surveillance footage, cell phone tracking and DNA matching.
Once investigators had honed in on Kohberger, they needed to prove he was their suspect.
With the DNA of a single mystery male on the knife sheath, they worked with the FBI and the local sanitation department to secretly retrieve garbage from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger’s parents, seeking a DNA match to their suspect.
With that, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where he had gone for the holidays, and ultimately was extradited to Idaho for prosecution.
▶ Read more about the evidence in the case
The Ada County Courthouse has opened in preparation for Kohberger’s sentencing hearing
A court administrator handed out numbered tickets to the dozens of people lined up outside.
A security screening at the courthouse entrance included metal detectors and bag screening machines. A second bag check was performed on the fourth floor, just outside the courtroom. Then attendees were ushered into a large room normally used for prospective jurors and directed to sit in numbered seats that matched their tickets.
Once the courtroom opens, the attendees with the lowest numbers will be allowed to sit inside, while the remaining people will have to watch the proceedings via a projection screen in the holding room.
More than a hundred people were in the holding room roughly an hour before the hearing was set to begin.
Foundations honor Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan
Friends and family members have sought to commemorate the victims’ lives by raising money for scholarships and other initiatives.
Ethan’s Smile Foundation, started by Chapin’s family, honors his “love of life, people, and new adventures by providing scholarships that enable others to follow their dreams,” its website says.
The Made With Kindness Foundation honors the legacy of Mogen, Goncalves, and Kernodle through scholarships, wellness support and empowerment initiatives. “Our mission is to inspire and uplift the next generation, turning their dreams into realities in a world that values compassion and community,” its website says.
The University of Idaho built the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial in memory of all students who passed away while enrolled at the school.
Kohberger’s motive and many other details are unknown
If they know why Kohberger did it, investigators haven’t said so publicly. Nor is it clear why he spared two roommates who were home at the time.
Cellphone location data did show Kohberger had been in the neighborhood multiple times before the attack.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson has said that Kohberger used his knowledge about forensic investigations to attempt to cover his tracks by deep cleaning his vehicle after the crime.
Police say Kohberger’s Amazon purchase history shows he bought a military-style knife as well as the knife sheath found at the home. But the knife itself was never found.
Kohberger will have the opportunity to speak at Wednesday’s hearing. Defendants sometimes use such chances to express remorse, ask for mercy, or to say whatever else they think the court should hear before sentencing.
But Kohberger also has the right to remain silent — despite a suggestion from President Donald Trump that the judge should force Kohberger to explain himself.
A judge lifted the gag order last week
An Idaho judge lifted a sweeping gag order Thursday in Bryan Kohberger’s quadruple murder case.
A coalition of news organizations, including The Associated Press, had asked the court to lift the gag order since a trial is no longer planned.
“The primary purpose of the non-dissemination order, which is to ensure that we can seat an impartial jury, is no longer at play,” Hippler said. He said he couldn’t justify continuing the gag order because the public has the right to receive information about the case, and those rights are “paramount.”
Kohberger’s defense team argued against lifting the gag order, saying it could lead to more media coverage and jeopardize the integrity of the sentencing process.
“The media frenzy, as it’s been described, will continue regardless,” Hippler said. “Lifting the non-dissemination order does not require the counsel or others previously bound by it to speak.”
A different judge in Moscow, Idaho, originally issued the gag order early in the case, saying additional publicity could harm Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.
▶ Read more about the gag order
Families of the Idaho students Bryan Kohberger stabbed to death are set to see him sentenced
A judge is expected to order Bryan Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole this week for the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years ago.
Wednesday’s sentencing hearing will give the families of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves the opportunity to describe the anguish they’ve felt since their loved ones were killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania about six weeks after the killings. He initially stood silent when asked to enter a plea, so a judge entered a “not guilty” plea on his behalf.
As the criminal case unfolded, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson announced that he would seek the death penalty if Kohberger was convicted. The court-defense team challenged the validity of the DNA evidence, unsuccessfully pushed to get theories about possible “alternate perpetrators” admitted in court, and repeatedly asked the judge to take the death penalty off of the table.
But those efforts largely failed, and the evidence against Kohberger was strong. With an August trial looming, Kohberger reached a plea deal.
▶ Read more about the case
