() Quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger lived a solitary life at the Latah County, Idaho, jail, recalls Sheriff Richard Skiles, who says he did not pay much attention to the high-profile detainee as Kohberger awaited trial.
“He was in my jail, I believe, for two years, and I never went down once to take a look,” Skiles told on Thursday. “I rarely asked my jailers, my deputies, anything about him. I figured if he did something or said something, I’d hear about it that way. He was just another criminal in my jail.”
Still, all eyes were on that jail after Kohberger, a Washington State University criminology grad student, was arrested in late December 2022 for the murders of four University of Idaho students at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, the month before. Kohberger’s trial eventually was moved to Boise, the state capital, because of pretrial publicity.
If Kohberger was looking for attention, he didn’t get it during his 20-month stay in Latah County, Skiles said. He said Kohberger was kept in virtual isolation, except for maybe an occasional trip to the jail library.
“For him to be able to have a chance to talk to anybody would have been almost impossible,” the sheriff said.
Kohberger early this month pleaded guilty to killing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin under a plea deal that spared him the death penalty. On Wednesday, he was formally sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole.
The judge overseeing the case recently lifted a gag order, and Skiles, whose county in northern Idaho has about 40,000 people, is among a host of professionals who are sharing their perspectives and opinions.
Skiles said he feels justice was served with Kohberger’s plea deal because it brings a measure of closure following the horrible crime.
