Bryan Kohberger, the individual accused of the fatal stabbing of four college students in Idaho, seems poised to agree to a plea deal regarding the murders, according to one victim’s family and their attorney on Monday.
The family learned of the apparent deal in a letter from prosecutors, the Idaho Statesman and ABC News reported, citing 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,” stated the letter, signed by Moscow Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, as reported by the Statesman.
Kohberger, 30, faced charges of four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in the 2022 deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves at an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho.
“Appears there is a plea deal that has been offered and accepted,” said Shanon Gray, an attorney for the Goncalves family.
ditional details were not immediately available.
“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” the Goncalves family said in a Facebook post about the apparent agreement. “They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.”
Kohberger’s trial was scheduled to begin Aug. 11 in Boise.
Attorneys for Kohberger, a doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, have said he was out driving alone when the students were killed.
They attended the University of Idaho, just across the state line from Pullman.
The bodies of Chapin, 20; Kernodle, 20; Mogen, 21; and Goncalves, 21; were found Nov. 13, 2022. Authorities linked Kohberger to the killing through cell phone data, security camera video and DNA from on a knife sheath discovered at the crime scene.
Kohberger was arrested Dec. 30 at his parents’ Pennsylvania home.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
