BRYAN Kohberger is prepared to enter a guilty plea for the murders of four University of Idaho students on Wednesday, effectively resolving the years-long mystery surrounding the gruesome deaths.
As the 30-year-old former graduate student reached an agreement with prosecutors, thereby possibly avoiding the death penalty, the victims’ families expressed a desire for justice.
A hearing to finalize the reported decision is set to begin at 1 pm ET, according to a notice posted on the court docket.
This unexpected decision will finally reveal the identity of the person responsible for killing Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13, 2022.
The young students were inside a home in Moscow at 4 am when a masked intruder barged in and brutally stabbed them to death with a military grade knife.
Just six weeks after the attack, Kohberger was arrested at his family’s home in Pennsylvania after cops say they uncovered DNA evidence, cellphone records, and other clues tying him to the scene.
However, the suspect maintained his innocence throughout the months of court proceedings, and his lawyers prepared to present alternate theories on what happened on the bloody day.
In the middle of jury selection, the accused murderer submitted his plan to admit to the crimes, dodging what was expected to be a lengthy, high-profile trial.
Outraged family members of the victims have blasted the move, as they hoped Kohberger would be forced to explain himself in front of a jury.
Legal experts now speculate that he could keep his motives under wraps as part of the deal..
Aubrie Goncalves, Kaylee’s 18-year-old sister, blasted the last-minute move as “shocking and cruel” and said her family is “beyond furious” at how the deal was handled.
Under Idaho law, prosecutors must consult with the family of victims before they can come to an agreement with a defendant. However, the Goncalves family claims they were just sent an email with the details.
“What the families of Ethan, Kaylee, Maddie, and Xana have endured over the past 2 year and a half is beyond comprehension,” Aubrie wrote in a statement on Monday.
She said the “system has failed” the victims and their families as they held onto hope Kohberger would face justice in his trial scheduled to start in August.
“The introduction of this plea deal, just weeks before the scheduled trial, is both shocking and cruel,” Aubrie wrote.
The heartbroken said that she is “not asking for vengeance” but wanted “accountability” and “dignity for our loved ones.”
“And we are asking—pleading—for a justice system that truly lives up to its name,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ben Mogen, Madison’s dad, said that he was relieved to hear of the deal and hopes that other families can put the tragedy behind them.
“If you get that quick death sentence, you don’t have to spend decades thinking about how terrible you made the world,” he told CBS News.
“We get to just think about the rest of lives and have to try and figure out how to do it without Maddie and the rest of the kids.”
HAUNTING CRIME
Kohberger was working towards a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University when he attacked the young students.
According to his phone records, which NBC’s Dateline obtained, he obsessively looked up female students on Instagram, including sorority girls who were friends with some of the victims.
Former classmates say that Kohberger struggled in school and was even disciplined for how he treated people in his cohort.
The suspect’s family hasn’t broken their silence since the arrest.
In a response to the trial chaos, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson penned a letter sharing his hopes that the families could now be at peace.
“We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,” he said in the note seen by the Idaho Statesman.
“This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family.
“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 other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals”
University of Idaho murders timeline
On November 13, 2022, a brutal home invasion claimed the lives of four University of Idaho students.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in their Moscow, Idaho, off-campus home.
A six-week manhunt ensued as cops searched for a suspect.
On December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger, 30, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania – 2,500 miles away from the crime scene.
He was taken into custody and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, has been linked to the crime scene through phone records, his car’s location, and DNA evidence found at the home where the murders took place.
The house was demolished in December 2023 despite backlash from the victims’ families.
Kohberger is being held at Latah County Jail while he awaits trial.
On September 9, 2024, an Idaho judge ruled to move the upcoming murder trial out of Moscow after Kohberger’s lawyer argued that the town was prejudiced against him.
The state Supreme Court will decide the new venue and judge for the trial, which is expected to start in August 2025.
