In December 2022, a dramatic scene unfolded in a small Pennsylvania town when a SWAT team from the Pennsylvania State Police descended upon the Kohberger residence in the Poconos. The raid led to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger, accused of the brutal stabbing of four University of Idaho students in Moscow, Idaho, as they lay in their beds, with three of them still asleep.
His mother, Maryann Kohberger, found herself in disbelief, describing her son as an “angel” to investigators. Her words, captured in a partial transcript from her interview, feature prominently in Christopher Whitcomb’s newly released book, “Broken Plea.”
Maryann spoke voluntarily with three FBI agents at the Pennsylvania State Police Fern Ridge Barracks in Blakeslee, a mere eight miles from her home in Albrightsville. The Kohberger parents were taken to the barracks while authorities executed a search warrant at their residence.
In the wake of the arrest, Maryann Kohberger remained steadfast in her defense of her son. “My son would not do this,” she stated emphatically to FBI Special Agent Matthew Phillips. “I will stake my life on that. There’s a mistake, something is wrong somewhere. And that’s what I believe. And that’s what I know in my heart.”
Fast forward to July 23, 2025, and the scene shifts to the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, where Maryann Kohberger and her daughter Amanda were seen leaving after Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing for the 2022 murders. The image of her leaving the courthouse was captured by Derek Shook for Fox News Digital, marking a somber chapter in a case that shook two states.
“My son would not do this,” Maryann Kohberger insisted, in response to a question from FBI Special Agent Matthew Phillips. “I will stake my life on that. There’s a mistake, something is wrong somewhere. And that’s what I believe. And that’s what I know in my heart.”
Special Agent Jessica Mahoney was also involved in the interview.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025, for his sentencing hearing for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (Kyle Green/AP Photo)
“You say that he’s uh, an angel. He’s kind. He’s your baby,” she told Maryann Kohberger. “Does he have any anger issues ever?”
The book does not directly quote her response, but Whitcomb wrote that she denied her son had anger issues or had shown confrontational behavior. This appears to contradict allegations against him from fellow students at Washington State University, where he was a Ph.D. student in criminology who also worked as a teacher’s aide.
Mahoney asked if Kohberger had a girlfriend or boyfriends. His mother said he wasn’t dating anyone at the time, and had only had “a couple” of prior girlfriends.
University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates pose in the final photo shared by Goncalves on Instagram before four students were fatally stabbed in November 2022. (Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram)
She admitted her son had few friends and said she was thankful that he’d overcome a past heroin addiction. However, she claimed he was “making friends” at WSU. She could only name one — described in the book only as an international student and one of his classmates in the criminology program.
She also told the agents Kohberger’s semester in Pullman, Washington, was the first time he’d lived alone. He had few hobbies, stayed up late and was organized when it came to work but not always tidying up his room, she told them.
“What’s going through my mind right now is that this is a really, really bad mistake, what’s going on, like what’s happening here,” she told the agents.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025, for his sentencing hearing for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (Kyle Green/AP)
Phillips later warned her, “there is a lot of evidence” — enough probable cause to authorize the warrant served on her home that landed her son in handcuffs.
“This is a nightmare,” she said at another point.
Years later, she would sit in the front row as her son confessed to the murders of four innocent college students — Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Maryann Kohberger exits Monroe County Court House in Stroudsburg, Pa., on Jan. 3, 2023, after her son Bryan Kohberger’s extradition hearing. He was charged with the murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
There is no known motive in the case after he took a plea deal to avoid the risk of the potential death penalty at trial.
He is serving four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, one for each of the murders, plus another 10 years for breaking into the home.
Pennsylvania authorities previously declined to divulge the full interview transcript and other records requested by Fox News Digital surrounding Kohberger’s arrest, citing an exemption under state law.
Attempts to reach Kohberger’s parents were unsuccessful.
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