Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty, Confessing to Murders of 4 University of Idaho Students to Avoid Possible Execution

Bryan Kohberger appeared in an Idaho courtroom on Wednesday to enter a guilty plea in the murders of four college students.

The 30-year-old former criminology student did so after taking a last second deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty in exchange for pleading guilty to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

The four University of Idaho students were brutally stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022 for reasons that are still unknown — and with this plea deal may forever remain a mystery.

Kohbeger stood in front of the court and told the judge he was entering a guilty plea because he was guilty before confessing to the murder of each of the four victims.

In addition to the four murder counts, Kohberger also pleaded guilty to a burglary charge.

This comes after he previously declined to enter a plea during his arraignment in 2023, at which time a judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The deal outlined by prosecutors states that Kohberger will serve four consecutive life sentences for the murder charges and an additional 10 years for the burglary charge.

He will be unable to appeal the case, but the deal does not say whether or not he might ever be eligible for parole.

Had Kohberger not entered a guilty plea on Wednesday the case would have proceeded to trial on August 18 as scheduled and the death penalty would once again be an option, if the jury convicted the defendant on any of the four murder charges.

Kohberger’s lawyer Anne Taylor approached prosecutors about a possible plea deal last week.

Prior to that, she had unsuccessfully petitioned the court to drop the death penalty punishment on multiple occasions.

Among the reasons given to preclude the death penalty in motions filed just over the course of the past year were Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder, disclosure violations by prosecutors and the argument that “constitutional guarantee to a speedy trial prevents effective assistance of counsel in death penalty cases.”

Judge Hippler ultimately denied all three motions.

On Monday, the families of the four victims were informed that a deal had been reached in a letter from the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office.

The decision came as a surprise to the families of the victims, who were split in their reaction to the news.

Ben Mogen and Stacy and Jim Chapin have all publicly stated that they approve of the plea deal, with the Mogen family releasing a statement that said in part: “The plea deal the prosecution has proposed is one that punishes the perpetrator of this horrific crime, protects the public from further harm and allows all of us who knew and loved these four young people the time to grieve without the anxiety of the long and gruesome trial, years of appeals and potential mistrials along the way.”

The Goncalves family and Jeff Kernodle have both said that they wanted the case to go to trial. Steve Goncalves, the father of one of the victims, wrote a post denouncing Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and calling on Judge Hippler to block the deal.

“This is our last shot: Judge Hippler, you are our only hope that our child murder isn’t granted control over his destiny in our children’s names. You take control of this deal and make it right because now you OWN IT!” the bereaved father wrote.

Kohberger’s family declined to comment on their son’s plea, and instead released a statement through their lawyer which read: “In light of recent developments, the Kohbergers are asking members of the media for privacy, respect, and responsible judgement during this time. We will continue to allow the legal process to unfold with respect to all parties, and will not release any comments or take any questions.”