At the July 2 hearing, Kohberger confessed to the early morning murders of the four students at their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. He offered no motive.
BOISE, Idaho – Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology Ph.D. student who admitted to brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is being sentenced today after pleading guilty earlier this month.
Kohberger, 30, waived his right to trial and appeal in a deal that spares him the death penalty but secures four consecutive life sentences without parole, plus 10 additional years.
At the July 2 hearing, Kohberger confessed to the early morning murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin at their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. He offered no motive.
Families of the victims are expected to deliver impact statements throughout the day. The plea deal does not require Kohberger to speak at sentencing, but victims’ relatives, including Goncalves’ father, have expressed hope that he will explain his actions.
Kohberger was tied to the crime scene by DNA on a Ka-Bar knife sheath left under Mogen’s body. The surviving roommate described seeing a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” flee the house after the attack.
While some families support the plea to avoid the trauma of a trial, others feel justice remains incomplete without answers.
Sentencing proceedings began at 9 a.m. MT (11 a.m. ET).