Bryan Kohberger was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2022 killings of four University of Idaho students.
The murder victims — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. Prosecutors laid out key DNA evidence, surveillance footage and cellphone records that linked Kohberger to the killings.
Kohberger, 30, was expected to go through a lengthy and highly publicized trial in August. But in a surprise turn, he pleaded guilty on July 2 as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years for a charge of burglary, in addition to fines totaling $270,000.
“This unfathomable and senseless act of evil has caused immeasurable pain and loss,” Hippler said. “Parents who took their children to college in a truck filled with moving boxes had to bring them home in hearses lined with coffins.”
Before his sentence was handed down, friends and family members of the victims were given the opportunity to address Kohberger directly, delivering more than two hours of impact statements that were emotional and often marked by anger.
“I will call you what you are. Sociopath. Psychopath. Murderer,” Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s sister, told Kohberger, who sat expressionless at the defense table. “You didn’t win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are. You’re a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser.”
“You’re gonna go to hell,” Xana Kernodle’s stepfather Randy Davis told Kohberger in court. “You’re evil. You are going to suffer.”
Kohberger declined to speak at the hearing.
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