Live updates: Bryan Kohberger sentenced for Idaho college student murders
The student homicides case that brought the college town of Moscow, Idaho, into the national spotlight has come to a close.
Bryan Kohberger early this month pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, and admitted to fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students. Police found seniors Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21; junior Xana Kernodle, 20; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, dead in an off-campus Moscow home the morning of Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger will be sentenced for those crimes in a hearing that begins today.
As part of the plea deal, the 30-year-old former graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, across the Idaho state line, avoided a jury trial and no longer faces the death penalty as a possible sentencing option. The plea agreement outlines that the defense asked for the maximum punishment of four consecutive life sentences for the murders and 10 additional years for burglary.
The plea deal isn’t binding. Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler, who presides in Ada County, could choose not to abide by the bargain, but his only other option would be to offer a lesser sentence. At a minimum, he has to sentence him to at least 10 years behind bars.
Victims’ families and those harmed by the burglary — such as the two surviving roommates — all have the option to speak and provide victim impact statements. Kohberger could also choose to make a statement, though that’s unlikely, 4th Judicial District Trial Court Administrator Sandra Barrios told the Ada County Commission last week.
Follow along here as Idaho Statesman reporters bring you the latest updates on the sentencing hearing, which begins 9 a.m.
12:15 p.m. — Law enforcement, attorneys answer questions
Detectives who worked on the case and Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson held a news conference following the hearing, where they thanked collaborating agencies and answered questions from reporters.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador also spoke briefly. He applauded the prosecution and plea deal and offered condolences to the families of the victims.
“Idaho grieves with you,” Labrador said. “Idaho stands with you, and your children’s names will not be forgotten.”
Cpl. Brett Payne, of the Moscow Police Department, told reporters it will take time to prepare the “immense amount of information” in the investigation to be released to the public. Payne said some information may be available as early as Wednesday afternoon.
Payne and co-lead investigator Lt. Darren Gilbertson, of the Idaho State Police, said they were still unable to offer answers about a possible motive, including how or why Kohberger chose the King Road house where the murders occurred, or why he carried out the killings.
The detectives did, however, dispel some rumors that persisted throughout the case. They said Kohberger had no connection to an anonymous Facebook account under the name “Pappa Rodger” that shared information about the case early on and later went dark. Some speculated that Kohberger was behind the account and used it to participate in conversations about the crimes.
The detectives also noted that Kohberger did not follow any of the victims on social media, despite erroneous reports in a magazine that he had not only followed Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle, but also repeatedly messaged one of them.
“Trust us, we wanted that to be the case,” Payne told reporters. “We’ve looked for a link, and we have not found one, not one.”
Gilbertson added that detectives “have never, to this day, found a single connection between him and any of the four victims or the two surviving roommates.”
11:30 a.m. — Kohberger given 4 consecutive life sentences
Kohberger told Hippler he “respectfully declined” to give a statement, prompting comments of “coward” and “surprise, surprise” from people sitting in the courtroom.
Hippler then took about 15 minutes to conclude the two-and-a-half year case as he addressed counsel, the surviving victims, families and Kohberger before handing down his sentence.
“During the quiet morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, a faceless coward reached the tranquility of six beautiful young people and senselessly slaughtered four of them,” Hippler said. “Who committed this unspeakable evil was unknown for several weeks, but due to the killer’s incompetence and outstanding police work by numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, the person that slithered through that sliding glass door at 1122 King Road now stands before the world and this court unmasked.”
The judge expressed his awe and gratitude to the surviving roommates and the victims’ families for sharing their stories. He said their pain, particularly in front of the media spotlight on the case, is unknowable.
Hippler said that, like many others, he wished to know why Kohberger killed the four students.
“But upon reflection, it seems to me — and this is just my own opinion — that by continuing to focus on why, we continue to give Mr. Kohberger relevance,” Hippler said. “We give him agency and we give him power.
“Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?” Hippler added.
The judge then said that, unlike some other Idaho judges who try to find a positive attribute in every person they sentence, he was unable to find a sliver of good in Kohberger.
“Truth be told, I’m unable to come up with anything redeeming about Mr. Kohberger, because his grotesque acts of evil have buried and hidden anything that might have been good or intrinsically human about him,” Hippler said, calling the 30-year-old “the worst of the worst.”
Hippler noted that Kohberger has not appeared to hint at remorse or regret for the killings.
“Therefore, I will not attempt to speak about him further, other than to simply sentence him so that he is forever removed from civilized society,” Hippler said.
He sentenced Kohberger to a fixed life sentence without the possibility of parole for each of the four murders, set to run back-to-back, plus 10 years fixed for felony burglary. Hippler also ordered Kohberger to pay $270,000 total in fines — a $50,000 fine for each of the five counts a $5,000 civil penalty to be paid to each of the families of the murdered students.
11:15 a.m. — Prosecutor details plea deal
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson took time to explain how the prosecution arrived at its plea deal before proposing the state’s requested sentences.
He said his team was prepared to go to trial before Kohberger’s defense asked for a deal, and noted that not all of the victims’ families agreed with the outcome.
“I recognize and acknowledge, personally, and I respect the fact that of these fine suffering people here, not everybody agreed with the decision we make,” Thompson said. “I accept that it’s my responsibility.”
Thompson asked for a fixed life sentence for each of the four victims and displayed a photo of each. As he spoke, surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen could be heard sobbing from the gallery.
“We can’t undo, and we can never undo, the horror of what occurred on the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, at 1122 King Street in Moscow, Idaho,” Thompson said.
He noted that Kohberger’s life sentence would be a sentence to die in prison.
“He’s going to stand up in the belly chains and leg irons that he’s wearing today, and he’s going to be escorted into the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction, and the door will close behind him forever,” Thompson said. ”That is the closure that we see that all of these people, these loving friends and family, deserve so we can move forward.”
10:45 a.m. — Xana Kernodle’s family speaks
Xana Kernodle’s older sister, Jazzmin, remembered her sister as someone whose story will live on through the love she gave.
“Xana won’t get the future she deserves,” she said. “She won’t be the maid of honor at my wedding, the cool aunt to my future children.”
Through tears, Jazzmin Kernodle told Kohberger that she believes his punishment won’t end with the criminal justice system.
“I believe in a God whose justice is not bound by this courtroom, and I find peace knowing that judgment ultimately belongs to him,” she said. “For your sake, I hope one day you feel the full weight of what you did. I hope you take accountability.”
Jeff Kernodle, Xana’s father, spoke next. He said there are still countless ways he feels his daughter communicates with him, and he knows she wants his life and memories to go on.
He said he nearly visited the King Road home the evening before the killings, as his daughter wasn’t feeling well.
“I would’ve sat right there on that couch, and you would’ve had to deal with me,” he told Kohberger. “So they would have had a chance.”
Kim Kernodle, Xana’s aunt, spoke about losing her niece, echoing that she was the “fun, loving, high-spirited” woman portrayed by her friends. She said she wants to let go of her hate and addressed Kohberger, and encouraged him to reach out to her if he wants to talk about his actions.
“I no longer could live with that hate in my heart, and for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you,” she told him as her voice shook. “Any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, I’m here. I’ll be that one that’ll listen to you, OK?”
Xana’s uncle, Stratton Kernodle, expressed sadness for Kohberger’s family and the impact his actions have had on them. Her stepfather, Randy Davis, emphatically told Kohberger to “go to hell.”
Xana’s mother, Cara Northington, closed out the victim impact statements as she read tearfully from her phone.
“This letter is to you, really, but it’s for my daughter, who was murdered by you,” she told Kohberger. “Jesus has allowed me to forgive you for murdering my daughter without you even being sorry or asking for this.”
10 a.m. — Kaylee Goncalves’ family speaks
Members of the Goncalves family spoke directly to Kohberger as they made their victim impact statements, much of which included personal jabs that poked fun at his graduate school education, his eyebrows and mannerisms, and his ability to pull off the crimes.
Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, spoke angrily and called Kohberger “a joke.”
“Today we are here to finish what you started. Today, you lost control,” Steve Goncalves said. “Today we are here to prove to the world that you picked the wrong families. You tried to break our community apart, you tried to plant fear, you tried to divide us. You failed.”
Kaylee’s father alluded to Kohberger’s DNA — found on a knife sheath next to Mogen’s body — being discovered by police “within minutes.”
“You were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,” he said.
Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s older sister, spoke for 10 minutes, during which she mocked Kohberger and asked him direct questions, including about Kaylee’s last words.
“You aren’t special or deep, not mysterious or exceptional,” she said. “Don’t ever get it twisted again.”
Kohberger sat expressionless during her statement.
Kristi Goncalves, Kaylee’s mother, offered her own brief statement that largely matched the tone of her husband and daughter’s.
“I no longer recognize parts of myself. Joy is harder to find. Laughter feels foreign,” she said. “The grief sits with me every day, some days quietly, and other days it drowns out everything else.”
Speaking directly to Kohberger, Kristi Goncalves said she “never imagined having to speak to someone so devoid of humanity” and noted her disappointment that Kohberger would not face the firing squad after agreeing to the plea deal, which took the death penalty off of the table in the case.
Kristi Goncalves told Kohberger she expected he would be treated poorly by other prisoners while he’s incarcerated and alluded multiple times to possible sexual assault.
“May you continue to live your life in misery,” she said. “You are officially the property of the state of Idaho, where your fellow inmates are anxiously awaiting your arrival.”
9:30 a.m. — Madison Mogen’s family speaks
Madison Mogen’s stepfather and mother, Scott and Karen Laramie, spoke about the loss of their daughter.
“Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie,” Scott Laramie said as his wife stood beside him. “She was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil.”
Maddie was Kim Cheeley’s first grandchild, Cheeley told the court as she provided a victim impact statement for Ben Mogen, Maddie’s father. She said she keeps stacks of books on grief and spoke about the family’s anxiety about the media attention. The first six weeks after her death were “excruciating” for her.
“After the arrest in the past two and a half years, my family has lived with grief, with the effects of traumatic grief I was blissfully unaware of before all this,” Cheeley said. “No one should live through the violent murder of one’s child. … We’ve all lost a dear child and a future with her.”
Ben Mogen, Maddie’s father, spoke quietly through tears about the love he and his daughter shared for music and concerts. Ben Mogen said he envisioned much more time together with his daughter, who had completed the credits to earn her degree from the University of Idaho.
As Ben Mogen spoke, deputy attorneys general Madison Allen and Jeff Nye wiped away tears.
“I love you, Maddie, and I wish you were still here,” he concluded.
9:10 a.m. — Roommates speak for first time
Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle’s surviving roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, spoke out about the trauma of surviving the home invasion for the first time in court. The victim impact statements were related to the felony burglary charge, which prosecutors noted was the first on the docket of charges.
Funke’s statement was read by friend Emily Alandt, who cried as she read Funke’s words. Funke’s statement detailed her grief over losing her friends and the ongoing fear and trauma from the killings. Funke also described her relationship with each of the victims and shared memories of their time together.
Mortensen, who glimpsed Kohberger during his time in the house, also cried as she read her statement. With her voice shaking, she said she spoke to seek justice for her friends. Mortensen was 19 when Kohberger broke into their home and killed her friends. She said she should have been learning who she was, and instead was forced to learn how to survive “the unimaginable.”
“What he did shattered me in places I did not know could break,” Mortensen said.
As she spoke, Kohberger’s mother and sister teared up.
9 a.m. — Kohberger appears
The sentencing hearing, scheduled to start at 9 a.m., began a few minutes late.
Kohberger appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit.
8:45 a.m. — Goncalves family arrives
Half an hour before the hearing was set to begin, the Goncalves family arrived through the front door of the Ada County Courthouse. The family members, who have been outspoken about their anger over the plea agreement, declined to talk to media ahead of the hearing but said they planned to speak after the sentencing.
Trial court administrator Sandra Barrios told reporters court officials don’t anticipate the sentencing will last into Thursday.
7:35 a.m. — Ada County Courthouse opens
Reporters and other people lined up outside of the Ada County Courthouse Wednesday morning began entering the building around 7:30 a.m. after they were searched by an Idaho State Police explosives detection dog. Everyone who was admitted to the courtroom went through the court’s regular security screening, as well as an additional screening on the fourth floor of the courthouse where the hearing will take place.
Several media tents were set up on the plaza in front of the courthouse as news anchors and camera operators began filming at the scene.
The Kernodle family arrived and quickly entered the courthouse through a back entrance. Police nearby warned media that anyone caught loitering near the back entrance would be arrested.
5 a.m. — Crowd arrives for sentencing
Hours before the Ada County Courthouse even opened, dozens of spectators and reporters lined up with camping chairs and jackets across Front Street to secure a seat inside the county’s largest courtroom.
People began lining up around 10 p.m. — nearly 12 hours before Wednesday’s sentencing — but were quickly asked to disperse by court security, who informed them they weren’t allowed to line up before 4 a.m. Deputies posted a sign on the windows of the courthouse entrance prohibiting the crowd outside county property until 4 a.m.
That didn’t stop them from forming a line across the street on the city’s property. By nearly 5 a.m., well over 50 people were lined up waiting to be let into the courthouse at 7:30 a.m.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Live updates: Bryan Kohberger sentenced for Idaho college student murders."
