BOISE, Idaho — Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen at a home in Moscow, Idaho, nearly three years ago.
Kohberger accepted a plea deal by the prosecution to avoid the death penalty, which he would have faced had a trial proceeded in August. At the hearing, Kohberger admitted to stabbing and killing all four victims in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, and to pre-planning the crime.
"Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?" Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler asked.
"Yes," Kohberger said.
Hippler went through a series of questions to ensure that Kohberger was both guilty of the crime and agreed to the plea deal of his own volition. Hippler ultimately accepted Kohberger's plea and scheduled sentencing for July 23.
State presents evidence against Kohberger
At the hearing, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson presented the state's evidence against Kohberger, giving a summary of what his team would have presented at trial.
Kohberger moved to Pullman, Wash., just across the border from Moscow, Idaho, in June of 2022, planning to pursue his Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University.
Three of the victims lived at a home at 1122 King Road in Moscow. Kohberger's phone began connecting to a cell tower in that neighborhood as early as July 9, and connected to it 13 more times between then and Nov. 7, one week before the murders.
In the early morning hours of Nov. 13, Bryan Kohberger's cellphone left his apartment in Pullman before it was turned off at around 2:54 a.m. Surveillance footage shows a car matching that of Bryan Kohberger's circling the neighborhood around 1122 King Road for more than half an hour before the murders are believed to have taken place.
Thompson believes that Kohberger parked his car at around 4:05 a.m. and then entered the back of the home through an unlocked sliding glass door.
He went up to the third floor and stabbed Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves to death, before encountering Xana Kernodle on the second floor, who had picked up a DoorDash order from her doorstep around that same time. Kohberger stabbed and killed Kernodle before stabbing and killing her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who was sleeping over that night.
A knife sheath for a KA-BAR knife was left on the bed next to Mogen's body. Forensics later determined it contained a single source trace of male DNA.
A roommate who was asleep in the home woke up to see a man dressed in all black and wearing a black balaclava walking down the hallway of the King Road home. Kohberger is believed to have left at around 4:20 a.m., when his car was seen on surveillance video speeding out of the neighborhood, nearly losing control on a turn while heading south out of town. Thompson said Kohberger appeared to be avoiding the main roads where his vehicle may have been picked up on more surveillance cameras, instead opting to use the backroads where he wouldn't be seen.
Kohberger arrived back at his apartment at around 5:30 a.m. that morning, only for cellphone data to show that he returned to the area near scene of the crime at around 9 a.m. Prosecutors say Kohberger returned to his apartment and took a selfie with a thumbs-up at 9:30 a.m.
Thompson said that same day, Kohberger began to look on Amazon for another KA-BAR knife and sheath, possibly to replace the one he lost during the murders.
Kohberger proceeded to finish out his semester at WSU, then returned to his parents' home in Pennsylvania for the holidays. Police found a sample of DNA in his parents' trash that analysis showed belonged to the father of the person who matched the DNA on the KA-BAR knife sheath left at the scene of the crime.
Thompson said even two and a half years later, the murder weapon still has not been recovered. He noted that after the crime, Kohberger visited a major river 30 miles south of Moscow. When investigators seized Kohberger's car to look for evidence, it had been cleaned "meticulously," which he took as Kohberger's effort to cover up his crime.
Investigators still have not been able to show that Kohberger had any direct connection with the house on King Road, or with any of the victims before the night of the murders.
Thompson said the prosecution would not represent that Kohberger intended to kill all four of the victims when he arrived at the house that night, "but we know that's ultimately what resulted."
Motive still unclear
Though Kohberger verbally admitted to all four murders at the hearing on Wednesday, he gave no indication of what his motive was in committing the crime.
In some cases, a prosecutor can compel a defendant to admit their motive as a requirement of a plea deal; however, it appears that's not what occurred in this case. Retired King County Superior Court and former Prosecutor Judge Timothy Bradshaw said he believed the prosecuting attorney had the authority to require that.
"We have the who, but we don't have the why, and I bet you that's the main thing that the families want to know," said Bradshaw, who is currently working in private practice at Seattle-based law firm Corr Cronin.
A gag order, requiring all parties to keep quiet about the facts of the case, will remain in place until after Kohberger's sentencing hearing, meaning any information that the prosecution currently has that could suggest a motive will remain hidden for a while longer.
The victims’ family mixed on plea deal
The family of Chapin — one of three triplets who attended the university together — supports the deal, their spokesperson, Christina Teves, said Tuesday. Attorney Leander James, who represents Mogen's mother and stepfather, declined to give their views but said he would deliver a statement on their behalf after Wednesday's hearing. Mogen's father, Ben Mogen, told CBS News he was relieved by the agreement.
“We can actually put this behind us and not have these future dates and future things that we don’t want to have to be at, that we shouldn’t have to be at, that have to do with this terrible person,” he said. “We get to just think about the rest of our lives and have to try and figure out how to do it without Maddie and the rest of the kids.”
But it enraged the Goncalves family, who posted statements on Facebook criticizing the deal and urging any supporters who “feel called or moved to try to make a difference” to contact the Ada County Courthouse.
“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” the Goncalves family wrote Monday. “They have failed us."
In another post Tuesday, they added: “We stand strong that it is not over until a plea is accepted. We will not stop fighting for the life that was stolen unjustly. ... At a bare minimum, please - require a full confession, full accountability, location of the murder weapon, confirmation the defendant acted alone, & the true facts of what happened that night. We deserve to know when the beginning of the end was.”
The family spoke with the prosecution on Friday about the idea of a plea deal and said they were firmly against it. By Sunday, they received an email that “sent us scrambling,” and met with the prosecution again on Monday to explain their views about pushing for the death penalty.
“Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world,” Kaylee Goncalves' 18-year-old sister, Aubrie, wrote. “Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever. That reality stings more deeply when it feels like the system is protecting his future more than honoring the victims’ pasts.”
Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.