 "Idaho killer sent to prison for life: What we still don't know about the murder of 4 college students")
The killings of four college students in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022 sent shockwaves through the quiet university town, resulting in national attention and a months-long criminal investigation that ended with the arrest of a criminology PhD student — Bryan Kohberger.
Nearly three years later, the legal proceedings concluded on Wednesday (July 23, 2025), when Kohberger formally pleaded guilty in an Idaho courtroom, accepting a sentence of four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
The case, which gripped the US for over two years, remains shrouded in lingering questions — most notably the motive, which has never been identified.
Prosecutors said they have not established any link between Kohberger and the victims.
With the plea deal now finalised, Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in prison, and there will be no trial.
Some families of the victims supported the resolution, while others expressed frustration over the lack of transparency and the absence of a full public reckoning.
What happened that night?
In the early morning hours of Sunday, November 13, 2022, four students from the University of Idaho were fatally stabbed in an off-campus residence located in the small college town of Moscow.
The victims — Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — had returned home from separate social outings the night before.
According to investigators, Goncalves and Mogen, close friends since their middle school years, had spent the evening at a local bar and visited a food truck before returning to the shared house.
Meanwhile, Kernodle and Chapin, who were dating, attended a fraternity party nearby.
By around 2:00 am, all four had returned to the six-bedroom, three-storey home.
Just two hours later, at approximately 4:00 am, Bryan Kohberger allegedly entered the residence through a sliding door at the rear of the building.
Prosecutors said he was dressed entirely in black and wore a balaclava covering his nose and mouth. He carried a large fixed-blade knife, which he had reportedly purchased online eight months earlier.
Prosecutors revealed that Kohberger first went to the top floor, where he killed Mogen and Goncalves.
A leather knife sheath was left at the crime scene next to Mogen’s body, and Kohberger’s DNA was later recovered from that sheath, serving as one of the major pieces of forensic evidence.
As Kohberger descended the stairs, he encountered Kernodle, who had just received a food delivery moments earlier. Prosecutors said she was awake when Kohberger attacked and killed her.
Chapin, asleep in a second-floor bedroom, was also stabbed to death shortly afterward.
Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were present in the house at the time but survived the attack.
According to police reports and court testimony, Mortensen awoke to strange sounds and voices. She initially believed it was one of the victims playing with a pet dog.
Mortensen later said she heard a female voice say, “There’s someone here,” followed by crying and then a male voice reassuring, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.”
Mortensen opened her door three times during this period. On the final occasion, she came face to face with a masked man dressed in black, walking past her and exiting through the sliding glass door.
She described him as having one bushy eyebrow.
Shocked and terrified, she locked herself in her room and began texting her surviving roommate, Funke. They both tried calling and texting their friends, unaware that they had been killed.
It wasn’t until 11:56 am, more than eight hours later, that a 911 call was placed from one of the surviving roommates’ phones, reporting an “unconscious person.”
How did authorities break the case?
In the days and weeks that followed the killings, very little was made public as the community mourned and law enforcement worked under high pressure.
The case saw federal and state agencies assist local law enforcement in compiling evidence, with investigators pursuing digital trails, forensic testing and behavioural profiling.
Bryan Kohberger, then a 28-year-old PhD student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington — less than 10 miles from Moscow — eventually became the focus of the investigation.
Kohberger had been studying criminology and was also working as a teaching assistant. He was arrested on December 30, 2022, at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Court documents revealed that law enforcement connected Kohberger to the killings through a combination of DNA evidence, cell phone location records and surveillance video.
Investigators identified a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the victims’ house around the time of the murders.
Kohberger owned a similar vehicle and was found to have changed its license plates days after the killings.
Prosecutors also disclosed that Kohberger’s phone had been in the area of the crime scene on multiple occasions in the months prior to the murders.
In addition to the DNA on the knife sheath, Kohberger’s apartment and office in Pullman were searched.
Authorities recovered a range of items including 15 pieces of evidence: stained bedding, dark red spots, hair strands, a computer tower and a single-use glove.
A key part of the prosecution’s case involved the argument that Kohberger attempted to eliminate evidence.
Prosecutors noted that the interior of his car had been meticulously cleaned, presumably in an attempt to destroy traces from the crime scene.
Despite the extensive forensic evidence, no murder weapon was ever recovered.
What happened in court?
Bryan Kohberger initially pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and was scheduled to go to trial in August this year.
However, in what can only be called a dramatic turn of events, Kohberger entered a guilty plea at a hearing on July 2, as part of an agreement with prosecutors that removed the possibility of a death sentence.
On July 23, Kohberger officially entered his plea in a courtroom in Boise, Idaho.
Appearing in a shirt and tie and flanked by his defence team, Kohberger acknowledged each of the charges and confirmed that his decision to plead guilty was made voluntarily and with full understanding of the consequences.
He also waived his right to appeal or seek a sentence review.
US Judge Steven Hippler accepted the plea and sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
At the hearing, the courtroom was filled with emotional statements and divided opinions from the victims’ families.
The parents of Kaylee Goncalves criticised the agreement, calling it a rushed and secretive process that sidelined the families’ voices. Steve Goncalves, her father, said outside court that the plea deal failed to deliver true justice.
However, relatives of Madison Mogen released a joint statement in support of the agreement, saying they believed it represented the best possible outcome for all those affected.
The two surviving roommates, Funke and Mortensen, spoke publicly for the first time, delivering tearful testimonies that painted a picture of trauma, loss and survival.
What do we know about the victims?
Each of the four slain students had deep roots in their communities and aspirations for the future. Kaylee Goncalves, from Rathdrum, Idaho, and Madison Mogen, from Coeur d’Alene, were both seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate in 2023.
They had been best friends since sixth grade and had remained inseparable through their years in college. Their families later received their degrees posthumously in a special ceremony on May 13, 2023.
Xana Kernodle, a junior from Avondale, Arizona, and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, a freshman from Conway, Washington, were remembered as a vibrant couple.
Kernodle was pursuing a degree in marketing, while Chapin was majoring in sports, recreation, and management.
Their posthumous awards were accepted by their respective families in spring 2023.
The rental house in which the killings occurred was demolished in December 2023, following months of public interest and emotional discussions about the building’s future.
Who is Bryan Kohberger?
At the time of the attack, Bryan Kohberger was pursuing his doctoral degree in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University.
Before that, he had earned an associate degree from Northampton Community College in 2018, followed by undergraduate and graduate degrees from DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
While at DeSales, Kohberger studied under Dr. Katherine Ramsland, a renowned forensic psychologist known for her work on serial killers.
Ramsland later stated in an interview that Kohberger did not display any unusual behaviour, but she reflected on whether her teachings may have inadvertently influenced him.
Kohberger’s academic interests extended into practical research.
He had conducted a study on Reddit, asking individuals to describe their emotions and decision-making processes during the commission of crimes. The survey gained renewed attention after his arrest, given the disturbing context.
He also applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in the fall of 2022, citing a desire to improve rural law enforcement’s ability to analyse digital data for public safety operations.
One question remains: WHY did Bryan Kohberger commit those crimes?
While the legal chapter of the Idaho student murders case is now closed, a critical component — why Kohberger committed the crimes — remains unknown.
Prosecutors confirmed that they have not discovered any motive or established a relationship between Kohberger and any of the victims.
Kohberger himself offered no explanation during his plea or sentencing.
With the absence of a trial, many hoped-for answers may never come.
With inputs from agencies
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