Bryan Kohberger to plead guilty in University of Idaho killings, avoiding death penalty

Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, according to a letter sent to victims’ families and reviewed by ABC News. The plea deal will spare Kohberger from the death penalty and sentence him instead to multiple life terms.

Kohberger, who was facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, will receive four consecutive life sentences for the killings and up to 10 years for the burglary charge under the agreement, according to ABC News. The deal also requires him to waive all rights to appeal.

Prosecutors informed families that the sentencing is expected to take place in late July, provided Kohberger enters the plea as planned during a change-of-plea hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The case gained national attention in November 2022 when the bodies of four students—Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin—were found stabbed to death in a rental home near the University of Idaho campus in the town of Moscow.

Bryan Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, was arrested nearly seven weeks later in Pennsylvania, where he had traveled to spend the holidays with his family. According to court documents, police linked him to the scene through surveillance footage, cellphone data, and DNA found on a knife sheath recovered at the house.

As of now, no official motive has been publicly confirmed in the case against Kohberger. Prosecutors and investigators have not disclosed a specific reason for the attack, and court documents have not revealed any clear explanation for why the victims were targeted.