Quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger is set to face the families of the Idaho college students today as he is sentenced over the grisly murders he carried out nearly three years ago.
On Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger broke into the home of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in the small town of Moscow during the middle of the night and stabbed the students to death as most of them slept.
While not all of the families are expected to attend Wednesday’s sentencing in Boise, Idaho, those who do will have the chance to tell Kohberger of the agony his crimes inflicted upon them, speak for the victims and tell what they have endured over the last few years.
Kernodle’s father, Jeffrey, and sister Jazzmin were among the first families to arrive at the court Wednesday morning, followed by Steve and Kristi Goncalves, who did not speak to reporters as they entered the building.
Chapin’s family is not expected to attend the hearing, but his mom, Stacy, shared a picture of her son as a child to her Instagram story with a blue love heart.
True crime fans, members of the public and the media were camped out all night to ensure they get a glimpse of the killer inside the Ada County Courthouse.
For more than two years, Kohberger maintained his innocence. His long-awaited trial was just weeks away and scheduled for August 18, but in a bombshell twist, he pleaded guilty on July 2.
The sudden plea deal took the death penalty off the table.
The families of Kohberger’s victims have been longing for an answer to one simple question: Why?
His motive remains a mystery— and there is no guarantee he will reveal the answer at Wednesday’s sentencing.
Kohberger will be given the chance to speak in what’s known as an allocution, but he doesn’t have to say anything — and the judge can’t force him to.
Defendants might use their statement to express remorse, ask for mercy or to say whatever else they think the court should hear before sentencing.
But because the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment guarantee of the right to remain silent remains in effect during sentencing hearings, they can choose not to speak at all.
President Donald Trump weighed in Monday, posting on Truth Social: “I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING.”
The murders shook the small town of Moscow in November 2022.
For weeks, only scant details about the carnage that night were revealed as the community reeled from the tragedy and grappled with fears of a murderer on the loose. Kohberger, a graduate student at Washington State University at the time of the murders, wasn’t arrested until six weeks later, on December 30, 2022.
At the plea-deal hearing earlier this month, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson outlined chilling details of the night of the murders.
He told the court how Kohberger broke into the six-bedroom three-storey house and headed to the third floor, where he killed Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves first.
Then, he killed Xana Kernodle after encountering her while she was picking up a DoorDash delivery, before stabbing her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who was asleep in their bedroom.
Two others, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were the only roommates to survive the killings, with Mortensen coming face to face with Kohberger at one terrifying moment.
After fleeing the scene, prosecutors said that Kohberger took a selfie that morning at his Pullman residence in Washington state, approximately 9.5 miles from Moscow, with his thumbs up.
The leather sheath from the knife Kohberger used to murder Goncalves and Mogen was discovered on the bed, but the weapon itself has never been found.
Six weeks later, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger was linked to the crime through cellphone location records, police said, and security video of a white Hyundai Elantra, a similar model of the car seen near the murder home around the time of the murders. Kohberger changed the license plates on his Hyundai Elantra just days after the murders.
After changing his plea to guilty, both sides in the case agreed to a proposed sentence of four consecutive life sentences without parole, in addition to 10 years for the burglary charge.
Kohberger waived his right to appeal any issues in the case, without the possibility of parole.
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