Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, an attorney for one victim’s family said Monday.
Here’s what to know about the case and the recent developments:
Who were the victims and who is the suspect?
Kohberger, 30, is accused in the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen at a home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.
Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene.
What has happened so far in the case?
Kohberger has been charged with four counts of murder in the stabbings. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
When initially asked to enter a plea in 2023, Kohberger stood silent, prompting the judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
The northern Idaho farming community of about 25,000 people was rocked by the killings and hadn’t seen a homicide in about five years. The trial was scheduled to move to Boise after the defense expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn’t get a fair trial where the killings occurred.
What do we know about the plea deal?
Kohberger’s trial was set to start in August and was expected to last more than three months. An attorney for the family of Goncalves confirmed that families of the victims received news of the plea deal in a letter from prosecutors Monday.
“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” Goncalves’ family wrote in a Facebook post. “They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.”
In the letter to families, obtained by ABC News, prosecutors said Kohberger’s lawyers approached them seeking a plea deal. The defense team had previously tried but failed to have the death penalty stricken as a possible punishment, including arguing that Kohberger’s autism diagnosis made him less culpable.
The prosecutors said they met with available family members last week, including some members of the Goncalves family, before deciding to make Kohberger an offer.
“This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,” the letter said. “This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction, appeals. Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.”
What did prosecutors plan to show at trial?
Court filings have shown that prosecutors intended to introduce evidence including Kohberger’s “click history” at Amazon.com with the purchased of a Ka-Bar knife — a military-style, fixed-blade knife — along with a sheath and sharpener months before the killings. A Ka-Bar knife sheath was found next to one of the victims.
Prosecutors had also said they also intended to introduce what appears to be a self-portrait Kohberger took on his phone just hours after the killings. In it, he is smiling and giving a thumbs-up gesture.
A roommate who was in the home that morning, sleeping and intoxicated, told police she woke up and saw a man she didn’t know — someone with “bushy eyebrows” who was wearing a face mask, prosecutors have said.
No motive has emerged for the killings, nor is it clear why the attacker spared two roommates who were in the home at the time. Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video shows that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the four students were slain.
In a court filing, Kohberger’s lawyers said he was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed.
What’s next?
A change of plea hearing was set for Wednesday, but the family has asked prosecutors to delay it to give them more time to travel to Boise, Gray said.
In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea.
The court has issued a gag order that has largely kept attorneys, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial.
