Bryan Kohberger has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022, as emotional family members confronted him with searing testimony in a Boise courtroom.
District Court Judge Steven Hippler handed down four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years for burglary on Wednesday, following hours of victim impact statements that saw relatives brand the 30-year-old former criminology student a “delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser”. Kohberger declined to speak when given the opportunity.
The packed Ada County Courthouse heard wrenching testimony from families of victims Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, who were stabbed to death in their off-campus home on 13 November 2022.
“You didn’t win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are,” Alivea Goncalves, sister of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told Kohberger directly. Her remarks drew applause from the courtroom gallery after she called him a “sociopath, psychopath, murderer.”
The sentencing follows Kohberger’s guilty plea on 2 July to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, a deal that spared him from facing the death penalty. The agreement requires him to serve consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole and waives his right to appeal.
Judge Hippler appeared emotional during proceedings, wiping his eyes as families delivered their statements. He later called Kohberger a “coward” who “slithered through the sliding glass door at 1122 King Road” before committing what he described as an “unfathomable and senseless act of evil.”
“We are now certain who committed these unspeakable acts of evil, but what we don’t know, and what we may never know, is why,” Hippler said. The judge noted he could not legally force Kohberger to explain his motives.
Prosecutor Bill Thompson revealed new details about the night of the murders during the hearing. He said Kohberger’s mobile phone connected to towers near the victims’ home approximately 23 times in the weeks leading up to the killings.
Thompson described how Kohberger entered through a sliding door in the kitchen before killing Mogen and Goncalves first on the third floor, where he left behind a Ka-Bar knife sheath containing his DNA. He then encountered Kernodle, who was awake after receiving a food delivery, before killing her and Chapin, who was asleep in bed.
Two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, delivered powerful victim impact statements through representatives. Mortensen described experiencing panic attacks that force her to relive the trauma, saying she remains “too terrified to close my eyes.
“I made escape plans everywhere I went,” Mortensen said in her statement. “He may have shattered parts of me but I’m still putting myself back together piece by piece.”
Funke’s statement focused on survivor’s guilt and her memories of the victims. “I hated and still hate that they are gone, but for some reason, I am still here and I got to live,” she said. “Why me? Why did I get to live, and not them?”
Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, addressed Kohberger directly, saying: “Today we are here to finish what you started. You tried to break our community apart, you tried to plant fear, you tried to divide us. You failed.”
His wife Kristi Goncalves expressed disappointment that Kohberger would not face execution but said she “revelled” in how he would suffer in prison. “You will always be remembered as a loser, an absolute failure,” she told him. “Hell will be waiting.”
The murders shocked the small college town of Moscow, Idaho, sparking a nationwide manhunt that lasted nearly seven weeks. Kohberger, who was pursuing a PhD in criminology at nearby Washington State University, was arrested at his parents’ Pennsylvania home on 30 December 2022.
DNA evidence proved crucial to the case, with Kohberger’s genetic material found on the knife sheath left at the scene. Surveillance footage also captured his white Hyundai Elantra near the victims’ home multiple times on the night of the murders.
The plea agreement has divided victims’ families, with some expressing frustration about the lack of answers regarding Kohberger’s motives. The Goncalves family had requested the deal include requirements for a full confession and disclosure of the murder weapon’s location, but prosecutors declined.
“I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions,” Jeff Kernodle, Xana’s father, said in a previous statement.
Madison Mogen’s family expressed support for the plea deal. Her stepfather Scott Laramie remembered her as someone who “always brought us joy” and was “taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil.”
When given the opportunity to address the court, Kohberger leaned forward slightly and said only: “I respectfully decline.”
The judge imposed additional financial penalties, including fines of £39,000 ($50,000) and civil penalties of £3,900 ($5,000) payable to each victim’s family. Prosecutors also requested extension of no-contact orders barring Kohberger from communicating with victims’ families for 99 years.
Kohberger appeared in court wearing orange prison attire, a departure from the shirt and tie he wore during previous hearings. His mother, Maryann Kohberger, quietly wept during portions of the emotional testimony.
The former doctoral student will likely serve his sentence at Idaho Maximum Security Institution, the state’s only maximum-security prison located south of Boise. The facility opened in 1989 to house the state’s “most disruptive male residents.”
Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger expressed hope the sentencing would bring closure, saying: “Our hope is that not only the families, but the friends, even the Moscow community and all the communities that were affected by this, can start to heal.
The case attracted significant media attention, with even former President Donald Trump weighing in on social media, suggesting Kohberger should be required to explain his motives during sentencing.
Thompson concluded the state’s presentation by displaying photographs of the four victims, stating: “From today forward, our memories should be focused on these innocent victims whose lives were taken.”
As Kohberger was led away in chains, Randy Davis, Xana Kernodle’s stepfather, delivered a final message: “You’re gonna go to hell… you’re evil… you took our children… you are gonna suffer, man.”
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