Judge sentences Bryan Kohberger to life in prison for murdering four University of Idaho students
Friends and relatives of four University of Idaho students murdered in their rental home by Bryan Kohberger delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation as his sentencing hearing began Wednesday.
Video above: Alivea Goncalves, sister of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, addresses Bryan Kohberger
âThis world was a better place with her in it,â Scott Laramie, the stepfather of Madison Mogen, told the court. âKaren and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie.â
The father of Kaylee Goncalves taunted Kohberger for leaving his DNA behind and getting caught despite being a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University at the time.
âYou were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,â Steve Goncalves said. âMasterâs degree? Youâre a joke.â
Judge Steven Hippler ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing deaths of Mogen, Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin early on Nov. 13, 2022. He was also given a 10-year sentence for burglary and assessed $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.
The defendant pleaded guilty early this month, just weeks before his trial was to start, in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
Kohberger broke into the home through a kitchen sliding door and brutally stabbed the four friends, who appeared to have no connection with him. No motive has been offered, though Kohberger was to be given an opportunity to speak later in the hearing.
Dylan Mortenson, a roommate who told police of seeing a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask in the home that night, sobbed as she described how Kohberger, seated across the room in an orange jumpsuit, âtook the light they carried into each room.â
âHe is a hollow vessel, something less than human,â Mortenson said. "A body without empathy without remorse.â
Video below: A portion of Mortenson's victim impact statement:
Mortenson and another surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, described crippling panic attacks and anxiety after the attack.
âI slept in my parentsâ room for almost a year, and had them double lock every door, set an alarm, and still check everywhere in the room just in case someone was hiding,â Funke wrote in a statement read by a friend. âI have not slept through a single night since this happened. I constantly wake up in panic, terrified someone is breaking in or someone is here to hurt me, or Iâm about to lose someone else that I love.â
Alivea Goncalves's voice didnât waver as she asked Kohberger questions about the killings, including what her sisterâs last words were. She drew applause after belittling Kohberger, who remained expressionless as she insulted him.
âYou didnât win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are," Alivea Goncalves said. "Youâre a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser.â
Video below: A portion of Steve Goncalves's victim statement:
Kohbergerâs mother and sister also attended the hearing, sitting in the gallery near the defense table. His mother quietly wept at times as the other parents described their grief. She sobbed briefly when Maddie Mogenâs grandmother said that her heart goes out to the other families, including Kohbergerâs.
Xana Kernodleâs aunt, Kim Kernodle, said she forgave Kohberger and asked him to call her from prison, hoping he would answer her lingering questions about the killings.
âBryan, Iâm here today to tell you I have forgiven you, because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart,â she said. âAnd for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you. And any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number. Iâm here. No judgment.â
Video below: Bethany Funke, a roommate of the Idaho murder victims, has victim statement read by friend
Police initially had no suspects in the killings, which terrified the rural western Idaho city of Moscow. Some students at both universities left mid-semester, taking the rest of their classes online because they felt unsafe.
A knife sheath left near Mogenâs body had a single source of male DNA on the button snap, investigators said, and surveillance videos showed a white Hyundai Elantra near the rental home around the time of the murders.
Police used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect and accessed cellphone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings. Online shopping records showed Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier, along with a sheath like the one at the home.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania about six weeks after the killings.
Both the investigation and the case drew widespread attention. Discussion groups proliferated online, members eagerly sharing their theories and questions about the case. Some armchair web-sleuths pointed fingers at innocent people simply because they knew the victims or lived in the same town. Misinformation spread, piling additional distress on the already-traumatized community.