Latest news with #quadruplemurder
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- RNZ News
Unpacking Bryan Kohberger's guilty plea deal to avoid death penalty
By Emma Tucker , CNN Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their apartment in 2022, has agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty in his quadruple murder case. Photo: August Frank/Pool/Reuters via CNN Newsource Bryan Kohberger appeared expressionless as a judge asked if he murdered four Idaho college students in their off-campus home, answering "yes" to each name called out in the courtroom. At a change-of-plea hearing before state district Judge Steven Hippler in Boise, Idaho, the courtroom was packed with family members of the victims as Kohberger, a 30-year-old former PhD student of criminology, admitted his guilt to all five counts in the indictment and entered a plea deal that removes the possibility of the death penalty. Kohberger had been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in Latah County, Idaho, in the fatal stabbings Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, in their Moscow, Idaho, home. CNN trial correspondent Jean Casarez has been closely following the investigation and was in the courtroom when Kohberger admitted guilt. Here she breaks down some of the key pieces of the case and the plea deal: Some of the questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. Q : Why did prosecutors decide to strike a plea deal now, despite strong evidence including DNA, surveillance and cell phone data? A : I think that's one of the biggest unanswered questions. We don't know. Here's what we do know: Prosecutors hold the key to whether a trial goes forward or whether there is a plea deal. This was a very solid case, and the defense had lost so much - they were not going to be able to present an alibi because they couldn't establish there was anyone who saw him in another location when the killings took place. I was talking to a prosecutor who told me this case is the case of a lifetime for a prosecutor. But this trial was going to cost a lot of money. This is Moscow's case. Latah County would have to pay for it all. The case had been moved to Boise to ensure a fair trial for Kohberger. So, one can only surmise that judicial economy or saving money went into this, right? Q : What do you think tipped the scales toward avoiding the death penalty for both the defense and prosecution? A : This was the only bargaining tool. They bargained away the death penalty when he agreed to serve life in prison without any possibility of parole. In 2003, serial killer Gary Ridgway bargained away the death penalty but there were conditions. He was going to tell authorities where all of the other victims were that he killed and he did that. Here, there are no conditions. Q : Without a trial, there's no public adjudication of any motive. How does that impact any closure in this case for the families and the public? A : One of the issues with several of the families is that this was just too easy, that he was going to be able to sign the dotted line, done deal, then he can live his life forever. They wanted answers. They wanted to know if anybody else knew about it, where the murder weapon came from, why he went to that particular house, why he went up to the third floor. And those questions conceivably will never be answered. If you look at what the father of Kaylee Goncalves said, he's very upset because he believes no one is caring about these four young lives that were taken so soon right as they were beginning their adulthood. The family of Madison Mogen spoke outside of court, and they said through their attorney that this could be closure, they can move on and it's alright. But the father of Xana Kernodle is saying it's not alright, that they're not going to ever really know the truth. Q : What were the reactions and emotions you could sense in the room when he admitted guilt? A : It was very tense in the courtroom. Very tense but very silent. The media had been told to not show any emotion in the courtroom, and I wonder if the families were told that because they were so intense, they were staring at Kohberger very strongly. They were staring at the judge very strongly, but I did not see actual emotion coming out of them except from Kaylee Goncalves' aunt. That's who I heard it was. She had a Kleenex, she was crying so hard, but it was silent - she wasn't making any audible sounds at all. When the prosecutor said, "We have still never found the knife, the murder weapon," I looked at Kohberger. I wanted to see if there was a reaction because there's one person that knows where that murder weapon is, and it's him. There was no reaction to that. He didn't move a muscle in his face. Kohberger never once looked at the courtroom, looked at the people in the courtroom. He was in a stoic gaze with no emotion whatsoever. It was just like he did this every day. The four University of Idaho students were found dead at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Photo: Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman/TNS/Getty Images via CNN Newsource When he had to take the oath that he would tell the truth, Kohberger jumped up and put his hand up. The judge said, "You don't have to stand up. I know you're trying to be respectful to the court, but you don't have to stand up." Q : After Kohberger is sentenced, what happens to the gag order that has kept the parties from speaking publicly? A : After sentencing, the case is over, so the judge has to lift that gag order because they have a First Amendment right to speak. The gag order was to preserve a fair trial before a jury for Kohberger. Both sides are not requesting a pre-sentencing report, which is normally done before sentencing. Sentencing is going to take place at this point on July 23. The prosecutor said they want to give all family members a chance to speak. Q : Prosecutor Bill Thompson choked up a couple of times - most notably as he was finishing his recitation of the facts and said the names of the four victims. What did you make of that and was there any significance behind that moment to you, having covered this case from the beginning? A : I've never seen him get emotional in any pretrial hearing. This is the first time, but a prosecutor has empathy for victims because although they represent the people, they indirectly represent the victims. That's who they care about. Maybe it got to him at that moment, but I'm sure that some of the family members would say, 'Well, if that emotion is there for those victims as we saw in court, why didn't you structure the plea deal so he had to provide some answers and tell us why he did this?' Q : What were the elements of the plea deal that the families of the victims would have liked to see or leave out? A : Steve Goncalves said he wanted more facts. Not only answers to why the killings happened, but did anybody know about it or help? What happened with the knife? Why that house? Why that floor? Because in pretrial hearings, it has been said there was no connection to the victims. Q : What can we expect from the upcoming sentencing hearing? Will families get a final chance to address him in court? A : The big thing is going to be the victim impact statements. Attorneys don't have to argue because there's nothing to decide. A decision has been made with the agreement, so it's the victims' families. Some courts allow family members to directly look at and address the defendant, while other courts do not. It'll be interesting to see the parameter and it'll be interesting to see what they say. But here's the big one: Bryan Kohberger should be given a chance to address the court. In a normal sentencing, they are allowed to make a formal statement. Usually, that is to beg for mercy because you're about to be sentenced. In this case it would just be something he wanted to say. Will he speak? Will he say something to the families? Q : Can Kohberger appeal some aspect of his plea? A : He is waiving his right to appeal, so he will live the rest of his life within a prison in Idaho, managed by the Department of Corrections. Q: Some victims' family members complained about how quickly a plea deal was reached. Does it always happen this quickly in similar cases? A : No, it doesn't happen as quickly. The family members do not live in Boise. They had to conceivably change plans, take off work, and it's six hours from Moscow to Boise. That's quite the drive right there. They don't all live in Moscow, but they do not live in Boise. So it's highly unusual. I think it's stunning that when Kohberger was posed the questions with their names: 'Did you intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation murder Xana Kernodle?' And he responded, 'yes.' No emotion at all. - CNN
Associated Press
03-07-2025
- Associated Press
A Q-Tip and spotless car were key evidence linking Bryan Kohberger to murders of 4 Idaho students
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The lead prosecutor tasked with finding justice for four University of Idaho students killed in a grisly quadruple stabbing more than two years ago laid out his key evidence Wednesday at a court hearing for Bryan Kohberger, who agreed to plead guilty earlier this week to avoid the death penalty. The evidentiary summary — recited by lead prosecutor Bill Thompson before Kohberger entered his pleas — spun a dramatic tale that included a DNA-laden Q-tip plucked from the garbage in the dead of the night, a getaway car stripped so clean of evidence that it was 'essentially disassembled inside' and a fateful early-morning Door Dash order that may have put one of the victims in Kohberger's path. These details offered new insights into how the crime unfolded on Nov. 13, 2022, and how investigators ultimately solved the case using surveillance footage, cell phone tracking and DNA matching. But the synopsis leaves hanging key questions that could have been answered at trial — including a motive for the stabbings and why Kohberger picked that house, and those victims, all apparent strangers to him. The small farming community of Moscow, in the northern Idaho panhandle, had not had a homicide in about five years when Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead at a rental home near campus. Kohberger, now 30, had begun a doctoral degree in criminal justice at nearby Washington State University — across the state line from Moscow, Idaho — months before the crimes. 'The defendant has studied crime,' Thompson said, as the victims' family members dabbed at their tears. 'In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his Ph.D., and he had that knowledge skillset.' What we learned from the hearing Kohberger's cell phone began connecting with cell towers in the area of the crime more than four months before the stabbings, Thompson said, and pinged on those towers 23 times between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. in that time period. A compilation of surveillance videos from neighbors and businesses also placed Kohberger's vehicle — known to investigators because of a routine traffic stop by police in August — in the area. On the night of the killings, Kohberger parked behind the house and entered through a sliding door to the kitchen at the back of the house shortly after 4 a.m., Thompson said. He moved to the third floor, where Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were sleeping. After killing both of them with a knife, Kohberger left a knife sheath next to Mogen's body. Both victims' blood was later found on the sheath, along with DNA from a single male that ultimately helped investigators pinpoint Kohberger as the only suspect. On the floor below, another student was still awake. Xana Kernodle had ordered Door Dash not long before, and as Kohberger was leaving, he crossed paths with her and killed her with a large knife, Thompson said. He then killed her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who was sleeping in Kernodle's bedroom. Kohberger left two others in the house alive, including one roommate who was expected to testify at trial that sometime before 4:19 a.m. she saw an intruder there with 'bushy eyebrows,' wearing black clothing and a ski mask. Roughly five minutes later, the car could be seen on the next-door neighbor's surveillance camera. speeding away so fast 'the car almost loses control as it makes the corner,' Thompson said. What did Kohberger do next? After Kohberger fled the scene, Thompson said, his cover-up was elaborate. Prosecutors believe he drove backroads to his apartment in Pullman, Washington, to avoid surveillance cameras on the major roads and didn't turn his cell phone back on until 4:48 a.m. By 5:26 a.m., he was back in Pullman, Thompson said. Later, Kohberger changed his car registration from Pennsylvania to Washington State — significant for investigators who were combing through surveillance camera footage because Pennsylvania law doesn't require a front license plate, making it harder to identify the vehicle. And by the time investigators did catch up with him weeks later, his apartment and office in nearby Pullman were scrubbed clean. 'Spartan would be a kind characterization. There was nothing there, nothing of evidentiary value was found,' Thompson said of Kohberger's apartment. The car, too, 'had been essentially disassembled inside,' he added. 'It was spotless. The defendant's car had been meticulously cleaned inside.' The Q-tip that broke the case Investigators had honed in on Kohberger, but they needed to prove he was their suspect. With the DNA of a single mystery male on the knife sheath, they worked with the FBI and the local sanitation department to secretly retrieve garbage from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger's parents, seeking a DNA match to their suspect. 'They conducted what's called a trash pull during the nighttime hours,' Thompson said, and 'took trash that had been set out on the street for collection' and sent it to Idaho's forensics lab. The pile of garbage yielded investigative gold: A Q-tip that contained DNA identified 'as coming from the father of the person whose DNA was found on the knife sheath that was found by Madison Mogen's body on the bed,' he said. With that, Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he had gone for the holidays, and ultimately was extradited to Idaho for prosecution. The mysteries that remain Even while prosecutors detailed that night, a key question remains: Why did Kohberger target that house and those victims? Did he know them? And what was his motive? 'We do not have evidence that the defendant had direct contact with 1122 or with residents in 1122, but we can put his phone in the area on those times,' Thompson said, referring to the house number where the murders took place. Some of that evidence may have come out at trial, and may yet be contained in documents related to the case that have been sealed by the court until after a July 23 sentencing hearing. A gag order in place for all attorneys in the case is still in effect as well. Those documents include witness lists, a list of exhibits, an analysis of the evidence, requests for additional discovery, filings about mitigating factors and various unsuccessful defense motions that sought to introduce alternative suspects, among other things. The families of the victims are split over the plea deal With the case solved, families remain divided over its resolution. The deal stipulates that Kohberger will be spared execution in exchange for four consecutive life sentences. He also waived his right to appeal and to challenge the sentence. Chapin's and Mogen's families support the deal. 'We now embark on a new path. We embark on a path of hope and healing,' Mogen's family said in a statement. The family of Kaylee Goncalves publicly denounced the plea deal ahead of Wednesday's hearing and her father refused to attend the proceedings. Goncalves 18-year-old sister, Aubrie Goncalves, said in a Facebook post that 'Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world.' 'Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever,' she wrote.
CNN
30-06-2025
- CNN
Idaho Statesman: Bryan Kohberger accepts plea deal to avoid trial in Idaho student killings
Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their apartment in 2022, has accepted a plea deal to avoid trial in his quadruple murder case, according to the Idaho Statesman, citing a letter to a victim's family member announcing the deal. Kohberger was slated to go on trial in August. This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
CNN
30-06-2025
- CNN
Idaho Statesman: Bryan Kohberger accepts plea deal to avoid trial in Idaho student killings
Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their apartment in 2022, has accepted a plea deal to avoid trial in his quadruple murder case, according to the Idaho Statesman, citing a letter to a victim's family member announcing the deal. Kohberger was slated to go on trial in August. This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
Fox News
27-06-2025
- Fox News
Idaho judge tells Bryan Kohberger to prepare for summer courtroom showdown after last-minute effort
Idaho Judge Steven Hippler indicated he likely won't delay August's trial in Bryan Kohberger's quadruple murder case, following a request from his defense attorney. Wednesday's hearing focused on two motions from Kohberger's defense team, one seeking to delay August's trial and another which sought to include evidence that they claim points to the existence of "alternate perpetrators." Kohberger is accused of killing Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20. Hippler declined to issue a ruling on Kohberger's request to delay the trial, but said "it's likely you're going to trial on the date indicated." "I fully encourage everyone to continue as if the trial is going to take place when it is scheduled for," Hippler said. Anne Taylor, Kohberger's lawyer, argued that a TV episode that aired on May 9 has the potential to taint the jury pool. "Jury selection is going to be particularly challenged and will need a great deal of time based on what's happened in the media and continues to happen," Taylor said. Joshua Hurwit, special deputy prosecutor, accused Kohberger's defense team of using a "scorched earth" strategy in this case. "The record supports denying the motion based on what the defense has been doing, continues to do, and will continue to do through the mitigation phase until, the penalty phase, including presenting mitigation evidence that the jury will, ultimately, decide about if there is a conviction," Hurwit said. Information shared during the "Dateline" episode included surveillance video from a neighboring house, which showed a car similar to Kohberger's in the King Road area several times before the four University of Idaho students were killed. The episode also claimed that FBI cellphone tower data showed that Kohberger's phone pinged nearly a dozen times near a tower that provides coverage to the area within 100 feet of 1122 King Road, where the four University of Idaho students were killed. The phone pinged near the tower starting in July 2022 and continued through mid-August 2022. In a May 15 order, Hippler said the gag order was "likely" violated by someone involved in the case, saying it's possible law enforcement was the source of the leak. He ordered anyone who has worked for the defense team or investigation to retain all communications and data relating to the case. Hippler said the following pieces of evidence were revealed during the episode: "Such violations not only undermine the rule of law, potentially by persons charged with upholding it, but also significantly impede the ability to seat an impartial jury and will likely substantially increase the cost to be borne by the taxpayers of Latah County to prosecute this case by extending the time it will take to seat a jury and potentially requiring lengthy period of juror sequestration," Hippler wrote. Tara Jalali Malek, an Idaho-based lawyer and former assistant United States attorney, told Fox News Digital that Hippler could hold the prosecution or defense team accountable if it's found the leak came from them. "Violation of a court's order is sanctionable," Malek said. "It could be contempt of court, and contempt can be civil contempt or it could be criminal contempt. That is going to be completely separate from what happens ultimately in the trial, but things that you see with contempt, there could be a fine. There could be a public reprimand, for instance. So there's a variety of things that the court could possibly do or not do if it's found that someone violated that gag order." "Anyone who violated the order, no matter what side, would be held in contempt," she added. However, Malek said she doesn't think the leak will result in the trial being delayed, as Kohberger's defense team has requested. "I would be hard-pressed to think that the entire trial would stop as a result of this," she said. "I think what is most likely, in my opinion, to happen is that the trial will move forward. This will be on a separate track as far as the investigation goes and figuring out who leaked the information, which side was it from. And then ultimately, who else, if anybody was involved or had knowledge of it, or like I said, it was just a rogue actor here that, you know, needs to be personally sanctioned in some way." Prior to Wednesday's hearing, Kohberger's defense team replied to the prosecution's objection to delaying the trial. In the filing, Taylor argued that a TV episode about the case has the potential to taint the jury pool. "It was a choreographed narrative broadcast to millions of viewers and advertised to millions more. It aired nationally and was promoted heavily across commercial breaks, streaming platforms, and social media, maximizing its visibility and impact. It was designed to provoke strong emotional reactions, which is exactly the influence that taints jury pools and risks depriving Mr. Kohberger of a fair trial," Taylor said. Taylor also argued that there needs to be an investigation into the leak before the trial can start. "The prejudice from the Dateline episode requires a continuance both because of the resulting prejudice that is separate and apart from ordinary media coverage, and because trial cannot go forward without a thorough investigation into which person(s) leaked case information and numerous sealed photographs and videos to the media," she wrote. As the trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11, another surprise witness has emerged. A woman claiming to be a DoorDash driver says she dropped off food for Xana Kernodle just minutes before Kohberger allegedly killed the college student. The purported driver came to light after a YouTube account, Officer Axon, obtained body camera video that featured the woman. "I have to testify in a big murder case here... because I'm the DoorDash driver, so yeah," she says in the video. The officer then asked what case she was going to testify in. "The murder case with the college girls," she said. "I'm the DoorDash driver. I saw Bryan there. I parked right next to him."
