Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murders of 4 University of Idaho students

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty more than two years after the slayings shocked the nation and touched off a coast-to-coast manhunt.

Kohberger, 30, admitted to carrying out the gruesome killings and agreed to the terms of the plea deal – four consecutive life sentences and no chance of appeal. Judge Steven Hippler opted on July 2 to accept the agreement, which has divided the victims’ families.

The guilty plea ensures Kohberger will avoid an upcoming trial and the possibility of capital punishment for the murders of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

All were found stabbed to death in their rental house near the University of Idaho campus on Nov. 13, 2022. The murders shocked the campus community and horrified the residents of Moscow, a quiet college town in northern Idaho that hadn't reported a murder in five years.

Weeks after the killings, Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his family lives. At the time of the murders, he was a doctoral student studying criminal justice at Washington State University, less than 10 miles from Moscow.

At the hearing July 2, Kohberger sat still and appeared unemotional when the court read the names of the four students. Asked if he had committed the murders willfully and with premeditation, he replied with a flat "yes."

Hippler set a sentencing hearing for July 23 and said it may continue into a second day to give the victims' families ample time to make statements before a sentence is officially handed down.

Outside the courthouse, Leander James, an attorney for the parents of Madison Mogen, said "We support the plea agreement 100%."

"We now embark on a new path," he told reporters. "We embark on a path of hope and healing.”

Not all the victims' families support the plea deal

The families of the four victims have been split in their reactions to the plea agreement.

Along with Mogen's family, the family of Ethan Chapin supports the deal, their spokesperson, Christina Teves, told the Associated Press.

The Goncalves family, however, has blasted the agreement on social media, calling it an "insult" that "robbed us of our day in court." The family said in a statement that prosecutors hurried the deal without input from the victims' families.

"After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details," the family said.

Kohberger's plea comes weeks before murder trial

Kohberger's trial was expected to begin with jury selection on Aug. 4 and opening statements on Aug. 18.

Prosecutors were set to present DNA evidence, cell phone records and surveillance footage to tie Kohberger to the stabbings. DNA found on the sheath of a knife left near one of the victims' bodies was a statistical match to Kohberger, authorities previously said.

A police search warrant previously revealed Kohberger's phone was tracked near the students' house at least 12 times in the six months before the attack.

Neighborhood security camera videos also helped police identify a car they said was owned by Kohberger. The car was seen on video at least four times in the early morning hours the day of the killings before speeding off, earlier court filings said. Kohberger's defense has previously claimed he was driving alone and not present at the victims' homes.