‘Beyond furious’: Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger accepts plea deal
Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in a highly anticipated murder trial who is accused of killing four Idaho college students, has accepted a deal to plead guilty.
A victim’s family member told the Idaho Statesman that they received a letter from the prosecution, and provided a copy of that letter to the Statesman, confirming the agreement. The plea deal was first reported by NewsNation on Monday afternoon.
Kohberger, 30, was arrested at the end of 2022 and accused of fatally stabbing the University of Idaho students in November that year in an off-campus Moscow home. He faced four first-degree murder charges and, if convicted, could have been sentenced to death in a trial that was slated to have opening statements on Aug. 18.
Families of the victims met with prosecutors last week to discuss the possibility of a plea deal, which the prosecution in the letter said “weighed heavily” in the decision-making process.
“We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,” read the letter, signed by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and Ashley Jennings, his senior deputy. “This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family. 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.”
The victims were seniors Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21; junior Xana Kernodle, 20; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20. The three women lived in the Moscow home with two female roommates who went unharmed in the attack early on a Sunday morning. Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and stayed over for the night.
All four victims were students at the University of Idaho, while Kohberger was studying criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, a 15-minute drive from Moscow.
The 30-month-long case, which thrust Idaho into the national spotlight, spanned several states as investigators searched for a suspect for nearly seven weeks. They arrested Kohberger at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania over Christmas break. More than 100 law enforcement personnel assisted the local police force, including the Idaho State Police, the FBI and the Latah County Sheriff’s Office.
The plea deal — the defense requested an offer from the prosecution — will take the death penalty off the table in exchange for Kohberger pleading guilty to all charges: the four first-degree murder counts and an additional charge of felony burglary. He’s expected to appear at the Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday at 11 a.m. for a change of plea hearing, according to the letter sent to the families.
If Kohberger pleads guilty “as expected,” he’ll likely be sentenced in late July, with the agreed-upon sentence being life in prison, according to the letter. If he doesn’t, the trial would proceed as planned.
As a part of the plea deal, Kohberger will also have to waive his right to an appeal. He will never be eligible for parole.
The trial court administrator and spokesperson for the Idaho court system declined to comment. When reached by phone, the Latah County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also declined to comment, citing a gag order that’s been in place for the case.
Goncalves family ‘beyond furious’
The Goncalves family members have been staunch advocates for the death penalty to be applied in the Kohberger case, while other families haven’t been so outspoken.
There’s “no equivalent” aside from the death penalty for someone convicted of murder, Steve Goncalves wrote in a text message to the Statesman in the days before the deal was reached. The more victims someone is accused of killing, he added, the further it should tip the scales to death “as the only option.”
“We are beyond furious at the state of Idaho. They have failed us,” the Goncalves family posted on its Facebook page Monday afternoon.
Hours later, the Goncalveses reiterated their frustration with the prosecution. They said they had done everything they could to push for the death penalty for Kohberger — having “fought harder than anyone could ever imagine.”
For Ben Mogen, Madison’s father, the plea deal wasn’t as upsetting. He told the Statesman that if avoiding a trial means his family can avoid reopening wounds that they’ve already worked toward healing, then he accepts the agreement.
Still, the plea deal late in the process came as a surprise to even veterans in the legal field.
Edwina Elcox is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Boise. She said the “writing was on the wall” for Kohberger in terms of the death penalty if a jury found him guilty of the killings, and might have proved too big a risk and resulted in the change.
That may have led to some additional conversation between the defense team and Kohberger, Elcox told the Statesman by phone, over concerns that he could expect no other sentence with a conviction.
“These are dice I would not want to roll with a client,” she said. “Maybe you get an anti-death penalty juror, but also you may not.”
Given the series of rulings against Kohberger’s attorneys — which included several involving the effort to take the death penalty off the table — removing the possibility of such a sentence is ultimately “a victory” for the defense, Elcox said.
This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM