Like it or not, it’s all done now. Bryan Kohberger has now officially changed his plea to guilty.
The quadruple murder case has haunted Moscow, Idaho and the rest of the country for the past two years. University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022.
A bit over a month later police made an arrest out of nowhere. But the more evidence we saw piled up against Kohberger the more assured we became they got their man. He’d been following the girls, he could be placed at the scene, and most importantly his DNA was found on a knife sheath next to Maddie and Kaylee’s bodies.
After his last line of defense failed last week, Kohberger finally had to throw in the towel. His team reportedly reached out to the prosecution, who — upsetting as it may have been to some of the victims’ families — jumped on the deal. Always better to get a guilty plea because it comes with a confession, right?
Related: Victims’ Families Disagree On Plea Deal
That’s just what happened in court on Wednesday. In exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one of felony burglary. But that wasn’t as simple as filling out a form. Judge Steven Hippler made him say the words aloud. Per NewsNation‘s Brian Entin, who was in the courtroom, the judge asked:
“Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?”
Kohberger said simply, “Yes.” But the judge spelled it all out.
“You stabbed and murdered Madison Mogen. You deliberately killed and murdered Kaylee Goncalves a human being. You killed and murdered Xana Kernodle. You killed and murdered Ethan Chapin. Do you understand you are admitting those things are true?”
Once again, Kohberger agreed, “Yes.” When asked if he went into the girls’ house, that house on King Road, “with the intent to commit murder” he admitted he had.
Prosecutors may not have gotten the chance to present everything they had at trial, but they laid out their case for the court. All of this they knew from the evidence alone:
Bryan Kohberger left his home in Pullman, Washington late that night. He turned off his phone before the murders. His car was photographed circling the block for about half an hour, starting at 3:30 a.m. He parked behind the house at 4:05 a.m. and entered through the sliding door in the kitchen. He went upstairs and killed Maddie and Kaylee, leaving the sheath. Xana was still awake. She’d ordered food from DoorDash. He ran into her in the hallway and killed her — then killed her boyfriend Ethan who was asleep in her room. One of the surviving roommates saw him leave through the same sliding door. His car was photographed again, this time leaving the neighborhood at high speed. His phone was turned back on at 4:48 a.m. on the back roads of Moscow.
Kohberger arrived at his apartment in Pullman at 5:30 a.m. However, he left and returned to the scene of the crime at around 9 a.m. He was there for about 10 minutes. He actually went back.
When he got back to his apartment again, he took the infamous smiling selfie.
After the murders, the criminology grad student tried to cover his tracks. He attempted to delete the history of his purchase of the knife on Amazon. He also changed his car registration at the DMV from an out-of-state Pennsylvania registration to an Idaho one. That would add a license plate to the front of his car, something which wasn’t seen in any security footage. Hmm.
About the knife… the prosecution confirmed they never recovered it. In all the months of investigation. Maybe Kohberger will tell everyone what happened now?
Entin said throughout the entire hearing, Kohberger showed “zero expressions or emotion.” Even as the names of each victim were repeated. The reporter said his parents didn’t cry but looked sad. Their son, however, looked “STONE COLD.”
Ultimately Hippler accepted the plea deal. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 23. That morning family members of the victims will be able to speak to the court.
[Image via Latah County Sheriff’s Office/Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram.]
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