{"id":1371,"date":"2025-06-30T22:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T22:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/?p=1371"},"modified":"2025-07-01T00:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:31:06","slug":"bryan-kohberger-accepts-plea-deal-in-idaho-student-murders-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/bryan-kohberger-accepts-plea-deal-in-idaho-student-murders-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryan Kohberger accepts plea deal in Idaho student murders case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger<\/a> has accepted a plea deal to spare his life in the murders of four University of Idaho students, two sources close to the case told Fox News Digital Monday.<\/p>\n

Kohberger, 30, is accused of killing Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in a 4 a.m. home invasion attack on Nov. 13, 2022.<\/p>\n

Goncalves’ family, in a Facebook page her parents created after the murders, condemned the deal, which spares Kohberger’s life.<\/p>\n

“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” a new post reads. “They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.”<\/p>\n

BRYAN KOHBERGER RETURNS TO COURT FOR HEARING ON PILE OF EVIDENCE HE WANTS THROWN OUT BEFORE TRIAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Members of Kernodle’s family also condemned the plea deal. Her aunt, Kim Kernodle, told TMZ<\/a> that relatives were vehemently opposed to the idea when Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson’s office first raised it over the weekend.<\/p>\n

All four had been stabbed multiple times with a large knife. Police recovered a Ka-Bar sheath that they allege had Kohberger’s DNA on it near Mogen’s body.<\/p>\n

Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. That’s 10 miles up the road from Moscow, Idaho, where all four victims were undergrads at the University of Idaho.<\/p>\n

“By taking a plea deal, Bryan Kohberger has insulated himself from a sentence that would require his execution,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise defense attorney<\/a> who said the deal came as a surprise. “Only a jury can sentence him to death. Regardless, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of ever being in society again.”<\/p>\n

She said she hopes the process brings peace to the families after the horrifying crime.<\/p>\n

“They will not have to go through the stress of a trial and the virtually guaranteed appeal process, in the event Kohberger was convicted at trial,” Elcox told Fox News Digital. \u00a0“The judge will take his guilty plea and then set a hearing for Kohberger to be sentenced. He can absolutely expect to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”<\/p>\n

The plea deal came as a surprise \u2013 prosecutors had not telegraphed the move and fought hard to keep the death penalty on the table in pretrial proceedings.<\/p>\n

Kohberger’s defense failed repeatedly to have it removed, revealing his autism diagnosis and crying foul over discovery deadlines it claimed that prosecutors missed.<\/p>\n

“If they don’t get the why, this is the most incomprehensible deal of all time,” said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector who is following the case.<\/p>\n

If Kohberger agreed to truthfully explain what happened, that could be a reason for the deal to have materialized so unexpectedly, he said. Especially with opposition from at least one family, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ted Williams, a Fox News contributor and a former Washington, D.C. homicide detective who has been following the case since the beginning, agreed.<\/p>\n

“These four kids did not deserve to die this way, and as a part of any plea, he should be required to tell when, how and why he committed these offenses,” he told Fox News Digital. “I think that should be a part of any plea \u2013 he owes those families, and the public.”<\/p>\n

The latest development comes hours after a hearing in Pennsylvania to determine whether witnesses there can be compelled to travel to Idaho to testify in a trial<\/a> that would have started on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger has accepted a plea deal to spare his life in the murders of four University of Idaho students, two sources close to the case told Fox News Digital Monday. Kohberger, 30, is accused of killing Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1372,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions\/1372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}