Anna Mooney: Husband sentenced to life for murder of wife in Dublin
Gardaí were able to access the footage when an update of the software used to analyse phones allowed the device to be unlocked without a password.Mooney stabbed his wife to death in the kitchen/living room of their home.He called emergency services and when they arrived he was leaning over his wife's body.On Monday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison.He said the murder was a devastating loss for Ms Mooney's family and had caused huge damage and trauma.
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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump says he would have ‘forced' Bryan Kohberger to explain why he killed and ‘steal these innocent souls'
The White House said that if it were up to President Donald Trump, he would have 'forced' Bryan Kohberger to 'publicly explain' why he killed four Idaho college students — after the cold-blooded killer declined to share his motive during his sentencing hearing. After sharing a message from the White House to the families of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, who were brutally stabbed to death in 2022, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that if it were up to Trump, more would be done to deliver justice. "If it were up to the President, he would have forced this monster to publicly explain why he chose to steal these innocent souls,' Leavitt said, despite there being no obligation for the killer to share a motive for the crime. The horrifying November 2022 killings of the four University of Idaho students shocked the college town of Moscow and captivated national audiences due to the sheer violence with no clear motive. Kohberger maintained his innocence for over two years, up until July 2, 2025, when he abruptly took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to all four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
Telegraph
7 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘Sit up straight while I talk to you': Idaho university massacre victims confront killer in court
The sister of an Idaho university student murder victim demanded her killer 'sit up straight' while delivering a powerful victim impact statement to his sentencing hearing. A judge is expected to order Bryan Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. During a hearing on Wednesday, the families of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves described the anguish they have felt since Kohberger's murders in the early morning hours of Nov 13 2022. Alivea Goncalves ordered Kohberger to 'sit up straight when I speak to you' as she read an impassioned statement to the court in Boise, Idaho. 'I won't offer you tears, I won't offer you trembling. Disappointments like you feed on fear,' she said, labelling him 'pathetic' and a 'loser' Her furious tone was matched by the rest of her family, who expressed disappointment that Kohberger would escape the death penalty but were glad he would suffer in prison. 'You picked the wrong family, and we're laughing at you on your way to the pen,' Ms Goncalves's father, Steve, said as he moved the witness stand to face Koehberger directly, drawing applause from the courtroom. A judge ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. Judge Steven Hippler called Kohberger 'the worst of the worst' as he handed down his sentence. Choking back tears, Mr Hippler described Kohberger as a 'faceless coward' who had committed 'grotesque acts of evil'. 'Parents who brought children to college in a truck filled with moving boxes had to bring them home in hearses lined with coffins,' he said. Kohberger declined the opportunity to speak and appeared emotionless as he heard the news that he will spend the rest of his life in jail. Dylan Mortensen, a student who was in the house during the stabbings but was not targeted, described how she had to sleep in her mother's bed afterwards to cope with the fear. 'I had to sleep in my mom's bed,' she said while heaving on the stand. 'I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't stop shaking.' Bethany Funke, another roommate, issued a statement in which she described the day her four friends died as 'the worst day of my life, and I know it always will be'. Throughout their statements, Kohberger slouched in his chair and remained stoney-faced as he stared back at his victims's families. Kohberger was a graduate student at Washington State University when he broke into a nearby home being rented by a group of university students through a kitchen sliding door. He stabbed four of the students, who appeared to have no connection with him, to death. Ben Mogen, the father of Maddie Mogen, described his child who was murdered by Kohberg as 'the only great thing that I ever really did' and spoke of having to collect her university diploma on her behalf after her death. Mogen's step-father, Scott Laramie, said he would not 'waste the words' addressing Kohberger and instead spoke of his wife, Karen's, grief. 'She sometimes asked, how am I supposed to go on when I've lost my favourite person in the world,' he said. Police initially had no suspects, and the killings terrified the normally quiet community in the small, western Idaho city of Moscow. Some students at both universities left mid-semester, taking the rest of their classes online because they felt unsafe. But investigators had a few critical clues. A knife sheath left near Mogen's body had a single source of male DNA on the button snap, and surveillance videos showed a white Hyundai Elantra near the rental home around the time of the murders. Police used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect, and accessed mobile data to pinpoint his movements on the night of the killings. Online shopping records showed Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier, along with a sheath like the one at the home. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania about six weeks after the killings. He initially stood silent when asked to enter a plea, so a judge entered a 'not guilty' plea on his behalf. Both the investigation and the court case drew widespread attention. Misinformation enshrouded the case, with online detectives pointing fingers at innocent people simply because they knew the victims or lived in the same town. As the criminal case unfolded, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson announced that he would seek the death penalty if Kohberger was convicted. The court-defence team, led by attorney Anne Taylor, challenged the validity of the DNA evidence, unsuccessfully pushed to get theories about possible 'alternate perpetrators' admitted in court, and repeatedly asked the judge to take the death penalty off of the table. But those efforts largely failed, and the evidence against Kohberger was strong. With an August trial looming, Kohberger reached a plea deal. Prosecutors agreed to drop their efforts to get a death sentence in exchange for Kohberger's guilty plea to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. Both sides agreed to a proposed sentence of four consecutive life sentences without parole, plus an additional 10 years for the burglary charge. Kohberger also waived his right to appeal any issues in the case. Mr Hippler sentenced Kohberger to 10 years for burglary and four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, along with $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.
BreakingNews.ie
7 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Man sentenced to life in prison for murdering four University of Idaho students
Friends and relatives of four University of Idaho students in the US who were murdered in their rental home by Bryan Kohberger delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation as his sentencing hearing took place. 'This world was a better place with her in it,' Scott Laramie, the stepfather of Madison Mogen, told the court. 'Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie.' Advertisement The father of Kaylee Goncalves taunted Kohberger for leaving his DNA behind and getting caught despite being a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University at the time. 'You were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,' Steve Goncalves said. 'Master's degree? You're a joke.' Judge Steven Hippler ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing deaths of Ms Mogen, Ms Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin early on November 13 2022. He was also given a 10-year sentence for burglary. The defendant pleaded guilty earlier this month, just weeks before his trial was due to start, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. Advertisement Kohberger broke into the home through a kitchen sliding door and brutally stabbed the four friends, who appeared to have no connection with him. No motive has been offered, and Kohberger chose not to speak at the hearing. Dylan Mortenson, a roommate who told police of seeing a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask in the home that night, sobbed as she described how Kohberger, seated across the room in an orange jumpsuit, 'took the light they carried into each room'. 'He is a hollow vessel, something less than human,' Mr Mortenson said. 'A body without empathy, without remorse.' Mr Mortenson and another surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, described crippling panic attacks and anxiety after the attack. Advertisement 'I slept in my parents' room for almost a year, and had them double lock every door, set an alarm, and still check everywhere in the room just in case someone was hiding,' Ms Funke wrote in a statement read by a friend. 'I have not slept through a single night since this happened. I constantly wake up in panic, terrified someone is breaking in or someone is here to hurt me, or I'm about to lose someone else that I love.' Bryan Kohberger stabbed four University of Idaho students to death (Kyle Green, Pool/AP) Alivea Goncalves's voice did not waver as she asked Kohberger questions about the killings, including what her sister's last words were. She drew applause after belittling Kohberger, who remained expressionless as she insulted him. 'You didn't win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are,' Alivea Goncalves said. 'You're a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser.' Advertisement Kohberger's mother and sister also attended the hearing, sitting in the gallery near the defence table. His mother quietly wept at times as the other parents described their grief. She sobbed briefly when Maddie Mogen's grandmother said that her heart goes out to the other families, including Kohberger's. Xana Kernodle's aunt, Kim Kernodle, said she forgave Kohberger and asked him to call her from prison, hoping he would answer her lingering questions about the killings. 'Bryan, I'm here today to tell you I have forgiven you, because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart,' she said. 'And for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you. And any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number. I'm here. No judgment.' Police initially had no suspects in the killings, which terrified the rural western Idaho city of Moscow. Some students at both universities left mid-semester, taking the rest of their classes online because they felt unsafe. Advertisement A knife sheath left near ms Mogen's body had a single source of male DNA on the button snap, investigators said, and surveillance videos showed a white Hyundai Elantra near the rental home around the time of the murders. Police used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect and accessed mobile phone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings. Online shopping records showed Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier, along with a sheath like the one at the home. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania about six weeks after the killings.
