‘Sit up straight while I talk to you': Idaho university massacre victims confront killer in court

Telegraph

4 days ago

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.