10 Takeaways From Idaho Killer's Sentencing Hearing

New York Times

6 days ago

Bryan Kohberger sat in a courtroom in Boise, Idaho, for more than three hours on Wednesday, rarely changing his expression as he listened to emotional speeches from more than a dozen people condemning him for the murders of four University of Idaho students more than two years ago.
Among the speakers were relatives of the victims, two roommates who survived the November 2022 attack, a prosecutor who built the case against him and the judge who sentenced him at the end of the hearing.
Mr. Kohberger said almost nothing throughout the process. His sentence: four consecutive life terms with no opportunity for parole, a punishment that the lead prosecutor called 'a life and death sentence' because it ensured he would die in prison.
Now 30, Mr. Kohlberger was a Ph.D. student at Washington State University at the time of the killings, which spread fear through the neighboring college town where they occurred, Moscow, Idaho.
Investigators had been under a strict gag order for much of the time since he was taken into custody in December 2022, but it was lifted last week and they held a news conference for the first time on Wednesday, following the sentencing hearing, during which they disclosed some new details.
Here's what to know.
When asked toward the end of the hearing by Judge Steven Hippler if he would like to make a statement, Mr. Kohberger leaned forward in his chair and said just three words: 'I respectfully decline.'
'Coward,' someone from the courtroom audience cried out.
Judge Hippler, in comments before delivering the sentence, said that while he shared the desire to know why Mr. Kohberger had murdered the four students, he did not believe that any answer the killer provided could be believed or would be satisfactory. The prosecutor, Bill Thompson, also said he believed that inviting the killer to explain his crimes would only allow him to shape his own narrative.
Investigators said at the news conference after the hearing that they had never been able to identify a motive.
In the sentencing hearing, the public heard for the first time from the two other people who were in the house in Moscow, Idaho, when Mr. Kohberger killed Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Much attention has focused on why neither had called 911 until more than seven hours after the killings — particularly since one, Dylan Mortensen, saw a masked man walking through the house around 4 a.m., roughly the time of the killings.
Ms. Mortenson said she had been haunted ever since, afraid to even close her eyes at night.
The other roommate, Bethany Funke, wrote a statement that was read in court by a friend in which she said she felt guilt over not doing more but had been unaware of what had taken place upstairs.
'If I had known, I, of course, would have called 911 right away,' she said. 'I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away, even though I understand it wouldn't have changed anything, not even if the paramedics had been right outside the door.'
Judge Hippler called both roommates courageous and said 'uncaring people' had come up with absurd theories about their behavior that night.
When Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, stood to give his victim impact statement, he grasped the lectern with both hands and turned it 90 degrees, so that he could speak directly to Mr. Kohberger.
'You tried to divide us,' he told him. 'You failed. Instead, your actions have united everyone in their disgust for you.'
Several family members raised the possibility — or the hope — that other prisoners would assault Mr. Kohberger while he serves his sentence.
But several said they had forgiven him. One was Cara Northington, the mother of Xana Kernodle, who also said she prayed for him. But she added, 'I am washing my hands of you.'
Ms. Kernodle's uncle, Stratton Kernodle, focused on how the crime had 'tainted' Mr. Kohberger's family, making it a 'miserable thing to ever be related to him.'
And Kim Cheeley, the grandmother of Madison Mogen, said that her heart ached for the surviving roommates, the families of the other victims — and for Mr. Kohberger's family.
The family of Ethan Chapin, the fourth victim, said earlier this week that they would not be attending the hearing. They had previously expressed support for the plea agreement.
The investigative team made extensive efforts to identify some pre-existing link between Mr. Kohberger and the victims, law enforcement officials said at the news conference, but were unable to find any.
They dispelled two popular theories that have surfaced in YouTube discussions, media accounts and documentaries: that Mr. Kohberger might have interacted with some of the victims on social media or that he had met some of them at a restaurant.
'We have never to this day found a single connection between him and any of the four victims or the two surviving victims,' said Lt. Darren Gilbertson of the Idaho State Police.
The investigators also said they had looked into every aspect of a widely circulated theory that Mr. Kohberger had initially participated in Facebook discussions on the case under the username Pappa Rodger, but had concluded that it was false.
Also unanswered is a central question: Had Mr. Kohberger been targeting one of the victims?
Prosecutors have said that when he entered the students' home, he first went to a bedroom on the third floor, where he killed Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
But the investigators said on Wednesday they did not know if he had any specific target.Cpl. Brett Payne of the Moscow Police Department said it was possible that he chose the home because of its location or layout, but that investigators simply did not know.
Crucial evidence has never been found. Investigators used phone records to trace Mr. Kohberger's path after the killings and hunted for a knife along those routes, taking soil samples and searching waterways — to no avail.
'It wasn't for a lack of trying,' Lt. Gilbertson said. He said the places where the knife could have been discarded were 'endless.'
Family members of some victims had vehemently objected to a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table for Mr. Kohberger.
Mr. Thompson contended that the agreement was the best possible outcome. He noted that it resulted in Mr. Kohberger admitting guilt on all charges and that he will now remain behind bars until he dies.
'I respect the fact that, of these fine suffering people here, not everyone agreed with the decision we made,' Mr. Thompson said.
Mr. Kohberger's mother, MaryAnn, attended the hearing, sitting in the first row near her son.
During some of the victims' family statements, she grew emotional, dabbing her eyes and nose with a tissue. Other times she looked over at her son. During a break, she briefly put her head down into her hands. When Ms. Cheeley expressed sympathy for her, Ms. Kohberger's body shuddered visibly.
Mr. Kohberger and his mother had little interaction. At one point, as he entered the courtroom, he smiled at his mother. She nodded back at him.