Bryan Kohberger sentenced to life in prison without parole: Live updates after victims' families tell Idaho killer ‘you're gonna go to hell'

Yahoo

23-07-2025

Bryan Kohberger, the man who pleaded guilty earlier this month to killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The murder victims — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. Prosecutors laid out key DNA evidence, surveillance footage and cellphone records that linked Kohberger to the killings.
Kohberger, 30, was expected to go through a lengthy and highly publicized trial in August. But in a surprise turn of events, Kohberger pleaded guilty on July 2 to murdering the four students as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
Follow the live blog below for the latest updates on what's happening in court from our own reporting, as well as various reporters and news organizations, including CNN, NewsNation, NBC News and the Associated Press.
Judge Steven Hippler asked Kohberger if he wanted to make a statement to the courtroom following emotional victim impact statements.
He replied: "I respectfully decline."
After the impact statements concluded, prosecutor Bill Thompson addressed the court, explaining why the state struck a plea deal with Kohberger instead of going to trial.
Thompson said that by pleading guilty and waiving his right to appeal, the state would likely avoid "decades" of court proceedings in the case.
"Not everybody agreed with the decision we made," he said, acknowledging some disagreements among the families. "I accept that."
"It is time for the judicial system to impose final judgment and close the chapter on these tragedies," Thompson said, becoming emotional the longer he spoke.
"We can't undo and we can never undo the horror that occurred," he added. "From today forward, our memories should be focused on these innocent victims whose lives were taken, on their families, on their friends, on the community."
Victim impact statements have concluded for the sentencing hearing. The court heard from the families of three of the four victims: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.
The family of Ethan Chapin did not attend the hearing.
Cara Northington, Xana Kernodle's mom, said in her statement to Kohberger that she forgives him.
"Jesus has allowed me to forgive you for murdering my daughter without you even being sorry or asking for this," she said.
"This forgiveness has released me from any and all evil you have inflicted on my family ... I am washing my hands of you and turning you over to my lord and savior Jesus Christ whom vengeance belongs to."
Unlike some of the other relatives of the victims, Xana Kernodle's stepfather, Randy Davis, did not speak directly to Kohberger, at least not at first.
"This is probably the last time we're all gonna be in the same room together," he said, turning to the people in the courtroom. "I love you all, and I feel your pain. And just, God bless us all."
Davis said he had prepared remarks but decided against using them because he'd probably "get kicked out" of court.
After sharing a brief anecdote with the gallery, Davis turned to address Kohberger.
"I don't know what my limits are here, but I'm really struggling, dude," Davis said.
He told Kohberger he would like to have "five minutes out in the woods" with him.
"You're gonna go to hell," Davis said. "I know people believe in other stuff, but you're evil."
Xana Kernodle's dad, Jeff, shared a moment on the flight to Idaho to attend the sentencing hearing when a little girl was calling out for her dad. He said he heard Xana calling out for him, just like she did when she was 5 years old.
"I miss Xana a lot. My life has been changed."
Xana's dad later said he was just miles away on Nov. 13, 2022, and that he was going to go over to the house in Moscow because Xana wasn't feeling well. He didn't go because he didn't want to get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. He regrets not going. "They would have had a chance, all four of them."
Jazzmin Kernodle, Xana Kernodle's older sister, said she wasn't sure she was going to speak at Kohberger's sentencing hearing.
"But in the end, I realized this moment isn't about you," she said. "It's about justice for Xana, Ethan, Kaylee and Maddie. It's about honoring the beautiful people they were."
Jazzmin said that on the night of the killings, "a piece of my heart was ripped away."
"Although I'm her older sister, I often found myself looking up to her," she said. "She had a radiant energy that everyone loved."
"There's no way to ever fully describe the weight of losing my sister and my best friend," Jazzmin told the court. "No sentence or punishment will ever come close to the justice Xana, Ethan, Kaylee and Maddie deserve."
The families of Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle have been angry with prosecutors over Kohberger's plea deal — and they made it clear during their victim impact statements in court on Wednesday.
Following Kohberger's guilty plea, a statement from the Goncalves family read: 'This plea did not represent the victims families it represented an easy way out and no answers. Everyone loves the justice system until you get involved in it. Then you really see that most of the time the cases and resolutions have nothing to do with the victims. At least that was our experience. We will move on to sentencing and will be hopeful that the Court will allow for some much needed grace moving forward and finally the family won't have to deal with the bumbling Latah County prosecution team."
Jeff Kernodle, Xana's father, said in a statement on July 2, 'I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions and provide answers to the many questions that still remain, especially where evidence is missing or unclear."
The courtroom is breaking for 10 minutes.
Kaylee Goncalves's mom, Kristi, spoke directly to Kohberger in her victim impact statement.
"This isn't about you. It's about what you've done to me, and I need you to hear it," she said. "When you murdered my daughter, Kaylee J. Goncalves, you didn't just take her life, you shattered others.
"I live with a constant ache, with birthdays that are now memorials, with holidays that feel hollow, with empty chairs that scream louder than words ever could. I am forever changed."
Goncalves referenced Idaho's death by firing squad method, which is set to become the state's primary form of execution next year.
"While I'm disappointed the firing squad won't get to take their shots at you, I'm confident that the men in prison will have their way with you in more ways than one."
Kaylee Goncalves's sister, Alivea Goncalves, continued to address Kohberger directly.
"Sit up straight while I talk to you," she said, before running through a list of questions she had for him.
'How was your life right before you murdered my sisters? Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling at the time,' she said. 'Why did you choose my sisters? Before making your move, did you approach my sisters? Do you tell what you were thinking and feeling before leaving the home? Is there anything else you did?"
Alivea Goncalves then berated her sister's killer.
'If you were really smart, do you think you'd be here right now?' she said. 'You didn't win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are. You're a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser,'
"If you hadn't attacked them in their sleep in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f***ing ass," she said to applause as she concluded her remarks.
NewsNation reporter Brian Entin wrote on X that Alivea Goncalves said "Kohberger was clenching his jaw while she spoke to him," and said it "seemed like he was forgetting to blink."
Kaylee Goncalves's older sister, Alivea, spoke directly to Bryan Kohberger in her statement, which she began by saying:
"I'm not here to speak in grief. I'm here to speak in truth. Because the truth is my sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take," Goncalves said while she looked at Kohberger.
"They were not yours to study, to stalk or to silence."
"Disappointments like you thrive on pain. I won't feed your beast. Instead, I will call you what you are. Sociopath. Psychopath. Murderer."
Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, addressed Kohberger directly.
"Today, we are here to finish what you started," he said. "Today, you've lost control. Today, we are here to prove to the world that you picked the wrong families.
"You tried to break our community apart. You tried to plant fear. You tried to divide us. You failed," Goncalves continued. "Instead your actions have united everyone in their disgust for you.
"Today you have no name," Goncalves said. Kohberger remained expressionless as Goncalves spoke.
He mocked Kohberger for leaving evidence, including DNA, behind, which helped lead to his arrest.
"Master's degree? You're a joke," Goncalves said. "A complete joke."
Ben Mogen, Madison Mogen's father, started off his statement by acknowledging that not all of the victims' families agree with Kohberger's plea deal.
"I know it's not the resolution that everyone wanted, but I think that everyone worked so hard and we appreciate all their efforts. It was such a hard thing to go through for everybody," Mogen said.
"Maddie was my only child that I ever had. She was the only great thing I ever really did and the only thing I was really ever proud of," he said.
Mogen said his daughter encouraged him to do his best and live on, saying he went through a lot of issues with addiction. "When I didn't want to live anymore, she is what kept me here."
Kim Cheeley, Madison Mogen's paternal grandmother, offered bittersweet memories of her first grandchild.
Cheeley said that she was first known as Nana to Maddie. But when Maddie was a year and a half old, she decided to call her grandmother Deedle Beetle, which just happened to be the phrase the child used for bananas.
When Maddie was 6, the nickname was shortened to Deedle, Cheeley said.
"I was Deedle all of her life. I don't think her stepdad, Scottie, ever knew my given name was Kim," Cheeley said, drawing laughter in a rare moment of levity during the hearing.
Cheeley later described the anxiety she initially experienced in the aftermath of Maddie's murder.
"The fear was truly debilitating," she told the court.
The Mogen family's attorney read a statement on behalf of Karen Laramie, Madison Mogen's mother, to be entered into the record.
"For me and our extended family, Maddie was our hope and our light. Her beauty both outside and in shone its light upon everyone with whom she came in contact. She carried that hope and light into the future for our entire family," Laramie's statement said.
"For Maddie's sake, we will move on. We will do our best to carry Maddie's light into this world and make it a better place."
Madison Mogen's stepdad, Scott Laramie, was the third to read a victim impact statement on behalf of him and his wife, Karen.
"Karen and I are ordinary people but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie. She was taken by evil," Laramie read.
"First we felt disbelief, then disorientation, and then grief overcame us."
In the last few thoughts of his statement, Laramie read: "Evil does not deserve time or attention. We are done being victims. We are taking back our lives."
Dylan Mortensen, one of two surviving roommates, delivered her impact statement next.
Mortensen cried as she read her prepared remarks, as Kohberger looked on.
Her friends, she said, are gone "because of him."
'What happened that night changed everything,' Mortensen said. 'Four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.'
She described the debilitating panic attacks she has suffered in the years since the murders.
'I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't stop shaking," Mortensen said. "All I can do is scream, because the emotional pain and the grief is too much to handle on my chest."
"While I will still live with this pain, at least I get to live my life," Mortensen said, concluding her remarks. "He will stay here empty, forgotten and powerless."
Bethany Funke is one of two surviving roommates. Her friend Emily Alandt read a victim statement on her behalf.
"Never in a million years would I have thought that something like this would have happened to our closest friends,' Alandt read.
Funke said the murders on Nov. 13, 2022, have left her terrified, and she slept in her parents' room for nearly a year. Since that night, she said the social media impact has made all of this a lot worse, even receiving death threats for not calling 911 right away. She hasn't been able to sleep through the night and wakes up in panic, worrying that someone is trying to break in or trying to hurt someone she loves.
"That was the worst day of my life and I know it always will be," Alandt read through tears.
Bryan Kohberger entered the courtroom for his sentencing wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and took a seat at the defense table. He looked straight ahead and did not react as the first impact statement was read.
According to NBC News, Kohberger's mother was seen quietly weeping in the courtroom.