This is Bryan Kohberger’s signed confession for the murders of four Idaho college students in 2022 — but he still offers no explanation of why he butchered them in their sleep.
The document includes his admission that he broke into the off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
He also admits to murdering “with premeditation and with malice aforethought” Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
In messy handwriting, Kohberger crossed out the month of his confession — June — and wrote in July 1.
The four students were found murdered in their accommodation in Moscow, Idaho: (clockwise from top left) Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin. ZUMAPRESS.com
The document was signed one day before the Boise court hearing where he admitted to the murders.
Kohberger — at the time a graduate student at Washington State University 10 miles away, with no apparent connection to the victims — accepted guilt, but added nothing else.
Though Kohberger’s plea deal accepted life in prison without the possibility of parole, it spared him from facing a lengthy trial that could have revealed details about his motive.
It also spared him from facing possible execution by firing squad.
Kohberger also admits to murdering “with premeditation and with malice aforethought” Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. via REUTERS
Several family members of the victims have condemned the deal and urged the prosecution to force Kohberger to endure a trial and potentially face the death penalty.
“Idaho has failed. They failed me. They failed my whole family,” Steve Goncalves, father of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told NBC’s “Today” Show after the deal was announced.
“We’ve had faith in the system. But at this point, it is impossible not to acknowledge the truth: the system has failed these four innocent victims and their families,” Kaylee’s sister Aubrie wrote in a statement.
Attorneys for suspected murderer Bryan Kohberger and a private crime scene investigator hired by the attorneys of Bryan Kohberger were at the scene of the murders of the four University of Idaho students. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
Kohberger had been a criminology PhD student at Washington State University, a short drive from Moscow.
Although he took pains to cover his tracks, he faced an ever-growing mountain of evidence against him, including DNA on a knife sheath left at the scene, security camera footage of his car, and cellular tower records that placed him near the scene of the crime before and after the killings.
Nevertheless, maintained his innocence for years as his defense team worked to keep most of the prosecution’s evidence sealed and stall the trial for as long as possible.
Now that trial will never come – and Kohberger will be allowed to keep his secrets behind bars.
