Bryan Kohberger Sentencing: Victim's Family Reacts to His Silence
Originally appeared on E! Online
Nearly three years after the Idaho murders, Bryan Kohberger is remaining silent.
Before the 30-year-old was formally sentenced for killing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle in an off-campus home in November 2022, he told Judge Steven Hippler he “respectfully” declined to speak.
Upon hearing this, a family member of one of the victims, said, per NBC News, “Surprise, surprise.”
Meanwhile, Judge Hippler also expressed disdain toward Kohberger, calling him the “worst of the worst.”
“Even in pleading guilty, he has given nothing hinting at remorse or redemption, nothing suggesting a recognition, an understanding or even a regret for the pain that he has caused,” the judge said before sentencing Kohberger. “Therefore I will not attempt to speak about him further other than to simply sentencing him."
Kohberger was given a life sentence—to be served consecutively—without the possibility of parole for each count of his four counts of first-degree murder, accompanied with a $50,000 fine for each count and a $5,000 civil penalty to be paid to the families of the victims. He was also sentenced to 10 years and imposed a fine of $50,000 on the count of burglary.
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Amid his sentencing, family members of several of the victims made statements to the court, as well as surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke.
Earlier this month, Kohberger signed a confession to all four killings of students, as well as one count of burglary, just days after accepting a plea deal that removed the death penalty as a possible sentence in exchange for the inability to appeal or ask for a more lenient punishment.
In his confession, the former criminology student chose to “hereby admit responsibility” for the “killing and murder” of the four victims, with the crimes characterized as “willful, unlawful, deliberate, with premeditation and with malice aforethought.” He also admitted guilt to committing burglary by unlawfully entering the residence where the students’ murders took place.
Following news of his plea deal, the families of the four victims expressed mixed feelings. Chapin’s family, including his parents Jim Chapin and Stacy Chapin, shared relief that the nearly three-year legal proceedings had finally come to an end.
“He’s going to get what’s coming to him,” Chapin’s father told NBC News July 14. “He’s off the streets. He can’t hurt any more kids.”
Chapin’s mother, for her part, agreed, though admitted it took a while for she and her husband—as well as their remaining children, Chapin’s 22-year-old triplet siblings Hunter and Maizie—to come to terms with it all, especially considering the gruesome nature of the college students’ deaths.
“Our initial response was like, an eye for an eye,” she added. “But we’ve spent a ton of time talking about it with prosecutors, and for us, we always felt like this was a better deal. He gets put away, and there’s no appeal system to it. And there were so many kids, including our own, that had been subpoenaed that no longer have this hanging over their heads.”
Meanwhile, the Goncalves family were disappointed in the Idaho legal system’s decision, saying it had “failed” their family after Kohberger’s plea deal was announced. Indeed, Goncalves’ parents, Kristi Goncalves and Steve Goncalves, admitted they had hoped to send a message when Kohberger’s case went to trial.
“If you come after kids, people are going to put their foot down,” Goncalves’ father said during an appearance on Today July 18, “and they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that whoever did that it held to the highest accountability that there is.”
Still, the Goncalves family is trying to continue to move forward.
“We’re just trying to wrap our heads around this new development,” her father added. “We’re still a family, we still have to take care of ourselves. We’re moving on.”
Although it might not have been the ideal outcome for everyone hurt by Kohberger’s actions, the victims’ families are finally getting some closure. Keep reading for a look back at how Kohberger's case unfolded…
Who Were Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle?
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were University of Idaho students who lived in an off-campus apartment.
On Nov. 12, 2022—the night before their bodies were found—Goncalves and Mogen were at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin were at the latter’s fraternity party. By 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, the four roommates and Chapin were back at the three-story rental house.
Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. She was expected to graduate in December before heading to Austin, Texas, for a job at a marketing firm, her friend Jordyn Quesnell told The New York Times.
Mogen, who was studying marketing, was best friends with Goncalves since the sixth grade. She had plans to move to Boise after graduation, family friend Jessie Frost shared with The Idaho Statesman.
Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing, the University said at the time. She and Chapin—who majored in recreation, sport and tourism management—had been dating since the spring, the roommates’ neighbor Ellie McKnight told NBC News.
Were There Any Survivors?
Two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, had been home at the time of the murders. In text messages that were unsealed March 6, 2025, Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates on Nov. 13 after the former saw a masked man moving through the house, according to documents obtained by E! News.
"No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. "I'm rlly confused rn."
She continued to reach out to their roommates, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??"
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call was placed after Kernodle was found unresponsive, per an additional motion obtained by E! News. A woman named A1 in the transcript described the current situation to the operator.
"One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," she said on the phone. "They saw some man in their house last night."
Who Is Bryan Kohberger and How Was He Found?
Bryan Kohberger, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Over one month after the bodies of Gonclaves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were discovered, Kohberger was taken into custody Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Penn. He was extradited to Idaho Jan. 4, 2023.
As for how authorities connected him to the killings? DNA was found on a knife sheath that was left at the crime scene, prosecutors revealed in June 2023 court documents, per NBC News.
When the DNA didn't match anyone in the FBI database, authorities ran the DNA through public ancestry websites to create a list of potential suspects, according to the filings. After learning that Kohberger had driven to his parents' home in Monroe County, local officials then went through their trash and found DNA that tied him to that found on the sheath.
What Was Kohberger’s Initial Defense?
At the moment, a motive for the attack has not been detailed and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly, NBC News reported. However, the unsealed documents provided some insight into their initial arguments.
Kohberger's attorneys argued in a motion obtained by E! News to strike the death penalty that Kohberger—who initially faced death penalty if found guilty on all counts—has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment."
His defense argued that Kohbereger "displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions."
"Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," the motion said. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability."
Where Was the Trial Set?
Initially, Kohberger had a judge enter a not-guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his May 2023 arraignment. Although his trial was set to begin Oct. 2, 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023.
His trial date—which was scheduled to take place in Ada County, more than 300 miles from Latah County, where the killings took place—was set to begin Aug. 11, 2025.
Latah County Judge John Judge previously ruled in favor of the transfer request made by Kohberger's defense in September 2024 based on "presumed prejudice" if the trial remained in Latah County.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense's request to suppress key DNA and other evidence, including cell phone and email records, surveillance footage, past Amazon purchases and DNA evidence in the trial.
What Was the Verdict in the Trial?
Kohberger's murder trial was abruptly canceled after he took a plea deal from prosecutors on June 30, 2025. In accepting the deal, Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of murder and one count of burglary, as well as waive his rights to appeal and ask for a more lenient prison sentence.
He entered his guilty plea on July 2, 2025, confirming with a "yes" after the judge asked if he killed all four victims "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought."
Did Kohberger Take a Selfie After the Murders?
A selfie Kohberger took the morning after the murders took place was introduced in March 2025. The photograph, which sees him in front of a shower showing a thumbs up, displays how he may fit the description a witness identified as "D.M." gave in filings, who said the perpetrator had "bushy eyebrows."
Steve Gonclaves, the father of victim Kaylee, later reacted to the image calling it a "trophy" in an interview with Fox and Friends.
"I know the timeline, I know that he had just returned to the crime scene and he had come back," Gonclaves said. "He had realized that nobody had called 911."
As he put it, "To him, that’s his little trophy to let him know like, ‘Hey, I got away with it, nobody’s on me.’”
What Did Kohberger Google Before the Murders?
In a 2025 Dateline documentary about the murders, a former classmate of Kohberger’s detailed a “peculiar” text she received from him after making his acquaintance at a party.
“I definitely felt a little obligated to chat with him, because to me, he seemed a little awkward,” the student—identified as Holly—explained. “Kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends.”
The following day, Holly said she received a text from him, which she described as overly formal.
“Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday,” Bryan’s text from July 10, 2022 at 1:19 p.m., read, per Dateline. “I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know. Thanks!”
Elsewhere in the Dateline documentary, Kohberger’s browsing history was found to have included searches for Ted Bundy, Britney Spears’ song “Criminal,” and the term “University of Idaho Murders.”
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