The quadruple homicide at the University of Idaho had shocked the entire city in November 2022. When the Moscow City Police responded to an emergency call and arrived at a house on King Road in the city’s southwest, they found four university students dead in their beds.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, were reportedly stabbed while they were asleep on the second and third floors of the house in the early hours of November 13, 2022. Two other housemates, who were asleep in separate bedrooms on the first floor, were unharmed and had been unaware of the crime that happened on the floors above them until it was too late.
It was a complicated case as the victims hadn’t been sexually assaulted, their belongings weren’t stolen and also, there was no sign of forced entry. After a thorough investigation, it was concluded that the crime was an “isolated, targeted” attack.
One month after the chilling crime, the cops made an arrest. Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania after his DNA matched to the samples recovered at the crime scene. He is a former PhD student at Washington State University.
Though the motive behind the murders remains uncertain, Kohnerger is facing four counts of first degree murder and one count of burglary. His case will go into trial on August 11, 2025, and is expected to last three months. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
However, few weeks before the commencement of his trial, the suspect, who initially pleaded ‘not guilty’ in 2023, has reportedly accepted a deal to plead guilty to all charges to avoid the death penalty. As per the plea deal agreement, he will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the murder counts, and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count. He’ll also give up his rights to appeal.
Bryan Kohberger cuts plea deal …
Will get life in prison and no death penalty pic.twitter.com/hrfWlzDZO9
— Surviving The Survivor Podcast (@PodcastSTS) June 30, 2025
As per ABC News, the decision of the accused to accept a plea deal was conveyed to the families of the victims via a letter. The Prosecutors said that they met with the available family members of the victims and “weighed the right path forward and made a formal offer” to the accused.
“This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction, appeals. Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice,” the prosecutors said, as per ABC News.
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However, the Goncalves family is upset with the deal and feel that the Prosecutor’s office “mishandled” and rushed the deal. The family wrote on their Facebook page, “We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us.”
The grieving family clarified that they “did talk to the prosecution on Friday about the POSSIBILITY of a plea deal and it was a HARD NO from our family. It was very nonchalant and barely discussed as the majority of the conversation was surrounding the upcoming trial.”
They called the plea deal “shocking and cruel” in another post. “Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world. Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever. That reality stings more deeply when it feels like the system is protecting his future more than honoring the victims’ pasts,” they added.
The family said that they aren’t seeking vengeance but asking for “accountability” and “dignity for our loved ones.”
