Bryan Kohberger sentenced to life in prison for 'unfathomable and senseless act'

Alex Brizee and Kevin Fixler, The Idaho Statesman on Jul 23, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — Bryan Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Judge Steven Hippler, of Idaho’s 4th Judicial District, sentenced the man who fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students to the maximum possible penalty — four consecutive life sentences — on four counts of first-degree murder. He will have no chance of parole or ability to appeal.

“This unfathomable and senseless act of evil has caused immeasurable pain and loss,” Hippler read in prepared remarks through emotions. “No parent should ever have to bury their child. This is the greatest tragedy that can be inflicted on a person.”

The victims were University of Idaho seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. Kohberger, now 30, attacked the four college students at an off-campus home in Moscow in November 2022.

Wednesday’s hearing marks the closure of a more than 2 1/2 years of a criminal case that shocked the college town of fewer than 30,000 people, which hadn’t seen a homicide since 2015. The four students — Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin — were found stabbed to death in a home off King Road that the three women lived in with two other female roommates, who went unharmed during the attack. Chapin was Kernoodle’s boyfriend and spent the night.

Kohberger, wearing a white T-shirt beneath an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles, sat nearly motionless throughout the hearing, seated with his public defense team.

“I am unable to come up with anything redeeming about Mr. Kohberger,” Hippler said. “His actions have made him the worst of the worse.”

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