Idaho killer is sent to prison for life, his motives still unknown

By Mike Baker and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

A judge Wednesday sentenced the killer of four Idaho college students to life in prison with no chance of parole. The killer, Bryan Kohberger, declined to speak or explain his motives — something that victims’ family members, close followers of the case and even President Donald Trump had wanted him to do.

Judge Steven Hippler described Kohberger, 30, as a “coward” who had “slithered” into a home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022 and fatally stabbed the victims. Many of the students’ friends and relatives spoke of their loss and fury, with one telling the killer to “go to hell,” and others saying they hoped he would face violence in prison.

“Because of him,” said Dylan Mortensen, one of two surviving roommates who lived with the victims, “four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”

Kohberger’s plea deal let him avoid the death penalty. As Hippler delivered four life sentences, which will run consecutively, he said there was no reasonable explanation for such crimes. “Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?”

Here’s what to know:

— The unknowns: Investigators said at a news conference after the hearing that they never found a “single connection” between Kohberger and any of the four victims or their surviving roommates. They do not know which, if any, victims he was after, or why he targeted their home. They also shot down a theory that Kohberger had been commenting on the case online before he was arrested.

— The killer: Kohberger was a doctoral student who had trained in criminology and researched high-profile murders. Investigators used DNA from a knife sheath to build a genetic family tree that led to him.

— The victims: Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, shared a three-story house in Moscow, Idaho, with their surviving roommates. Friends and family members at the sentencing hearing described the impact of their lives and lamented their loss.

— The survivors: Text messages from the hours after the killing show that the surviving roommates discussed a masked person that one of them had briefly seen inside the home. A 911 call was made more than seven hours later. The roommates addressed that time gap Wednesday in court for the first time, saying they were unaware their friends had been attacked.