Suspect in murders of four Idaho college students to plead guilty

FILE PHOTO: Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court, in Moscow, Idaho, US, Sept 13, 2023. Ted S. Warren/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Former criminology graduate student Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to killing four Idaho college students in 2022, a move that would spare him the death penalty under a deal with prosecutors, according to the family of one of the victims.

Kohberger, 30, was pursuing a doctoral degree in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, about 8 miles (13 km) across the border from Moscow, Idaho, where the four victims attended the University of Idaho.

In a case that drew national attention, Kohberger previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges. The three young women, who had been roommates, and a young man, who was the boyfriend of one of the women, were fatally stabbed in an off-campus house where the women lived on Nov 13, 2022.

The victims - Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho - all suffered multiple stab wounds. Two other women in the house at the time survived.

The Goncalves family, in a statement shared by their attorney, said they had received a letter from prosecutors about Kohberger agreeing to plead guilty, confirming an ABC News report from earlier on Monday.

The attorney declined to share the letter, but according to the ABC News report, Kohberger has agreed to four consecutive life sentences and has waived his right to appeal.

Citing the letter, ABC reported that prosecutors expect Kohberger to be sentenced in late July if he enters the guilty plea as planned at a hearing on Wednesday.

The Goncalves family accused the prosecutors of mishandling the plea deal.

"After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims' families on the plea's details," the Goncalves family said. "Adding insult to injury, they’re rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse for a plea on Jul 2."

Kohberger's trial was expected to start on August 18. His attorney and the Idaho attorney general's office did not immediately comment. A court administrator had no information to release.

The crime stunned the small college town of Moscow. Kohberger was arrested weeks later in Pennsylvania, where he was visiting his family, and flown to Idaho to face charges.