Bryan Kohberger to plead guilty to killing 4 University of Idaho students, multiple media report

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter, according to ABC News.

Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.

Goncalves’ family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: “We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.”

Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge on Monday ordered that three people whose testimony has been requested by defense attorneys will have to travel to Idaho to appear at the trial of a man accused of stabbing to death four college students in 2022.

The defense subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Bryan Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger’s and a third man whose significance was not explained.

The 30-year-old Kohberger, who was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, weeks after the November 2022 killings, is accused of sneaking into a rental home in Moscow, Idaho, not far from the University of Idaho campus, and attacking Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

The deaths shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.

A prison official came to court with records from Kohberger’s stay in the Monroe County Correctional Facility after he was arrested, although the subpoena hearing was continued because he must still provide a statement attesting to their authenticity.

Common Pleas Judge Arthur Zulick also continued for a week the hearing regarding a subpoena for Ralph Vecchio, who owns a car dealership where Kohberger’s parents purchased a Hyundai Elantra in 2019.

There was uncertainty about whether the subpoena was directed at Vecchio or at his father, who owned the business at the time of the purchase. The judge said prosecution witness subpoenas will also be at issue next week.

A sixth witness’ hearing had previously been rescheduled for next week because of a travel conflict, and the seventh person sought by the defense consented last week to travel to Idaho for the trial expected to begin in August.

Brandon Andreola argued unsuccessfully that his subpoena should be canceled, saying he is his family’s sole breadwinner and is worried publicity might lead to him losing his job.

Andreola said his “relationship with Bryan Kohberger has been minimal and distant since high school,” with their last “significant interaction” taking place in 2020, two years before the stabbings.

“If I’m brought out there, I believe the attention will be multiple times greater than the attention that I’ve received already,” Andreola argued.

Jesse Harris said he trained Kohberger as a 15- or 16-year-old at a boxing gym but does not think he has testimony that will help the case. Harris also said a relative’s health problems were an issue and he is needed to run a small construction company.

Zulick approved the summonses for Andreola and Harris, along with a third one for witness Anthony Somma, who did not oppose it. Zulick said Harris can return to his courtroom if his family member’s health issues become a barrier to Harris’ ability to travel to Idaho.

Kohberger’s trial on four counts of murder and one count of burglary is on track to begin Aug. 11 in Boise, Idaho, after a judge declined his lawyer’s request for a delay last week.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed.

Kohberger was silent during his arraignment, prompting a judge to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.

A gag order has largely kept attorneys, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. The defense team’s lawyer in the Monroe County Courthouse on Monday, Abigail Parnell, declined to comment.