Idaho Killer Sentenced to Life Without Parole

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, born November 21, 1994, is a former Ph.D. criminology student at Washington State University (WSU) who gained national attention as the suspect in the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students—Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen—in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. In July 2025, he pled guilty in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole plus a fixed 10-year term for burglary[1][2][6]. Kohberger grew up near the Pocono Mountains in rural Pennsylvania as the youngest of three children. His youth was marked by academic success alongside personal challenges, including substance use, social difficulties, and later diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He earned an associate degree in psychology from Northampton Community College and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from DeSales University. In summer 2022, he moved to Pullman, Washington, to start his criminology Ph.D. at WSU, which is close to the University of Idaho campus where the murders occurred[1][2][5]. At WSU, Kohberger was also a teaching assistant and reportedly had a contentious reputation among peers, particularly female students. His academic focus was criminology, a field that studies criminal behavior and the justice system, though experts caution against linking his scholarship directly to the crime[3][4]. The murders profoundly impacted the local community and received widespread media coverage. Kohberger’s case remains notable for the proximity of his studies to the crime scene and the severity of the offenses, which continue to be studied in law enforcement and criminal justice circles[6].