Convicted killer's signed confession of University of Idaho murders revealed

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Bryan Kohberger admitted to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students in a signed confession — without giving any explanation for the savage home invasion that left Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, dead.

Kohberger, 30, confessed his intent to commit murder when he broke into the off-campus house at 1122 King Rd. in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022, according to a one-page document published by the Fourth Judicial District Court in Ada County.

The written factual basis document says the former criminology student is willing to “hereby admit responsibility” for the deaths of his four victims, who he brutally stabbed “with premeditation and with malice aforethought.”

On July 2, Kohberger appeared in a Boise courtroom, where he told the judge he was entering a guilty plea before confessing to the murder of each of his four victims.

Kohberger also pleaded guilty to a burglary charge.

Few new details about the killings were revealed as the motive and why he spared two other housemates remain a mystery to the public.

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Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson said that after Kohberger broke into the home, he went to the third floor where he first killed Mogen and Goncalves. He then ran into Kernodle, who was still awake after getting a food delivery order, and stabbed her and her boyfriend, Chapin, who was still asleep, Thompson said.

Prosecutors recommended in the plea deal that Kohberger serve four consecutive life sentences for the murder charges and an additional 10 years for the burglary charge.

In exchange, prosecutors removed the possibility of the death penalty.

The deal also says Kohberger will be unable to appeal and because he is serving “fixed” life sentences, he would never be eligible for parole.

Mogen and Chapin’s parents have voiced support for the plea deal, while the Goncalves family have vehemently opposed it.

If Kohberger had not entered a guilty plea at the July 2 hearing, the case would have proceeded to a trial as scheduled next month and the death penalty would have remained an option if the jury convicted him on any of the murder charges.

Now it is up to the judge to accept the deal, which he is not required to do by law.

The killer is behind bars at Ada County Jail awaiting his July 23 sentencing hearing. Following that, he will undergo two weeks of evaluations and assessments to determine where he will be placed in the Idaho prison system.