‘We’re here to finish what you started’: Families confront Bryan Kohberger as he’s sentenced to life in prison for University of Idaho murders

BOISE – The man who stabbed and killed four University of Idaho students faced the grief and anger of the victims’ family and friends Wednesday as a judge imprisoned him for life.

“I will call you what you are – sociopath, psychopath, murderer,” Alivea Goncalves told Bryan Kohberger. “… So sit up straight when I talk to you.”

As she stared into his eyes, she dared him to say why he killed the four young students.

Kohberger, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, sat expressionless and quiet, blinking back at Goncalves, the sister of murder victim Kaylee Goncalves. His motive remains unknown.

“A faceless coward reached the tranquility of (four) beautiful young people and senselessly slaughtered them,” Idaho District Judge Steven Hippler said at the sentencing. “The person that slithered through that sliding glass door … now stands before the world, and this court, unmasked.”

Kohberger, 30, bought a large knife and in November 2022 drove the 20 minutes from his Pullman apartment, where he lived while attending Washington State University, to the victims’ off-campus UI rental home on King Road in Moscow.

He entered the home in a black mask and stabbed to death Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington; and Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls.

The brutality of the slayings was outlined in new police documents released late Wednesday.

Kernodle suffered more than 50 stab wounds, including defensive wounds to her fingers and hands as she tried to fend off Kohberger’s attack.

Police wrote that Goncalves was largely unrecognizable when then found her in bed next to Mogen, her best friend and roommate, according to Moscow Police Department reports.

Investigators have not found the clothing he was wearing at the time of the murders, nor the Ka-Bar knife he used to kill them, but they were able to collect a knife sheath found at the scene that ended up having Kohberger’s DNA on it.

Following seven fearful weeks that roiled the Moscow community , the world finally learned Kohberger’s name when police arrested him at his family home Dec. 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania.

He was returned to Moscow to face murder charges, but a judge moved the trial late last year to Boise.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but Kohberger’s attorneys brokered a plea agreement last month that called for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Kohberger also waived any rights to appeal.

Latah County prosecutors met with the victims’ families about the upcoming trial and the inquiry regarding a plea.

Bill Thompson, Latah County prosecutor, said families’ opinions differed, though all were candid about their thoughts. The most vocal about their displeasure with the plea deal sparing Kohberger the death penalty was the Goncalves family. For those that voiced relief of avoiding a monthslong trial and nonstop appeals, the plea was the best-case scenario.

“It is time for the judicial system to impose final judgment and close the door on these chapters of these tragedies,” Thompson told the judge. “He is going to be escorted into the custody of Idaho Department of Corrections. And the door will close behind him forever. That is the closure that we seek.”

As he choked back tears reading the victim’s name associated with each count, Thompson showed a photo of that student.

The back-to-back-to-back-to-back life sentences were intended “to recognize and respect the unique individuality of each of these beautiful young people whose lives were taken brutally and for no reason,” according to Thompson.

While the horrors of that early November morning can never be undone or understood, Thompson said he hoped the families, the friends, the Moscow community, that state of Idaho and the country could move forward.

No one should have to take their child to college and bring them home in a coffin, Hippler said Wednesday – so the “act of evil” that took the four “beautiful people” away from the world may never truly be known. Trying to find out why only gives Kohberger the power and attention he wants, Hippler said.

“There is no reason for these crimes that could approach anything resembling rationality,” he said. “… Continuing to focus on ‘why’ only gives him relevance.”

Friends, families speak

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, the two roommates left unhurt during Kohberger’s homicidal attack, said during the hearing that since the stabbings they had to sleep in their parents’ rooms, were harassed by the public and endured panic attacks after their friends were killed in the same home.

A statement from Funke, who watched as Kohberger passed by her room in the early morning hours after the killings, read in court said she believed at the time the man in the home was just a prank.

“I had no idea what happened. I woke up around 7 a.m. with a toothache and called my dad, who is a dentist. I took Advil and went back to sleep. I was still out of it … If I had known, I would have called 911 … I still have so much guilt,” she said. “I was so frantic … When I made the 911 call, I couldn’t even get out the words, and from then on, I don’t remember a thing.”

In the weeks following the attack, she was scared to be alone in the house and feared she would be “next.”

After their deaths, Funke could barely get out of bed, she said, but realized she has to go on.

“I have to live for them. They did not get the chance to keep living, but I do,” she said. “Everything I do, I do with them in mind.

“That was the worst day of my life and I know it always will be.”

Before the killings, the King Road home was a place where “we laughed until we couldn’t breathe,” Funke said. It was a place where friends enjoyed movie nights, wine nights and cookies together at the home.

Kernodle was “one in a million” and the life of the party. And Goncavles was kind, funny and loved playing pranks with a beautiful, radiant smile, Funke said. Mogen was passionate and could make anyone laugh, and was someone who “had the sweetest soul.” Chapin was so kind and easy to talk to, and people believed he and Kernodle, who had been dating for six months at the time, were “absolute soulmates.”

“Ethan was the sweetest, most genuine guy,” Funke said.

Mortensen, who entered the courtroom in tears, had to take a deep breath before powering through her emotions during her statement. Her voice shook as she spoke while sitting in one of the prosecutor’s chairs. She kept her eyes down as Thompson leaned in and gave her an apparent look of comfort.

Like Funke, Mortensen’s sense of security was shattered.

“What happened that night changed everything,” she said.

Mortensen said she was so terrified that she thought if she blinked, someone would be there. Panic attacks slammed into her like a “tsunami.” She couldn’t breathe, think or stop shaking.

“It’s my body reliving everything over and over again,” Mortensen said.

But, piece by piece, she’s learning to live a new version of life, and like Funke, refuses to give up – for herself and her friends who were killed.

She called Kohberger “less than human” and someone without empathy and remorse, but that he “will never take the memories I have with them.”

“Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason,” she told the court.

Mogen’s father, Ben Mogen, appeared visibly shaken as he walked to the podium Wednesday. Through deep pauses and breaths, he told the court that Maddie was the only child he ever had.

“(She was) the only thing I was really ever proud of,” Ben Mogen said. “I thought we would have the rest of our lives together … And I really took it for granted.”

Ben Mogen said he still has the last thing his daughter ever wrote to him, which was a Father’s Day card where she expressed how much she missed him and how proud she was of her father.

“She encouraged me to do my best,” he said. “I just love you Maddie, and I wish you were still here.”

Mogen’s stepfather, Scott Laramie, approached the stand with his wife and refused to acknowledge Kohberger.

“Her loss will continue to be felt … It helps us to know Maddie is in heaven now,” Laramie said. “But we will grow old without our only child … No words can capture the devastation of losing Maddie. We will endure and we will go on, but for Maddie, we will not let our grief consume us.”

Karen Laramie, Mogen’s mother, called her daughter “our hope and our light” in a statement read by the Laramie’s attorney. She wrote that she and the family will do their best to carry her light into the world and make it a better place. She said they cannot forgive Kohberger at this time, and may never.

“His acts are too heinous,” she wrote.

Hippler, who has overseen the case since its transfer to Boise from Moscow, thanked the Laramie couple for their courage to make a statement. In an emotional moment, he wiped tears from his eyes.

Randy Kernodle, Xana’s stepfather, shook while he spoke Tuesday. He said he wanted to show Kohberger what it’s like to lose someone – so much so, that he told Kohberger he wants to “be out in the woods” with him.

“You are going to go to hell. You are evil,” Randy Kernodle told Kohberger as he stared straight ahead. “There is no place for you in heaven. You are gonna suffer, man. I am shaking because I want to reach out to you … Go to hell.”

Cara Northington, Xana’s mother, said she was “washing my hands” of Kohberger. She said she did not share memories of her daughter because Kohberger didn’t deserve to know.

“My daughter was beautiful both inside and out,” Northington said. “She possessed love for those around her and had a light so bright it will live on forever in our hearts.”

Kim Kernodle, Xana’s aunt, said she forgave Kohberger, saying she could no longer live with hate in her heart.

She said she’s saddened she no longer gets to have her nails done with her niece and have lunch with her.

“She was that fun-loving, high-spirited, beautiful person,” Kim Kernodle said.

Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s sister, did not mince words when facing Kohberger. She threw insult after insult at him, staring back with a blank expression, with no objection from the court. She referred to Kohberger as a pathetic loser, an unimpressionable “wannabe” and a delusional person who thinks he is smarter than everyone else.

She asked Kohberger to describe what he did in detail. She asked him to describe his feelings during the crime and how he stalked and targeted the four college students. And she asked him whether or not he shaved or plucked the hairs from his eyebrows, which were noticeably thinner.

“If you were really smart, do you think you would be here right now?” she asked him. “Do you feel anything at all?”

She ended her statement the same way she began it – by looking in the eyes of her sister’s killer.

Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, redirected the podium so he could address Kohberger straight on.

“Today we are here to finish what you started,” he said. “Today, you’ve lost control. Today, we are here to prove to the world you picked the wrong families, the wrong state, the wrong police officers, the wrong community.”

He said Kohberger tried to break the community apart and plant fear, but failed – law enforcement across the country came together to help investigate the crime, work together, arrest Kohberger and “solve” the case, an example of what Steve Goncalves believed is a united front.

“We knew from the very beginning we had you,” he said.

Steve Goncalves called Kohberger “foolish” and “careless” for leaving behind clues despite his education in criminology. The world became united as well, he said, saying the world is watching because of the victims, not Kohberger.

“From this moment, we will forget you,” he said. “You picked the wrong family and we’re laughing at you on the trip to the pen.”

He called Kohberger an “absolute monster” when speaking with reporters after the hearing outside the Ada County Courthouse. He said he looked Kohberger straight in the eyes during his victim statement and saw “black holes” and anger in his face.

“When I was looking at him, we had a stare down and he’s just filled with demons,” Steve Goncalves said.

Kristi Goncalves, Kaylee’s mother, told Kohberger he not only took her daughter’s life but shattered those around her, noting he “left a trail of devastation far beyond that house.”

Kohberger stole her peace, safety and trust with his cruelty, she said.

“Joy is harder to find,” she said. “Laughter feels boring.”

She said she was disappointed Kohberger didn’t get the death penalty but hopes he will suffer in prison..

“You will be forgotten, discarded, used and erased,” she said.

Thompson asked that when Kohberger stood up after the sentencing hearing, the prison door be closed behind him forever.

“That is the closure that we seek,” he said.