Bryan Kohberger has been sentenced to four consecutive terms of life in prison after pleading guilty to the murders of four Idaho students in November 2022.
The 30-year-old former criminology student appeared expressionless in his orange jumpsuit as he sat through hours of emotional statements from relatives of the victims he killed at a hearing on Wednesday.
The case rocked the small college town of Moscow and captivated a national audience as almost two months passed before Kohberger was arrested.
“I’m unable to find anything redeemable about Mr Kohberger,” Judge Steven Hippler said while handing down his sentence. “His actions have made him the worst of the worst.”
In the early morning hours of 13 November, Kohberger stabbed to death roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in their off-campus home. Two other roommates were not physically injured.
Authorities worked for more than six weeks to catch him, using a DNA sample from a knife sheath he left at the scene of the crime as well as phone records and surveillance footage of his white car.
Eventually, Kohberger – who officials say visited the students’ Moscow residence several times before the murders – was arrested at his family home in Pennsylvania on 30 December. He also received a sentence of 10 years for burglary.
On Wednesday, when asked by the judge if he wished to speak, he replied: “I respectfully decline.” He had pleaded guilty in deal to avoid the death penalty.
Relatives of the four university students spoke for over two hours at the hearing, sharing the trauma Kohberger had inflicted on their lives.
The family members offered memories of their lost loved ones, describing the four students as bright and empathetic. Their descriptions left many in the court in tears, including the judge.
Madison Mogen was someone who listened carefully to others, her step-father, Scott Laramie, told the court.
“Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddy,” he said of him and his wife.
Kristi Goncalves, the mother of Kaylee, told Kohberger he had stolen her peace.
“You’ve altered my every waking moment,” she said.
Some took the chance to express their fury with Kohberger, including Kaylee Goncalves’ sister, Alivea, who told the defendant to “sit up straight” while she talked to him.
“You’re a textbook case of insecurity. You are not profound, you’re pathetic,” she said.
“You’re going to go to hell,” said Xana Kernodle’s step father, Randy Davis.
But one woman, an aunt of Kernodle, told Kohberger she forgave him, and that she wanted answers.
“Any time you want to talk, I’m here for you,” she said.
The court also heard statements from two of the students’ roommates who were sleeping in the house the night of the murders.
One of the roommates, Dylan Mortensen, saw the assailant in a ski mask in the hallway as he was leaving.
Sobbing as she spoke, Ms Mortensen told the court she had not been able to sleep since the murders, too afraid to close her eyes.
“People call me strong, they call me a survivor but don’t see what my new reality looks like.
“He didn’t just take their lives, he took the light they carried into every room,” she said of her four friends.
With Kohberger declining to speak, the three-hour long sentencing hearing did not provide the answers that some relatives and members of the public had long been hoping for.
ReutersMany questions remain surrounding the case – including why Kohberger, a criminology doctorate student at Washington State University, would drive to another campus a state over to brutally stab four students.
After the sentence, investigators told the media despite using “every resource possible”, they did not discover a single connection between Kohberger and his victims, or surviving roommates. There was no indication he followed them on social media, they added.
Judge Steven Hippler told the court on Wednesday he had those same questions himself, but they would likely never be answered.
“There is no reason for these crimes that could approach anything resembling rationality,” the judge said.
He said it no longer made sense to be “dependent on the defendant” to give them a reason for his crimes.
“By continuing to focus on why, we continue to give Mr Kohberger relevance,” he said. “It is time to end Mr Kohberger’s 15 minutes of fame.”
