Bryan Kohberger admits to killing 4 Idaho students but motive remains unclear

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A criminal justice student who avoided a potential death sentence by pleading guilty Wednesday to the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students carefully planned the attack for months and took multiple steps to cover his tracks, the lead prosecutor said.

Bryan Kohberger, who was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, pleaded guilty to murder in the killings that terrified the Idaho campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Kohberger remained impassive as he admitted to breaking into a rental home through a kitchen sliding door and killing the four friends who appeared to have no connection with him. Prosecutors did not reveal a motive behind the slayings.

The killings initially baffled law enforcement and unnerved the rural college town of Moscow, which hadn’t seen a murder in five years until Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed each was stabbed multiple times.

In the two years since Kohberger’s arrest, his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and challenged DNA evidence, leaving a plea deal their final alternative to spare his life before the start of a trial in August.

At least one of the families opposed the plea deal that calls for Kohberger to serve four life sentences and removes his ability to appeal. But others supported the agreement, saying they were ready to begin healing.

Family members became increasingly emotional as Idaho Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler explained each charge to Kohberger, naming each victim individually. Some cried into tissues, while other wiped tears away with their hands.

As Kohberger pleaded guilty, some in the family section looked down and others craned to see him. The judge set the official sentencing for July 23.

Hippler said as the hearing began that he would not take into account public opinion when deciding whether to accept the agreement.

“This court cannot require the prosecutor to seek the death penalty, nor would it be appropriate for this court to do that,” he said.

The families left the courthouse without directly speaking to media gathered outside.

The plea hearing provided a few new details about the killings but key questions remained, including why Kohberger spared two other roommates.

After breaking into the home, he climbed to the third floor where he first killed Mogen and Goncalves together, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said Wednesday.

He then ran into Kernodle, who was still awake after getting a Door Dash order, and stabbed her and her boyfriend, Chapin, who was still asleep, Thompson said. There were no signs of sexual assault, he said.

Police have said they used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect and accessed cellphone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings.

At the time, Kohberger had just completed his first semester at Washington State and was a teaching assistant in the criminology program.

Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, weeks later. Thompson said investigators recovered a Q-tip from the garbage at his parents’ house to match Kohberger’s DNA to genetic material from a knife sheath found at the crime scene.

Online shopping records showed that Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier — as well as a sheath like the one found at the scene.

The county prosecutor said the murder weapon has not been found and revealed new details about how Kohberger tried to cover up the killings.

He bought another knife sheath to replace the one left at the home and scrubbed his apartment and office, Thompson said. His car had been “pretty much disassembled” and he changed its registration, Thompson said.

“The defendant has studied crime,” Thompson said. “In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his Ph.D., and he had that knowledge skill set.”

There was no indication he had a relationship with any of the victims, who all were friends and members of the university’s Greek system.

Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video show that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings, and that he traveled in the same area that night.

Kohberger’s lawyers had said he was simply on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed.

Although the Goncalves family opposed the agreement and sought to stop it, they also argued that any deal should have required Kohberger to make a full confession, detail the facts of what happened and provide the location of the murder weapon.

"We deserve to know when the beginning of the end was,” they wrote in a Facebook post.

Kaylee Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, left the courthouse before Kohberger entered the courtroom. “I’m just getting out of this zoo,” he told reporters.

The family of Chapin — one of three triplets who attended the university together — supports the deal, their spokesperson, Christina Teves, said this week.

Attorney Leander James read a statement from Mogen’s mother and stepfather after the guilty pleas that said they supported the agreement.

“While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they respect our belief that this is the best outcome for the victims, their families and the state of Idaho,” the family said.

“We now embark on a new path,” they said. “We embark on a path of hope and healing.”

Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Nicholas Ingram and Rebecca Boone in Boise; Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.

Karen and Scott Laramie, the mother and stepfather of Madison Mogen, listen as their attorney Leander James makes a statement to members of the media outside the Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Father of Kaylee Goncalves, Steve Goncalves, hugs mother Kristi Goncalves after Bryan Kohberger's plea deal hearing on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Brian Kohberger, charged in the murders of four University of Idaho students, appears at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)

Brian Kohberger, charged in the murders of four University of Idaho students, appears at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)

Brian Kohberger, charged in the murders of four University of Idaho students, appears at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)

The family of Ethan Chapin including mother Stacy Chapin and father Jim Chapin walk to the Ada County Courthouse for Bryan Kohberger's plea deal hearing on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Members of the media stand outside the Ada County Courthouse for the Bryan Kohberger plea deal hearing on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

An empty lot stands on Monday, June 30, 2025, at the site where four University of Idaho students were killed in November 2022 inside a house in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

An empty lot stands on Monday, June 30, 2025, at the site where four University of Idaho students were killed in November 2022 inside a house in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

A flower and a candle were left below the name plaque for Xana Kernodle, one of the four University of Idaho students killed in November 2022 at their off campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

FILE - A flyer seeking information about the killings of four University of Idaho students who were found dead is displayed on a table along with buttons and bracelets on Nov. 30, 2022, during a vigil in memory of the victims in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)