Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Hey there all you true crime fans and welcome back to Colorado Crime. I'm Amanda and today's episode's going to be a little different.
[00:00:27] I'm here solo and I just wanted to talk to you heart to heart about a case that's haunted so many of us for over two years. The murders of the four University of Idaho students in the early hours of November 13, 2022.
[00:00:43] As I'm sure you're all aware, this week the case took a stunning turn.
[00:00:48] Brian Kohberger, the man charged with the brutal killings, accepted a plea deal. This plea sent shockwaves through the families, survivors and the broader public who were expecting a trial in August.
[00:01:03] So in this episode we're going to take a walk through the case, what happened that night, the investigation that followed, and what we know now about coworker's plea agreement. We'll also discuss the emotional responses from the victims families, what this means for the surviving roommates, and what coworker's life behind bars could look like.
[00:01:23] Let's start by going back to the very beginning with a brief overview.
[00:01:28] In the early hours of Sunday, November 13, 2022, four students at the University of Idaho were stabbed to death in their off campus rental home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho.
[00:01:44] The victims were 21 year old Kaylee Gonzalez, 21 year old Madison Mogan, 20 year old Zanna Kernodle, and 20 year old Ethan Chapin. They were all young, bright, full of promise. They had plans, friends, futures.
[00:02:03] And then in a matter of minutes, their lives were taken by unimaginable violence.
[00:02:09] Authorities believe the killings happened between 4am and 4:25am Two surviving roommates were in the home at the time but were unharmed.
[00:02:20] According to court documents, one of them saw a masked figure dressed in black leaving through the sliding glass door.
[00:02:28] That sighting combined with a white Hyundai Elantra caught on surveillance and DNA left on a knife sheath at the scene eventually led investigation investigators to Brian Kohberger, a then 28 year old criminology PhD student at Washington State University just 10 miles away. Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022 at his parents home in Pennsylvania. The house on King Road quickly became a crime scene, then a landmark.
[00:03:04] Journalists swarmed the neighborhood.
[00:03:06] True crime fans showed up, but to the families and the community it was a source of deep pain. In 2023, the property owner donated the house to the University of Idaho and it was demolished in December of that same year. The university later opened a healing garden and created memorial scholarships in the victims names. To many, it felt like an appropriate way to reclaim the space, not with darkness, but with remembrance.
[00:03:34] And then a bombshell hit this week. Kohberger entered a guilty plea for all four murders in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding the death penalty.
[00:03:48] He reportedly stated in court that he accepted the plea to, quote, spare the victim's families further pain, end quote. And that's a statement that many found hollow, especially considering families were reportedly not consulted before the deal was finalized. The sentencing hearing is now scheduled for July 23, 2025, where families will have the opportunity to read victim impact statements. The families of the victims have spoken out and have been very divided. Kaylee Gonzalves's family, especially her dad, Steve, has been very vocal about feeling betrayed by the process.
[00:04:28] He said the deal was presented to them at the last minute and called it a quote, hard no from their side. He later said, quote, kaylee, I'm sorry. I feel like I've failed you. I feel like I was used, end quote. This family had wanted a trial. They wanted the world to hear the details of what happened and to know the depravity that is crying co worker and just maybe they wanted a jury to decide whether co Burger should die for what he did.
[00:04:59] On the other hand, the families of Madison Mogan and Ethan Chapin have supported the plea deal.
[00:05:06] They've expressed relief that the process won't drag on for years, with appeals and hearings reopening the wound again and again.
[00:05:15] Zanna Kernodle's family hasn't spoken out as strongly, but reports suggest that they, too, were disappointed in how the deal was handled. And there's no right or wrong way for these families to grieve. There's no blueprint.
[00:05:29] There's just heartbreak.
[00:05:31] Information on the two surviving roommates has been pretty sparse. This could be a huge blessing for them. You know, on one hand, they won't have to testify in a public trial, a process that would absolutely be re traumatizing. Their roles in the investigation have already sparked such intense scrutiny online, and it's been so completely unfair for them. But this also means that if these survivors wanted to speak on their trauma and their experience and their survival, that's been taken from them. Not to say that they couldn't do news interviews or podcasts or even tiktoks about it, but essentially their legal spotlight is. Is gone. I just hope that these two survivors can move on with their lives and enjoy the privacy that the rest of us so often forget to grant survivors.
[00:06:26] So what's next?
[00:06:28] First we'll have the victim impact statements. Those will be delivered beginning on July 23rd from the families. And they will get to speak directly to Bryan Coburger and to the court before he's formally sentenced. Because Bryan Kohberger waived his right to any further appeals after sentencing, he will be transferred to whatever prison will now house him, whether that's in Idaho or out of state, to a different maximum security prison. And life in prison for Brian is going to be that life. But it's likely that he's going to be sent to the Idaho Maximum Security Institute unless he's sent out of state. But that facility is considered to be the most secure prison in Idaho.
[00:07:14] Co Burger will most likely be segregated from the general population, will be held in solitary confinement, likely in protective custody or isolation to avoid attacks from other inmates. Bryan Coburger won't be sent to death row. He gets to live. He'll get visitation, potentially gets access to books, to audiobooks, to television, Internet use. He can do video visitation with family members. He can receive mail. And that just somehow seems so unfair to me. And, and maybe, maybe you're not a, a death row supporter, and that's totally fine. I think given the depravity of the situation and the hatred and the anger, there's no chance of rehabilitation. He will never be released. It just feels like a waste of a person, a waste of money, and ultimately very, very unfair.
[00:08:05] Where does this leave us? Justice, I guess if you can call it that, now looks like a locked door in a lifetime in a prison cell.
[00:08:16] For some families, that's enough. For others, it feels like something has been stolen. Not just their children, but their chance to see the man accused of murdering them face a jury of his peers. For the survivors, silence might be safer, but it might also be very isolating.
[00:08:33] And for the community of Moscow and for all of us who watch this case unfold, there's a quiet reckoning, a reminder that in the aftermath of horror, there are no easy answers, only choices.
[00:08:51] Thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed listening this week, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to our podcasts. Please follow us on Instagram Colorado Crime Pod or on Facebook at the Colorado Crime Podcast.
[00:09:10] And I hope you have a beautiful day wherever you are.
[00:09:15] And as always, stay safe.
