Who Bryan Kohberger Planned to Accuse of Committing Idaho Murders
Bryan Kohberger was planning to accuse other people of committing his horrific murders.
Six days before the former criminology student pled guilty to the 2022 killings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler denied his attempt to introduce possible new suspects as alternate perpetrators of the crimes, according to court docs obtained by E! News.
In the filing, the judge described the connection that three of the four names provided by Kohberger had to the victims, writing that they "were each socially connected to one or more of the victims, interacted with one or more of the victims at social events in the hours prior to the homicide, lived within walking distance of the crime scene and were familiar with the layout of the victims' home from prior social events."
While noting that each of the four individuals in Kohberger’s petition cooperated with police—including providing DNA and fingerprints—Hippler also stated in the docs that the three friends lived within walking distance of the now-demolished King Road house, which ultimately conflicted with the investigation’s finding that “the perpetrator drove [a] vehicle to the crime scene,” according to the court docs.
Though none of Kohberger’s possible new suspects were identified in court filings, documents from the Moscow Police Department obtained by E! News suggested that one of the individuals could have been victim Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend.
According to the authorities' report, an individual identified as J.D. "was scheduled to provide fingerprints” to police on May 29, 13 days after Kohberger’s motion containing the possible new suspects was filed, per the documents.
Meanwhile, in a November 2022 interview with police, a friend of Goncalves described someone named J.D. as an ex-boyfriend with whom she had “no apparent issues,” according to other police records obtained by E! News. Plus, the documents stated that Goncalves shared her dog Murphy with that same ex.
Following the judge’s denial of the defense’s alternate suspects, Kohberger pled guilty to all four murders as part of a plea deal and was sentenced to life in prison on July 23 without the possibility of parole.
Read on for more details from the Idaho murders case.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were University of Idaho students who lived in an off-campus apartment.
On Nov. 12, 2022—the night before their bodies were found—Goncalves and Mogen were at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin were at the latter’s fraternity party. By 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, the four roommates and Chapin were back at the three-story rental house.
Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. She was expected to graduate in December before heading to Austin, Texas, for a job at a marketing firm, her friend Jordyn Quesnell told The New York Times.
Mogen, who was studying marketing, was best friends with Goncalves since the sixth grade. She had plans to move to Boise after graduation, family friend Jessie Frost shared with The Idaho Statesman.
Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing, the University said at the time. She and Chapin—who majored in recreation, sport and tourism management—had been dating since the spring, the roommates’ neighbor Ellie McKnight told NBC News.
Two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, had been home at the time of the murders. In text messages that were unsealed March 6, 2025, Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates on Nov. 13 after the former saw a masked man moving through the house, according to documents obtained by E! News.
"No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. "I'm rlly confused rn."
She continued to reach out to their roommates, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??"
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call was placed after Kernodle was found unresponsive, per an additional motion obtained by E! News. A woman named A1 in the transcript described the current situation to the operator.
"One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," she said on the phone. "They saw some man in their house last night."
Bryan Kohberger, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Over one month after the bodies of Gonclaves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were discovered, Kohberger was taken into custody Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Penn. He was extradited to Idaho Jan. 4, 2023.
As for how authorities connected him to the killings? DNA was found on a knife sheath that was left at the crime scene, prosecutors revealed in June 2023 court documents, per NBC News.
When the DNA didn't match anyone in the FBI database, authorities ran the DNA through public ancestry websites to create a list of potential suspects, according to the filings. After learning that Kohberger had driven to his parents' home in Monroe County, local officials then went through their trash and found DNA that tied him to that found on the sheath.
At the moment, a motive for the attack has not been detailed and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly, NBC News reported. However, the unsealed documents provided some insight into their initial arguments.
Kohberger's attorneys argued in a motion obtained by E! News to strike the death penalty that Kohberger—who initially faced death penalty if found guilty on all counts—has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment."
His defense argued that Kohbereger "displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions."
"Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," the motion said. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability."
Initially, Kohberger had a judge enter a not-guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his May 2023 arraignment. Although his trial was set to begin Oct. 2, 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023.
His trial date—which was scheduled to take place in Ada County, more than 300 miles from Latah County, where the killings took place—was set to begin Aug. 11, 2025.
Latah County Judge John Judge previously ruled in favor of the transfer request made by Kohberger's defense in September 2024 based on "presumed prejudice" if the trial remained in Latah County.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense's request to suppress key DNA and other evidence, including cell phone and email records, surveillance footage, past Amazon purchases and DNA evidence in the trial.
Kohberger's murder trial was abruptly canceled after he took a plea deal from prosecutors on June 30, 2025. In accepting the deal, Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of murder and one count of burglary, as well as waive his rights to appeal and ask for a more lenient prison sentence.
He entered his guilty plea on July 2, 2025, confirming with a "yes" after the judge asked if he killed all four victims "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought."
A selfie Kohberger took the morning after the murders took place was introduced in March 2025. The photograph, which sees him in front of a shower showing a thumbs up, displays how he may fit the description a witness identified as "D.M." gave in filings, who said the perpetrator had "bushy eyebrows."
Steve Gonclaves, the father of victim Kaylee, later reacted to the image calling it a "trophy" in an interview with Fox and Friends.
"I know the timeline, I know that he had just returned to the crime scene and he had come back," Gonclaves said. "He had realized that nobody had called 911."
As he put it, "To him, that’s his little trophy to let him know like, ‘Hey, I got away with it, nobody’s on me.’”
In a 2025 Dateline documentary about the murders, a former classmate of Kohberger’s detailed a “peculiar” text she received from him after making his acquaintance at a party.
“I definitely felt a little obligated to chat with him, because to me, he seemed a little awkward,” the student—identified as Holly—explained. “Kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends.”
The following day, Holly said she received a text from him, which she described as overly formal.
“Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday,” Bryan’s text from July 10, 2022 at 1:19 p.m., read, per Dateline. “I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know. Thanks!”
Elsewhere in the Dateline documentary, Kohberger’s browsing history was found to have included searches for Ted Bundy, Britney Spears’ song “Criminal,” and the term “University of Idaho Murders.”
After accepting a plea deal that would spare him from the death penalty, Kohberger changed his plea to guilty in the murders of Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin, as well as one count of burglary, at a July 2, 2025 hearing in Idaho.
When judge Hippler questioned Kohberger if he killed each victim "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought," he replied with a firm, "Yes" for each.
In taking the plea deal, Kohberger has waived his right to appeal or ask for a more lenient prison sentence, according to Hippler.
Though the families of Goncalves and Kernodle each slammed the decision to issue a plea deal, therby taking the death penalty off the table, Kohberger was officially sentenced to life in prison July 23, 2025.
Judge Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four life terms—to be served consecutively—without the possibility of parole for each count of first-degree murder, along with a $50,000 fine for each count and a $5,000 civil penalty to be paid to each of the victims' families. He also gave Kohberger 10 years and imposed a fine of $50,000 on the burglary count.
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