OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:42 AM – Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Bryan Kohberger, the man who pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On Wednesday, Idaho Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life sentences, with no possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to taking the lives of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Before the sentencing, the surviving victims and the families of the victims gave statements, speaking right to the murderer himself.
The first impactful statement came from one of the two surviving roommates, Bethany Funke, who lived in the off-campus house where the four victims were murdered. She recounted the morning their bodies were discovered.
The statement, read by her friend Emily Alandt, described Funke waking up with a toothache and calling her father, a dentist. After taking Advil at his suggestion, she went back to sleep.
“I was still out of it and still didn’t know what happened. If I had known, I of course would have called 911 right away,” she wrote in her statement. “I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away, even though I understand it wouldn’t have changed anything, even if the paramedics had been right outside the door.”
Later that morning, when she called 911, “I couldn’t even get out the words,” Funke wrote in her statement.
“That was the worst day of my life, and I know it always will be,” she said. “I hated and still hate that they’re gone, but for some reason, I am still here and I got to live. I still think about this every day. Why me? Why did I get to live, and not them?”
“I constantly wake up in panics, terrified someone is breaking in or someone is here to hurt me. Or I’m about to lose someone else that I love. The fear never really leave,” Funke said in her statement.
Dylan Mortensen, the other surviving roommate who saw Kohberger the night of the killings, took the stand stating that Kohberger “took away who they were becoming.”
“What happened that night changed everything,” she said. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”
She continued stating that what he didn’t just take their lives but also “the light” they created in every room.
“He took away who they were becoming, and the futures they were going to have,” Mortensen said. “He took away birthdays, graduation, celebrations and all the memories they were supposed to make.”
Mortensen went on to describe the trauma and anxiety the incident caused her.
“He took away my ability to trust the world around me,” she said, crying. “What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break.”
Mortensen said she “should have been figuring out who I was” and establishing her future. However, “instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”
She continued stating that she was unable to be alone and slept in her mother’s bed and everywhere she went, she made “escape plans” in case something happened, and she suffers panic attacks.
“I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t stop shaking. All I can do is scream, because the emotional pain and the grief is too much to handle on my chest,” she said. “It’s far beyond anxiety. It’s my body reliving everything over and over again.”
Following the statements from the surviving roommates, the families of the victims took the stand.
Scott Laramie, Madison Mogen’s stepfather, read a statement from Madison’s mother Karen Laramie, who was standing beside him.
“Maddie was our gift of life, our purpose and our hope,” Scott Laramie said. “Maddie was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil.”
“Since Maddie’s loss there’s been emptiness in our hearts, home and family. An endless void,” Laramie said. “We will grow old grow without our only child,”
Benjamin Mogen, Madison Mogen’s father, read aloud the last Father’s Day card his daughter wrote him.
“Happy Father’s Day. I hope you have the best day. I can’t wait till we can hang out again soon. I’ll be in Coeur d’Alene … hopefully we can find the time then. I love your birthday card that you sent me, by the way. Maybe we can see a concert sometime soon. I’d love to see the gorge when it’s not so smoky out. I hope you’re doing well. I’m proud of how far you’ve come. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. Love you lots and lots. Love, Maddie Mae,” he read.
Benjamin Mogen explained he “went through a lot of issues with addiction and substance abuse.”
“And when I wasn’t wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from just not caring anymore,” he said. “Maddie was my only child that I ever had,” he said. “She was the only great thing I ever really did. And only thing I was ever really proud of.”
Kim Cheeley, grandmother of Madison Mogen, also gave a statement.
Following the Mogen family’s statements, Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, took the stand. Before he began speaking, Goncalves moved the podium and placed it facing his daughter’s killer.
“Today we are here to finish what you started,” he told Kohberger.
“The world’s watching because of the kids, not because of you. Nobody cares about you. … In time, you will be nothing but two initials, forgotten to the wind,” Steve Goncalves said.
He went on to call Kohberger a “joke” and described how easy it was to track him down.
“Police officers tell us within minutes they have your DNA. Like a calling card. You were that careless. That’s foolish. That stupid. Master degree? You’re a joke. Complete joke,” Steve Goncalves said.
Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s older sister, also spoke, telling Kohberger that “the truth about Kaylee and Maddie is that they would’ve been kind to you.”
“In a world that rejected you, they would have shown mercy,” Alivea Goncalves told Kohberger.
Speaking directly to Kohberger, Alivea Goncalves said she’d “call you exactly what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer.”
“Sit up straight when I talk to you,” she said. “How was your life right before you murdered my sisters? Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling at the time.”
“Why did you choose my sisters? Before making your move, did you approach my sisters? Do you tell what you were thinking and feeling before leaving the home? Is there anything else you did? … Did you recently start shaving or manually pulling out your eyebrows?” she continued. “If you were really smart, do you think you’d be here right now?”
She went on to tell Kohberger he is “as dumb as they come,” adding that “no one thinks that you are important.”
“The truth is, you’re basic,” she said. “Let me be very clear: Don’t ever try to convince yourself you matter just because someone finally said your name out loud. I see through you.”
Jazzmin Kernodle, the sister of victim Xana Kernodle, described her sister as “everyone’s best friend,” a person who was kind and funny, and a “gift to each person she was able to make an impact on.”
“Yet her story was cut short by an act of evil,” she said.
Jeff Kernodle, the father of Xana Kernodle, revealed that he almost went to the night of the murders.
He went on to say that he was seven miles away and was going to go to the house, but his daughter told him not to drink and drive, which he now regrets.
“You would have had to deal with me,” Kernodle told Bryan Kohberger.
Stratton Kernodle, the uncle of victim Xana Kernodle, said he wanted to direct his statement “toward Bryan, and what he’s done to his family.”
“His parents, his siblings, his friends, his universe – he has contaminated, tainted their family name and pretty much made a horrible, miserable thing to be ever related to him,” Stratton Kernodle said. “And I know that’s what he has to live with, and that has to be his pain.”
Cara Northington, Xana Kernodle’s mother, said the murder of her daughter led her to her relationship with God and though Kohberger accepted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, “nothing man can do to you would ever compare to the wrath of God.”
Ethan Chapin’s family did not show up to the court room and have stated Kohberger “doesn’t deserve their grief.”
Prosecutor Bill Thompson went through the counts one by one, displaying photos of the students: Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen.
He informed the court that the state requests Kohberger be sentenced to life in prison, with consecutive terms “to recognize and respect” the victims’ individuality.
“Mr. Kohberger, you have an opportunity to make a statement,” Judge Steven Hippler told the defendant. “I take it you are declining?”
“I respectfully decline,” Kohberger said, leaning forward slightly in his chair.
Hippler went on to sentence Kohberger with 10 years in prison with a burglary charge and four counts of first-degree murder with fixed consecutive life sentences.
Kohberger is expected to serve his sentence at one of America’s worst prisons, Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI), where he will remain for the rest of his life.
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