48 Hours - Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

After a surprise plea deal agreement, Bryan Kohberger appeared in court on Tuesday and admitted to killing four University of Idaho students: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.  48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant and CBS News legal analyst Mary Fulginiti explain the significance of this latest court hearing and how it has affected the families of the victims. While some support the deal, others feel justice hasn't been served. As for motive, this remains a mystery. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? Yes. What a moment. A guilty plea, 962 days in the making. In the murder case that horrified the country, Brian Koeberger pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students as their anguished loved ones looked on in a packed courtroom in Boise, Idaho. He did not react with emotion as he communicated with the judge.

As to count two, murder in the first degree as it relates to the murder of Madison, Mogan. How do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty. As to count three, as it relates to murder in the first degree for the murder of Kaylee Gonzalves, how do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty. As to count four, the first degree murder of Xana Kronodal, pardon me, a human being, how do you plead guilty or not guilty?

Guilty. As to count five, the first degree. murder of Ethan Chapin, a human being. How do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty. This is what these four families of the victims had been longing to hear at admission of guilt that Koeberger had attacked their loved ones in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. But family members were divided over whether justice was being fully served. Some wanted him tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Coeberger, who had been a Ph.D. candidate studying criminology at nearby Washington State University was arrested on December 30th,

2022. We've spent the last two and a half years awaiting a trial for these monstrous crimes, in hopes of finally understanding the full story of what happened that night, and why? What was the motive? Who was Koeberger's main target? How did he seem to know exactly where to go, once inside that house. I'm Peter Van Sant. I've been covering this case for 48 hours since the beginning. I attended nearby Washington State University. I knew Moscow, Idaho to the point where I could just drive about anywhere without using a map. These murders really hit home for me. Here at 48 hours, we were preparing to take you through the trial week by week. But then news broke on Monday evening that a plea deal had been struck. And Brian Koberger would admit in open court that he was the killer. So joining me today

to review these developments is CBS News Legal Analyst Attorney Mary Fulginiti. Mary, thanks for helping us sort all this out. Thanks for helping me, Peter. And Mary, just starting at the beginning of today's hearing, I was struck by Judge Stephen Hipler's introduction about outside pressure he was facing as it pertains to this plea deal. The court is not supposed to, and this court will never take into account public sentiment in making an opinion regarding its judicial decisions in cases. courts should, and I always will make decisions based on where the facts and the law lead me, period. I have not read any of the numerous messages nor listened to any of the numerous voicemails that have been sent to me and my staff, those have all been forward to security and where appropriate to law enforcement.

And there's so much emotion in this case. Mary, what was your reaction to what the judge had to say? Well, you know, Peter, this case has captured the nation and the world, really, and I think the judge is sending a clear message to the public that all the calls in the world are not going to impact his decision in this case and that he's going to rely strictly on the facts and the evidence and to stop. You know, it's inappropriate. It's time-consuming. And it's taxing on the people that are working in the courthouse. For the millions of people who have been following this case, all the attention was, of course, on the plea deal itself, a plea deal that surprised all of us. Talk about what this agreement entails. So the defendant pleaded guilty to all five counts included in the indictment, which were the felony burglary count and four first-degree murder counts. And with regard to the homicides, all four of them, it was life, a fixed life sentence, which is life without the possibility to parole.

with all five counts to run consecutive to each other. In addition, the defendant waived his right to not only a jury trial, but to appeal his sentence and to even have the court consider any leniency in his sentence at the time of sentencing. So it was interesting because I think a lot of people didn't understand is the court bound by this? And what the court basically said is this is not a binding plea agreement, which means he is not bound by the plea agreement, and that he could impose a different sentence, a lawful sentence, obviously, at the hearing when it comes up.

But I think that's probably unlikely in this case that he's going to stick with what the parties have agreed to, which has taken a long time to get to. This plea deal seemed to come out of the blue. We were all prepared for a long trial. Why do you think the defense approached prosecutors about making a deal? Oh, to save his life to take the death penalty off the table. And remember, accepting a plea deal is ultimately not the decision of the defense lawyers, but rather the defendant. And sometimes it's hard to get to that place until all legal arguments and strategies are thoroughly exhausted.

And for all of us who've lived with this case, the prosecution today stood up and basically what seemed like almost an opening statement laid out what the prosecution's case was. Here's prosecutor Bill Thompson. Back in March of 2022, when the defendant was residing in his parents' residence or residing back in Pennsylvania in his home state, he purchased online a K-bar knife and sheath with an Amazon gift card that he had purchased shortly prior to the purchase of the knife, sheaf and sharpener. Jumping ahead, the end of June of that year, the defendant, Mr. Koberger, moved from Pennsylvania to Pullman, Washington, which is right across the state line from Moscow, Idaho. for the purpose of pursuing a PhD in criminal justice at Washington State University. The state's evidence would indicate the beginning July 9th of 2022,

Mr. Koeberger's phone began connecting to a cell tower that serves the area of the 1122 King Road residence in Moscow, Idaho. Now, I will acknowledge for the court in all present that there are many residences in that area. It's a dense population of locally college-related occupants. Between July 9th of 2022 and November 7th, the defendant's phone connected to that particular tower during late night, early morning hours, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on approximately 23 times.

And then Thompson described what transpired in the early morning hours of November 13th, 22. According to the state's evidence, Coburger's phone left his Pullman residence and was turned off at 254 a.m. and remained off until 4.48 a.m. They also obtained video surveillance on the highway that runs between Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho that showed a vehicle matching Coburger's car entering Moscow at 302 a.m. and circling the neighbor. And at 405 a.m., surveillance video showed Coburger's car parked behind the 1122 Kings Road home. The state believes that its evidence would then show that the defendant entered the residence of 1122 through the kitchen sliding door on the back side of the residence, which is the side of the residence that would face the area above where the defendant's car was parked. The defendant entered the residence, went to the third floor,

and with a knife, killed Madison Mogan and Caitlin Gizoffice. The defendant, as he left that room, for whatever reason, ended up leaving, or the sheath for a K-bar knife, was left on the bed next to Madison Mogan's body. And I can jump ahead. That sheath was tested by the Idaho State Police Forensic Lab, and single-source male DNA was found on the snap of that sheath.

As well as blood from both Kaylee and Madison and other trace evidence, but it's important to note single source male DNA was on the snap of that sheath. The state's evidence would show that Zana Connoidal was still awake at this time. In fact, had taken a door dash order not long before this started.

Her room was not on the third floor, it was on the second floor on the west side. As the defendant was either coming down the stairs, or leaving, he encountered Zana, and he ended up killing her also with a large knife. Ethan Chapin, Zana's boyfriend, was asleep in their bedroom, in her bedroom, and the defendant killed him as well with a large fixed-bay line. Each victim suffered multiple wounds. I will state for the record that there is no evidence there was any sexual component or sexual assault

on any of the victims. I want to make that clear, so there's no speculation. There were two other roommates in the house, and they were already asleep. During the course of this, one of those roommates awoke looked out her door not knowing what was going on and saw the defendant who was dressed in black with the black bowled cove on holding some sort of container in his hand, and she saw him leave the house through the direction of the kitchen where that sliding door is that I mentioned before. approximately 420 that morning so this would have been 15 minutes or so later

Finn's car is seen on a surveillance camera for 1112 King Road which is immediately next door to the west of 1122 leaving the area at a high rate of speed and if the court were to see that or anybody in this courtroom would see that you can see the court on the car almost loses control as it makes the corner heads north and then turns to go south on Walentah, which is one of the only ways to get out of that part of town. The evidence would show that following that, the defendant in his Alantra, drove south of Moscow. We know that he drove on the back roads because there are surveillance cameras on the main highways,

Highway 95, that would have picked up the defendant's car if he'd gone that route, and they did not show the defendant's car on that route during the time. So we know that he went through a variety of backroads and very rural, isolated part of Lataw County. About 448 that morning, the defendant's phone comes back on. And the evidence will show that that phone was located south of Moscow, likely at a side road intersection with Highway 95. From there, the defendant's phone activity tracks heading back north towards Pullman, Washington, where the defendant lived. about 526, starting approximately 526, various surveillance cameras in Pullman, Washington pick up the defendant's vehicle as he enters Pullman from the south, and heads north and slightly west towards his apartment where he arrived at approximately 5.30 in the morning. Later that morning, still this Sunday, the 13th of November of 2022, Mr. Coburg's phone returned to the area of King Road.

We don't know exactly what he did, but it returned to that area. It's about 9 o'clock in the morning. He was there for about 10 minutes and then return to his Pullman residence. About 9.30, that states evidence will show, evidence taken from the defendant's phone, that he took a selfie of himself on his phone and what appears to be the bathroom of his Pullman apartment was a thumbs up. So we know there was a lot of evidence, but we didn't hear anything. about motive. Mary, what about that? I know. The big question that everybody wants to understand in this

case, we didn't hear anything about motive. Motive is not an element of the crime. And I'm not so sure that the prosecution actually knows at this point even what the motive was. And sometimes in cases like these particular, where the murders are so gruesome and heinous, you don't have any sort of black and white explanation. So I think that's why we probably didn't hear anything along those lines because either they didn't know it or they felt that it wasn't, it might be confusing to the factual basis because it's not necessary. And by the way, I had a brief conversation by text message with Christy Gonzalez, Kaylee's mother yesterday. In it, she told me that the family asked the prosecutor if they were asking Coburger for more evidence, including the

location of the murder weapon as part of the deal. And according to Christie, the prosecutor said no. This raises the prospect that families may never know exactly what happened. Imagine living with that for the rest of your life. Yeah, that's actually, you know, there are so many elements to a case that sometimes, you know, people will never know. So it's hard. And I know it's consuming for many of them because they want the picture filled in so they can fully understand what happened and hopefully put closure and get some closure out of the case, but that doesn't always happen. And even if it went to trial, they wouldn't necessarily have had that closure as well. So unfortunately, in cases like these, you need to focus on the evidence and what the evidence is and stick with that when it comes to the resolution.

But even without a motive, why not take this to trial? The reason why the prosecution at this late date, I think, decided to discuss a plea was because the defense reached out to them. I mean, after all the hearings and the motions and the judge finally denied the continuance, the defense reached out to the prosecution and asked if there was a plea deal. And they would be remiss and not really going through that with them. And anything can go wrong. I mean, you can have witnesses go sideways. you can have a juror do something that could cause a mistrial and then restart the whole process again. So they have to evaluate everything.

And in this situation, and here is the defendant willing to plead to everything, to all the facts, to everything that's included in the indictment. And I think they took all of that into consideration and decided that this was the most appropriate and just thing to do in the circumstances. And we've seen a divide among families of the victims. Some are relieved while others are. outraged, feeling betrayed by the prosecution for taking this deal. The Chapin said that they were attending the hearing in support of the plea deal,

and the Mogan's family attorney read a statement on their behalf today, also supporting the plea deal. We support the plea agreement 100%. While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they respect our belief that this is the best outcome possible for the victims. families and the state of Idaho. We extend our deep gratitude to the many law enforcement officers and staff who work tirelessly to obtain the critical evidence that brought justice today. This is something where they want to put it away, and this is a guarantee. There's no more risk

of all that's going to save them a lot of pain and anguish. On the other side, the Gonzalves family issued a statement saying they are beyond furious at the state of Idaho. They said that the state failed us, calling it a deal with the devil. Kaley's father, Steve Gonzalez, refused to go inside the courtroom today, but spoke outside to the media before the hearing. He blasted prosecutor Bill Thompson for negotiating a plea deal. He only negotiated with the murder of our children. That was the only person that he negotiated with. He didn't give us the common courtesy to negotiate with us.

He didn't pretend. He could have just pretended and then lie. but he didn't even pretend. He basically said, your guys' input is it needed. The judge could hear one thought from you that he should remember what is it? He's going to own this. He's going to inherit what Thompson did, and he's the only one that can fix it.

He's the only one who can make it right. I know it's an emotion one for some of the victims' families, but it's a call that is solely within the prosecutor's discretion, weighing not only the victim's interests, but the states and the time, the money, the money and the consumption of this case on the court's resources. And there's another reason Kaylee Gonzalez's parents have expressed outrage. This deal took the death penalty off the table.

They wrote on social media that the death penalty is merely an illusion in the criminal justice system. When available, it serves as a bargaining tool for the state. A new law in Idaho will go into effect on July 1, 26, that will be able to effect on July 1, 2026, that will make death by firing squad the state's primary method of execution. When I spoke to the Gonzalez family over two years ago, they had very strong opinions about that should he be found guilty of the murders. Oh, firing squad. Absolutely.

I think lethal injection is way too easy. I mean, I've read about it, and it's evidently very torturous, but I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not buying it. evidently, if you feel like you're drowning and whatnot, I don't know. I mean, yeah, but I think that a firing squad would be pretty terrifying, but nowhere near as terrifying as what our girls went through. They are understandably very angry and upset and want the defendant to pay the ultimate price here. And I know the Gonzalez wished that since the prosecution had all the leverage in this

negotiation, that they had included a stipulation, a Coburger tell every deed, about how this crime was committed, how he planned it, how he carried it out, that he would have to tell that story before he could get the plea deal. And that breaks their heart that that was not a part of this. Yeah, and no one can compel that. The court can't compel that. The prosecution can't compel that. I mean, what we do know is that the judge found that there was sufficient facts and evidence to accept his guilty plea to each of the five counts. So, after all this, what happened? next. Is this case finally over? Not yet. Sentencing is scheduled for July 23rd, and we expect on that day the families will be able to have their day in court. They will be able to address the court

and give what they call victim impact statements about the pain and the anguish and the torture, basically, that they have gone through as a family. And I expect that that will last the whole day, and it's going to be a very emotional day. It's one that you hope gives some closure and some peace to the families. And it's one that I suspect there won't be a dry eye in the house. And these will be very powerful statements

for people like the Gonzalez family. They finally get to say in a room where they know Brian Colberger can hear them what they think about all of this and they are devastated. So that will be a compelling day. And we will continue to provide updates on this case.

Thanks, Mary, for joining us. Thank you, Peter. And thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Vansat.