<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Friends and relatives of four University of Idaho students murdered in their rental home by Bryan Kohberger delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation as a judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This world was a better place with her in it,” Scott Laramie, the stepfather of Madison Mogen, told the court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie.”</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/judge-rejects-trump-administration-effort-to-unseal-epstein-grand-jury-records-in-florida/0fb9627c-06d4-4a4a-bab3-15b070719de2" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Judge rejects bid to release Epstein grand jury records</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The father of Kaylee Goncalves taunted Kohberger for leaving his DNA on a knife sheath left near Mogen’s body and getting caught despite being a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University at the time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,” Steve Goncalves said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Master’s degree? You’re a joke.”</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/judge-sentences-bryan-kohberger-to-life-in-prison-for-murdering-four-university-of-idaho-students/19886e7a-e274-4c31-8c41-ba0a4db1eb6c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/new-york-staten-island-baby-girl-thrown-down-garbage-chute-man-in-custody/6c4ecc51-1dc7-41e2-a8eb-ab93cf98ed2e" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Baby girl thrown down garbage chute in New York</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Steven Hippler ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing deaths of Mogen, Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin early on November 13, 2022.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was also given a 10-year sentence for burglary and assessed US$270,000 ($409,134) in fines and civil penalties. He has waived his right to appeal.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The defendant pleaded guilty early this month, just weeks before his trial was to start, in a deal to avoid the death penalty, and the prosecutors and defence attorneys had agreed on the sentence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/coca-cola-donald-trump-approved-version-soft-drink-usa/36549d6f-b914-4940-8ce2-1a8ccd1b7350" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Coca-Cola releasing Trump-approved new version of its soft drink</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kohberger broke into the home through a kitchen sliding door and brutally stabbed the four friends. It remains unclear why Kohberger did it. When given an opportunity to speak, he told the judge, “I respectfully decline."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The judge acknowledged that the motive may never be known.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I share the desire expressed by others to understand the why," Hippler said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But upon reflection, it seems to me, and this is just my own opinion, that by continuing to focus on why, we continue to give Mr Kohberger relevance, we give him agency, and we give him power.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson told the court before the sentencing that Kohberger would be led away in his orange jumpsuit with his wrists and ankles shackled, and that the prison door would close behind him forever. “That is the closure we seek,” he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Investigators told reporters after the hearing that exhaustive efforts failed to find the murder weapon or any connection between Kohberger and the students.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The in-court statements ranged from accounts of terror and anxiety to expressions of profound love, loss and fury.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dylan Mortenson, a roommate who told police of seeing a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask in the home that night, sobbed as she described how Kohberger "took the light they carried into each room.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He is a hollow vessel, something less than human,” Mortenson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A body without empathy without remorse.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mortenson and another surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, described crippling panic attacks after the attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I slept in my parents’ room for almost a year, and had them double lock every door, set an alarm, and still check everywhere in the room just in case someone was hiding,” Funke wrote in a statement read by a friend.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I have not slept through a single night since this happened. I constantly wake up in panic, terrified someone is breaking in or someone is here to hurt me, or I’m about to lose someone else that I love.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Alivea Goncalves's voice didn’t waver as she asked Kohberger questions, including what her sister’s last words were. She drew applause after belittling Kohberger, who remained expressionless.</span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2025/07/23/10/03/today-in-history-july-24-what-happened-on-this-day"><img alt="" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/nfH9Al2utJ2CQvhGNZh-ujNaOa0=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff554bf2b-2e7e-4e0d-8cbf-4d1e4b235737" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/nfH9Al2utJ2CQvhGNZh-ujNaOa0=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff554bf2b-2e7e-4e0d-8cbf-4d1e4b235737 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/eA76VC_N2IGZKkYWH7rBXmZPQEI=/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff554bf2b-2e7e-4e0d-8cbf-4d1e4b235737 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">With a jump from a cliff, two men changed thrillseeking</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2025/07/23/10/03/today-in-history-july-24-what-happened-on-this-day">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You didn’t win, you just exposed yourself as the coward you are," Alivea Goncalves said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You’re a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kohberger’s mother and sister sat in the gallery near the defence table. His mother quietly wept at times as the other parents described their grief. She sobbed briefly when Maddie Mogen’s grandmother said that her heart goes out to the other families, including Kohberger’s.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Xana Kernodle’s aunt, Kim Kernodle, said she forgave Kohberger and asked him to call her from prison, hoping he would answer her lingering questions about the killings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Bryan, I’m here today to tell you I have forgiven you, because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you. And any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number. I’m here. No judgment."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Police initially had no suspects, which terrified the rural western Idaho city of Moscow. Some students took the rest of their classes online because they felt unsafe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Authorities used surveillance videos, genetic genealogy, cellphone data and online shopping records for a a military-style knife and a sheath to tie Kohberger to the murders.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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