Bryan Kohberger is fighting his guilty plea from behind bars at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
Credit: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Bryan Kohberger was arrested in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students
- The former Ph.D. student later pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20
- Kohberger is currently in prison in Idaho and is trying to reverse his guilty plea
Bryan Kohberger is fighting his own guilty plea from behind bars.
The former criminology student was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the University of Idaho student killings. In the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger fatally stabbed four college students: Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Over a month later, Kohberger was apprehended by authorities in connection with the murders after investigators linked him to DNA from a knife sheath. Ahead of his scheduled August 2025 trial, Kohberger changed his plea to guilty and accepted a deal to avoid the death penalty.
In July 2025, he pleaded guilty to the murders of the four students and was later sentenced to four consecutive life sentences. However, more than a year later, Kohberger filed a petition to reverse his guilty plea and obtain a trial.
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” Kohberger said in a statement to The New York Times in July 2026, marking the first time he has spoken outside a courtroom since 2022.
Kohberger, whose case is being retold in the three-part Netflix docuseries The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, is currently behind bars at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, Idaho. He was transferred to the maximum-security prison after previously being housed in jails closer to where his trial was scheduled to take place in Boise.
Here’s everything to know about where Bryan Kohberger is now.
His DNA was found on the sheath of a knife left at the crime scene
Credit: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty
According to the case’s probable cause affidavit, which was reviewed by PEOPLE, a sheath of the knife used in the murders was left in the bed where Mogen and Goncalves were found. The affidavit states that this is where detectives found DNA which they then matched to trash taken from Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania. In June 2023, prosecutors revealed that a DNA sample taken directly from Kohberger matched DNA found on the sheath of a knife.
The affidavit also alleged that around 4:20 a.m. on the night of the killing, a white sedan referred to as “Suspect Vehicle 1” was seen leaving the area of the home. The document also stated that the vehicle and a phone associated with Kohberger returned to the scene between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m.
Additionally, the affidavit alleged a cell phone associated with Kohberger pinged in the area of the 1122 King Road home on at least 12 occasions prior to Nov. 13, 2022.
“All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” the affidavit read.
A source familiar with the investigation told PEOPLE that Kohberger also had photos of one of the female victims on his phone. They did not specify whether the images were taken by Kohberger or pulled from social media.
“He had more than one picture of her,” the source said. “It was clear that he was paying attention to her.”
Kohberger was pulled over twice on a road trip before his arrest
Credit: Fox 32 Chicago
After Kohberger was arrested, body camera footage was released that showed him getting pulled over twice in one day while on a cross-country road trip from Washington to Pennsylvania with his father.
Kohberger was driving a white Hyundai Elantra — the same vehicle authorities were searching for in connection with the case — and was stopped both times for following a vehicle too closely. He was released with a verbal warning on both occasions.
After Kohberger’s arrest, the vehicle was taken from his family home.
“At the time of the traffic stop, there was no information available on a suspect for the crimes in Idaho, to include identifying information or any specific information related to the license plate state or number of the white Hyundai Elantra which was being reported in the media to have been seen in an around where the crime occurred,” the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement obtained by multiple outlets.
He spoke about the slain students during his extradition
Though Kohberger has largely remained silent after being charged, a police source who was involved in the process told PEOPLE that he spoke to officers while he was being extradited.
“He seemed really nervous,” the source said. “He was narrating to himself everything that was happening. At one point, he was saying something to himself like ‘I’m fine, this is okay.’ Like he was reassuring himself that this whole thing wasn’t awful.”
While Kohberger didn’t speak directly to officers about the case, the police source said he did make an offhand comment about it. “He did say, ‘It’s really sad what happened to them,’ but he didn’t say anything more,” the source said. “He’s smarter than that.”
Kohberger claimed he had an alibi for the night of the murders
According to Kohberger’s defense attorney, his client was driving outside of Moscow on the night of the murders to look at the stars.
The defendant claims he went to “hike and run and/or see the moon and stars.”
He accepted a plea deal in June 2025
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Kohberger accepted a plea deal on June 30, 2025, pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
The plea deal waived his right to a jury trial, which was expected to begin in August 2025, and Kohberger also waived his right to appeal.
Three weeks later, a judge handed down four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years on the burglary charge, along with $270,000 in fines and civil penalties. He will not be offered parole.
He has reportedly been targeted by fellow inmates
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In August 2025, the Daily Mail reported that Kohberger had complained to guards that he was being “taunted” by his fellow inmates at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
“The inmates are tormenting him at night and almost all hours of the day — taunting him through the vents in his cell,” retired homicide detective Chris McDonough, who now works for the Cold Case Foundation, said. “They’re utilizing the vent system. They’re kicking the doors. They’re taunting him. And they’re … torturing him.”
Public Information Officer Blake Lopez, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Corrections, confirmed that Kohberger had complained about his treatment, though he could not confirm the exact accusations.
“We are aware of Kohberger’s complaints about what he considers taunting. Incarcerated individuals commonly communicate with each other in prison,” Lopez told PEOPLE. “Bryan Kohberger is housed alone in a cell, and IDOC security staff maintain a safe and orderly environment for all individuals in our custody.”
He continued, “Incarcerated individuals in long-term restrictive housing live in single-person cells, are moved in restraints, and are provided showers every other day along with one hour of outdoor recreation daily.”
Days later, a handwritten note from Kohberger that was obtained by PEOPLE showed that he requested to be placed in a different facility, claiming that he was “subject to minute-by-minute verbal threats/harassment” by fellow inmates.
The note was written on July 30, and on Aug. 4, Kohberger accused another inmate of sexual harassment in a note written to a prison guard, stating that the inmate allegedly told him, “I’ll b— f– – you.”
In an information report, the guard wrote that he “recalls vulgar language being used and directed towards Kohberger.” Ultimately, prison officials determined that “Kohberger feels safe to remain on tier 2 in J-Block.”
Kohberger is trying to take back his guilty plea
Credit: Ada County Court
Over one year after Kohberger entered a guilty plea and received four consecutive life sentences, he filed a petition to overturn his guilty plea.
Kohberger said in an interview with The New York Times on July 27 that he would like a new trial.
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” Kohberger said in a statement to the outlet, marking the first time he has spoken publicly outside a courtroom since his arrest in December 2022.
Kohberger, who didn’t specify why he wants to change his plea, wrote that “justice was not served” and “unanswered questions seem to multiply with each piece of discovery unsealed.”
“Circumnavigated by a broken plea, the trial never provided the public the clarity conducive to closure, and justice shall remain abjectly miscarried unless that plea is withdrawn,” he continued.
In the petition, obtained by PEOPLE, Kohberger alleged that his attorneys withheld evidence that misled him about the consequences of the guilty plea and made false promises to encourage him to accept.
He wrote that he was “convinced to falsely confess to capital murder, and felony burglary, by coercion, disinformation, false promises and withholding of exculpatory discovery.”
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