President Trump wants to know why Bryan Kohberger killed four students in 2022 as they slept in a house near the University of Idaho campus.
In a statement shared on Truth Social, the President requested that District Judge Steven Hippler ask why Kohberger committed the quadruple murder during his sentencing hearing this week.
“Bryan Kohberger, who was responsible, in Idaho, for the deaths of four wonderful young souls, has made a plea bargain deal in order to avoid the Death Penalty,” Trump wrote.
“These were vicious murders, with so many questions left unanswered,” the post continued. “While Life Imprisonment is tough, it’s certainly better than receiving the Death Penalty but, before Sentencing, I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING.”
Kohberger, once a criminology PhD candidate at Washington State University, pleaded guilty earlier this month to the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. His plea, entered as part of a deal with prosecutors, came after he spent years proclaiming his innocence in the killings. It removed the death penalty as an option.
Kohberger is now facing four consecutive life sentences for each first-degree murder count. He’s also facing a maximum penalty of 10 years for a burglary count related to the slayings.
Authorities found all four victims dead from stab wounds on Nov. 13, 2022, inside a home near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.
Kohberger eluded authorities for weeks before he was taken into custody at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania on December 30 the same year. Prior to traveling home, authorities said he continued to attend classes at Washington State University in Pullman, just 15 minutes away from the crime scene.
The deal he reached with prosecutors sparked fierce backlash, including from Goncalves’ father, who blasted the agreement as an egregious injustice.
“Idaho has failed,” he told NBC. “They failed me. They failed my whole family.”
Kohberger’s sentencing hearing begins on Wednesday and could run through Thursday.
