Idaho student murderer wants to ‘abandon his guilty plea’, new report claims
Bryan Kohberger has allegedly spoken from inside the prison he is being kept in after being found guilty of the Idaho Murders, as he claims to have made a mistake with his plea deal.
Kohberger is the criminology student who was convicted last year of murdering four University of Idaho students in their student home in November 2022.
The killer is said to have taken the lives of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The investigation found that Kohberger had been to the area, which was proven via phone tower location pings, as well as owning the matching knife to a sheath which was found at the crime scene, among other details.
Advert
Despite the guilty plea, and verdict, Kohberger has since claimed, per the New York Times, that he is seeking to abandon his guilty plea and obtain a trial, whilst now claiming to be innocent.
In an interview with the outlet, Kohberger, who is serving four life sentences for the killings, said he had filed a petition challenging his conviction, because he says he was misled by the information he was given, as he now makes an 'absolute claim of innocence'.
Per the statement to the Times – which was allegedly sent on Sunday (July 26) evening and the petition apparently reached court the morning after: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn."
According to the outlet, the statement, nor his telephone interview contained specific concerns he had about the plea process.
Kohberger's trial was highly followed by both the media and public due to the nature of the crimes and level of violence used in the deaths of the students.
What became clear during information being released at this time, was that his DNA was found on the Ka-Bar knife sheath found by two of the victims, his Amazon records showed he had indeed purchased a Ka-Bar knife and sheath in the weeks leading up to the crimes, and he drove a white Elantra.
This is the type of car that was determined to be around the crime scene within the time frame of the murders before it was seen on camera speeding away.
Regarding the issues he has with the plea process, he reportedly told The Times, 'the intention is for all of those questions to be investigated and answered appropriately in a trial setting.'
Kohberger previously accepted guilt for the crimes at his July 2025 hearing but did not provide a motive.
In court, he was asked: “Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?”
“Yes,” Kohberger said, and remained silent thereafter.
At the time, it was reported that the student had taken a plea deal to avoid a possible death penalty for the murders.
As part of the agreement, he was sentenced to ten years for a burglary charge in relation to breaking into the student apartment, and then four consecutive life sentences for each first-degree murder count.
He has since been remanded at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, which is approximately a 20-minute drive from Boise.
How have the victims' families reacted to Bryan Kohberger's petition?
The family of Kaylee, said that Kohberger was a 'narcissist' after hearing the news, per the BBC.
"He chose not to leave his fate - or the facts of the case - to a jury," the statement from the Goncalves family read. "He never cried foul, never claimed he was uninformed or pressured, and never suggested there were problems with the discovery materials he and his counsel had reviewed for two years that should have been challenged."
The Goncalves family revealed 'the real tragedy' was that the focus has turned on the killer, and not the victims.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador also reportedly claimed the families have 'already endured unimaginable loss and now must face today's deeply painful news', stating per the outlet: "My office stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out."
Topics: News, Bryan Kohberger, Crime
Britt Jones