Family and friends of four slain University of Idaho students faced the man who murdered their loved ones on Wednesday morning, delivering powerful statements of love and grief in a Boise courtroom before the killer received a sentence of life in prison. 

Judge Steven Hippler ordered Bryan Kohberger to serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. The judge also imposed a 10-year sentence for burglary and assessed $270,000 in fines and civil penalties. 

Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty to the murders earlier this month, weeks before his trial was set to begin, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. He waived his right to appeal as part of the plea agreement and declined to speak in court before receiving his sentence. 

“The loss this killer has inflicted was not just the death of these people’s children, siblings, grandchildren,” Hippler said before handing down the sentence. “It has ripped a hole in their soul, destroying a special part of their very essence.” 

Dylan Mortenson, a roommate who told police she saw a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask in the home that night, delivered emotional testimony about the impact of Kohberger’s crimes. 

“What happened that night changed everything,” she said. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.” 

Another surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, recalled waking around 7 a.m. the morning after the murders, unaware of what had happened, and going back to sleep. It would be hours before the killings were discovered. 

“I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what happened and not calling (911) right away, even though I know it would not have changed anything, even if the paramedics had been right outside the door,” she said in a statement read to the court by a friend. 

Karen Laramie, Maddie Mogen’s mother, wrapped an arm around her husband, Scott Laramie, as he read their statement to the court. 

“Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie,” Scott Laramie, who was a stepfather to Mogen and entered her life when she was just 2 years old. 

Ben Mogen, Maddie Mogen’s father, shared fond memories of his daughter. He said simply knowing she was in the world kept him alive through dark periods during his struggle with substance abuse. 

“She was the only great thing I ever really did and was proud of,” he said. “I thought we would have the rest of our lives together.” 

Kohberger was silent and expressionless as the families of the young people he murdered shared their grief, their love, their anger and, in some cases, even their forgiveness.  

“Bryan, I’m here to tell you I have forgiven you because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart,” said Kim Kernodle, Xana Kernodle’s aunt. “For me to become a better person, I have forgiven you.”  

She said she has lingering questions about her niece’s murder and expressed a willingness to listen to Kohberger without judgement.  

“Any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number,” she said. “I’m here.” 

When Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalves, addressed the court, he turned the podium to face Kohberger. 

“Today, you’ve lost control,” he told Kohberger. “You tried to break our community apart. You tried to plant fear. You tried to divide us. You failed.” 

The family of Ethan Chapin said they would not attend the sentencing. 

Police initially had no suspects in the killings, which terrified the community in Moscow. Some students at the University of Idaho and nearby Washington State University left mid-semester, taking the rest of their classes online because they felt unsafe. 

A knife sheath left near Mogen’s body had a single source of male DNA on the button snap, investigators said, and surveillance videos showed a white Hyundai Elantra near the rental home around the time of the murders. 

Police used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect and accessed cellphone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings. Online shopping records showed Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier, along with a sheath like the one at the home. 

Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania about six weeks after the killings. 

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson became emotional when he addressed the court, his voice wavering as he showed photos of the four victims and asked the court to impose four consecutive life sentences.  

“From today forward, our memories should be focused on these innocent victims whose lives were taken — on their families, friends and community,” he said.  

Kohberger will die in prison, Thompson said.  

“The door will close behind him forever,” he said. “That is the closure that we seek, that all of these loving friends and family deserve, so we can move forward.” 

Hippler described Kohberger as a “faceless coward” who had “slithered” into the students’ home on King Road and “senselessly slaughtered” them more than two years ago. 

The judge said he, too, wants to understand the motive for the murders. But he questioned whether any answers Kohberger could provide would be meaningful, rational or even true. 

“Do we really believe, after all this, he’s capable of speaking the truth or giving something of himself to help the very people whose lives he destroyed?” Hippler said. 

No reason Kohberger might proffer could make sense of the killings, Hippler said, and struggling for answers only gives Kohberger the relevance and power he appears to desire. He said Kohberger’s “15 minutes of fame” will end and he will be consigned to the “ignominy of perpetual incarceration.” 

Hippler acknowledged the strength and courage demonstrated by the surviving roommates and the victims’ loved ones. 

“They should be known as survivors, fighters and foremost as witnesses to the tremendous lives of value and unbounded promise of these four young people,” he said. “These survivors carry the responsibility of ensuring that the voices of these children — Maddie, Kaylee, Xana and Ethan — are never forgotten and that the positive impact they have had on so many lives is never minimized and that the love they shared the light that the shined onto others is forever celebrated.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.