MOSCOW, Idaho – The trial date for Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students, is yet to be decided. The 29-year-old criminology PhD student and accused mass killer appeared in Latah County Courtroom for two hearings on Friday, one of which was livestreamed for the first time in the case’s history.
During the hearings, Mr. Kohberger’s legal team made another bid to have his indictment dismissed and to unseal documents in the case, but the judge denied their request. Prosecutors had previously requested a trial date of summer 2024 for the man whose alleged crimes shocked America and spread a wave of terror through the college community of Moscow, Idaho.
The prosecutor voiced concerns about the victims and their families, emphasizing the need for certainty and closure in a timely fashion. However, the judge did not set a date for Mr. Kohberger’s high-profile quadruple murder trial, despite also raising concerns about further delay.
Lawyers for Mr. Kohberger argued that a more appropriate date would be summer of 2025, citing the mountain of evidence including thousands of photographs, videos, and over 400 witnesses to interview. The 29-year-old is charged with four counts of murder and one count of burglary over the brutal murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
Mr. Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus student home on King Road, Moscow, and stabbing to death the four students with a large, military-style knife. Two other female roommates lived with the victims at the property and were home at the time of the massacre but survived. The college town of Moscow was plunged into fear for over six weeks as the accused killer remained at large with no arrests made and no suspects named.
On December 30, law enforcement arrested Mr. Kohberger for the quadruple murders. Investigators said he was tied to the murders through his DNA found on a knife sheath left on the bed next to Mogen’s body. The motive remains unknown, and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students, if any, prior to the murders. Mr. Kohberger, who is facing the death penalty for the killings, has tried once already to get the charges thrown out, but his bid was rejected by the judge.
He lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman. Before moving, he studied criminology at DeSales University and carried out a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime”. In December, the student home where the murders took place was demolished, a decision that divided the families of the victims.