Families of the four University of Idaho murder victims are speaking directly to their children's admitted killer, Bryan Kohberger, at his sentencing on Wednesday.

The students -- roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin -- were stabbed to death at the girls' off-campus house on Nov. 13, 2022.

On July 2, weeks before the trial was set to start, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all counts. As a part of the plea deal, the death penalty was taken off the table. Kohberger will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count.

Latest Developments

_{Jul 23, 12:48 PM}

Xana Kernodle’s sister says her story lives on

Xana Kernodle’s sister, Jazzmin Kernodle, said in court she was unsure if she'd speak today. "In the end, I realized this moment isn't about you -- it's about justice for Xana, Ethan, Kaylee and Maddie," she said.

Kyle Green/via Reuters - PHOTO: Bryan Kohberger, 30, appears for his sentencing hearing after he was convicted in the 2022 stabbing deaths of four Idaho college students, at the Ada County Courthouse, in Boise, Idaho, July 23, 2025.

She called her sister "a gift to each person she was able to make an impact on."

Xana Kernodle was the younger sister, but Jazzmin Kernodle said she often found herself looking up to her.

"Xana was someone I turned to when I needed direction or advice," she said.

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Xana Kernodle’s sister, Jazzmin Kernodle, reads a victim impact statement during Bryan Kohberger's sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

"She truly did live every day to the fullest. Yet her story was cut short by an act of evil," she said. "She won't be the maid of honor at my wedding, the cool aunt to my future children. ... But I will carry her with me for the rest of my life. I will live in her honor, fight to be the best kind of woman, someone she's proud of."

"Xana's story doesn't end with what was taken from her. It lives through the love she gave the people she touched and the legacy her family will protect," she said.

_{Jul 23, 12:25 PM}

Kaylee Goncalves’ mom: ‘Hell will be waiting’

Kaylee’s mom, Kristi Goncalves, said to Bryan Kohberger that “hell will be waiting.”

“You are nothing. May you continue to live your life in misery. You are officially the property of the state of Idaho, where your fellow inmates are anxiously awaiting your arrival,” she said.

_{Jul 23, 12:18 PM}

Kaylee Goncalves’ sister: They 'were not yours to take'

Kaylee’s sister, Alivea Goncalves, said to Bryan Kohberger, “My sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take. They were not yours to study, to stalk or to silence.”

“They’re everything you could never be: loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave and powerful,” she said.

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Alivea Goncalves, sister of Kaylee Goncalves, reads a victim impact statement during Bryan Kohberger's sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

"They would've been kind to you. If you had approached them in their everyday lives, they would've given you directions, thanked you for the compliment. ... In a world that rejected you, they would've shown mercy," she said.

Goncalves said she "won't stand here and give you want you want": tears and trembling.

She called him a "sociopath, psychopath, murderer," before asking him a series of questions.

Her questions included, "Where is the murder weapon, the clothes you wore that night? What did you bring into the house with you? ... What were Kaylee's last words?"

"You didn't win. ... You're a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser who thought you were so much smarter than everybody else," she said.

"You aren't special or deep, not mysterious or exceptional. Don't ever get it twisted again. No one is scared of you today. No one is intimidated by you, no one is impressed by you, no one thinks you are important," she said.

She concluded her statement by saying to Kohberger, if he hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, “Kaylee would’ve kicked your f------ ass."

Onlookers in the courtroom clapped when Goncalves stepped down.

_{Jul 23, 12:04 PM}

Kaylee Goncalves’ dad: ‘From this moment, we will forget you'

Steve Goncalves, dad of Kaylee Goncalves, said in court to Bryan Kohberger, "Today we are here to finish what you started. Today you’ve lost control.”

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalve, reads a victim impact statement during Bryan Kohberger's sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

“Your actions have united everyone in their disgust for you,” he said.

Goncalves slammed Kohberger as "foolish and stupid" for leaving his DNA behind at the crime scene. "Master's degree? You're a joke, a complete joke," he said.

"Nobody cares about you. ... From this moment, we will forget you. ... You picked the wrong family and we're laughing at you on your trip" to prison, he said.

_{Jul 23, 11:58 AM}

Maddie Mogen’s dad reads her last Father’s Day card

Maddie Mogen’s dad, Ben Mogen, was choked up in court as he said, “Maddie was my only child. … I thought we would have the rest of our lives together to be together and know each other, and I really took her for granted.”

“Karen and Scottie did such a great job raising her after Karen and I split up, and I’m so thankful for Scottie and the role he played in her life when I wasn’t able to,” he said, recalling his battle with addiction. “But we got to spend a lot of great times together, Maddie and I. She was my favorite person to go to a concert with.”

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Bryan Kohberger appears in court for sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

Mogen read in court the last thing Maddie wrote to him -- a Father’s Day card: “I hope you have the best day, I can’t wait ‘til we can hang out again soon. … I love the birthday card you sent me, by the way. … I hope you’re doing well. I’m proud of how far you’ve come. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. Love you lots and lots.”

“I’m so glad I still have it,” he said of the card.

_{Jul 23, 11:51 AM}

Maddie Mogen's grandma: 'Foundation fell out of our world'

Maddie Mogen’s grandmother Kim Cheeley said in court that, after her murder, the “foundation fell out of our world.”

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Kim Cheeley, grandmother of Madison Mogen, reads a victim impact statement during Bryan Kohberger's sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

“Initially the fear was truly debilitating,” she said, and after Bryan Kohberger's arrest, her family has lived “with the effects of traumatic grief.”

Cheeley said she’s experienced depression and anxiety and has tried to cope with grief classes and EMDR therapy.

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Bryan Kohberger appears in court for sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

She said she's grateful her own mother died several months before Mogen was killed so she did not live through "the horror."

_{Jul 23, 11:39 AM}

Maddie Mogen's stepdad: 'Evil does not deserve our time and attention'

Scott Laramie, victim Maddie Mogen's stepdad, read a statement on behalf of himself and Karen Laramie, Mogen's mom, as Bryan Kohberger, wearing orange jail clothing, looked on.

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Bryan Kohberger appears in court for sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

“Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie. Maddie was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil,” Laramie said.

“Since Maddie’s loss, there’s emptiness in our hearts, home and family -- an endless void,” he said.

Laramie said Mogen’s mom suffered from anxiety and depression after her daughter’s death, unsure how to go on.

"We support the plea agreement. Society needs to be protected against this evil. As for the defendant, we will not waste the words, nor will we fall into hatred and bitterness. ... Evil does not deserve our time and attention," Laramie said. "We are done being victims. We will take back our lives."

_{Jul 23, 11:30 AM}

Surviving roommate calls Kohberger 'less than human'

Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen addressed Bryan Kohberger in court, calling him a "hollow vessel, something less than human -- a body without empathy, without remorse."

Kyle Green/via Reuters - PHOTO: Dylan Mortensen gets a hug after speaking at the sentencing hearing of Bryan Kohberger after he was convicted in the 2022 stabbing deaths of four Idaho college students, at the Ada County Courthouse, in Boise, Idaho, July 23, 2025.

"He tried to take everything from me: my friends, my safety, my identity, my future," she said. "He took their lives, but I will continue trying to be like them, to make them proud. Living is how I honor them."

_{Jul 23, 11:28 AM}

Surviving roommate: 'He took away my ability to trust the world'

Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen spoke in court through tears, saying, “He didn’t just take their lives, he took the light they carried into every room.”

“He took away my ability to trust the world around me” and “shattered me in places I didn’t know could break,” she said.

“I was barely 19 when he did this. We had just celebrated my birthday at the end of September. I should’ve been figuring out who I was. I should’ve been figuring out the college experience … instead I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable. I couldn’t be left alone. I had to sleep in my mom’s room because I was too terrified to close my eyes,” she said.

Mortensen recalled intense panic attacks and flinching at sudden sounds. “Sometimes I drop to the floor with my heart racing convinced something is very wrong. … It’s my body reliving everything over and over again,” she said.

_{Jul 23, 11:23 AM}

'Our house was not just a house, it was a home’

Through a statement read in court by friend Emily Alandt, one of the surviving roommates, Bethany Funke, said she's still scared to go out in public but forces herself to do so because she knows her friends would want her to live her life to the fullest.

State of Idaho - PHOTO: Emily Alandt reads a victim impact statement during Bryan Kohberger's sentencing, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho.

Funke recounted her memories of her friends at their off-campus home.

"Our house was not just a house, it was a home,” Funke said.

She said Xana Kerndole was the life of the party and “kindest and funniest person,” and that Ethan Chapin and Kerndole “were absolute soulmates."

Kaylee Goncalves “had the most beautiful, radiant smile” and could have ruled the world, she said.

Maddie Mogen, Funke’s big sister in their sorority, was the “older sister I would’ve always wanted. There was no one I looked up to or admired more than Maddie.”

“I wish more than anything I could hug them one last time,” she said.

“I still tell them every night I will keep living for them,” she said.

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