Bryan Kohberger judge finally sets trial date for Idaho murders suspect 18 months after he ‘stabbed 4 students to death’

THE SUSPECTED killer of four college students has finally been given a trial date nearly two years after the brutal murders shocked the tight-knit college town.

Bryan Kohberger , 29, is accused of killing four University of Idaho students seemingly at random in Moscow, Idaho , in November 2022.

Instagram

AP

AP

The students, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead in their rooms in what investigators described as a targeted attack.

Kohberger’s defense team and state prosecutors agreed to set a trial date for June 2025.

Latah County District Judge John Judge did not set a specific date.

Kohberger is a former criminology PhD student at Washington State University – only a 10-mile drive from the house on King Road in Moscow.

In May 2023, the judge entered a not-guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf for four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

The scheduling hearing will also address other scheduling issues, including setting a time for the defense to challenge the death penalty and pre-trial deadlines.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani , who is not connected to the case, gave his insight on the case.

“The defense is throwing everything they can out there to get the death penalty off the table,” Rahmani, president of Los Angeles -based West Coast Trial Lawyers, told The U.S. Sun.

“Arguing that the prosecution hasn’t complied with its discovery obligations worked in a recent high-profile Idaho case.”

Rahmani said he doesn’t expect Kohberger to take the stand.

“He may testify in the penalty phase in an effort to save his life if convicted,” Rahmani told The US Sun.

“I don’t think Kohberger will plead guilty, and there won’t be any deal offered. This is one of the worst murders in Idaho state history.”

He also expects that Kohberger’s family will be in attendance every day of the trial.

University of Idaho murders timeline

On November 13, 2022, a brutal home invasion claimed the lives of four University of Idaho students.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in their Moscow, Idaho, off-campus home.

A six-week manhunt ensued as cops searched for a suspect.

On December 28, 2022, Bryan Kohberger, 29, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania – 2,500 miles away from the crime scene.

He was taken into custody and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, has been linked to the crime scene through phone records, his car’s location, and DNA evidence found at the home where the murders took place.

The house was demolished in December 2023 despite backlash from the victims’ families.

Kohberger is being held at Latah County Jail while he awaits trial.

In April, the suspect detailed his love for driving around at night and taking hikes in a court filing.

He was described as an “avid runner and hiker” who liked to explore areas of the Palouse, a region in southeastern Washington.

“Of note, he explored Wawawai Park in July of 2022, and this became his favorite location,” his attorneys wrote.

CELL DATA ACTIVITY

Part of the evidence tying Kohberger to the crime was his cellphone activity.

His phone was traced near the off-campus Moscow home 12 times in the months leading up to the murders, prosecutors previously said.

Kohberger’s phone also pinged in the area near the home once in the hours after the students were killed, court documents alleged.

However, his legal team insisted in court documents that cellphone data would prove that he wasn’t at the Moscow home when the victims were killed.

Instead, they affirm that the expert’s testimony will show Kohberger’s phone was south of Pullman, Washington, and west of Moscow, Idaho , on November 13, 2022.