What Does Bryan Kohberger's Anticipated Plea Deal Mean for His Trial? Here's What's Next for the Idaho Students Murder Suspect

Over two and a half years after Bryan Kohberger was arrested in connection with the killings of four University of Idaho students, the former Ph.D. student has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to all counts of murder.

In November 2022, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, where two of their roommates were home and unharmed. The following month, Kohberger was charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary. While prosecutors initially indicated that they planned to seek the death penalty, NewsNation senior correspondent Brian Entin reported on June 30 that Kohberger agreed to plead guilty — which would ultimately change the trajectory of the trial.

Following the announcement, president of West Coast Lawyers Neama Rahmani told PEOPLE that the plea deal is “shocking,” calling it a “huge win” for the defense team.

“There was overwhelming evidence of his guilt, including his DNA on the knife sheath, cell site evidence the night of the murders, video surveillance of his white Hyundai Elantra, and Amazon purchase of the murder weapon,” Rahmani said. “There was no possibility of him being acquitted.”

Rahmani went on to call the plea deal a “complete 180 after two and a half years of litigation.”

So, what does Bryan Kohberger’s plea deal mean for his trial? Here’s what’s next for the Idaho murder suspect.

What is Bryan Kohberger accused of?

In December 2022, Kohberger was charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary in connection with the killings of four University of Idaho students.

On Nov. 13, 2022, Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were stabbed to death at their off-campus home at 1122 King Road, where two other roommates resided and were unharmed.

Before Kohberger’s Instagram account was removed, PEOPLE reviewed his profile and found that he had followed the accounts of Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle, though none of them followed him back. An investigator familiar with the case told PEOPLE that he had sent a series of messages to one of the victims just two weeks before they were killed.

“He slid into one of the girls’ DMs several times but she didn’t respond,” the source told PEOPLE. “Basically, it was just him saying, ‘Hey, how are you?’ But he did it again and again.”

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According to the case’s probable cause affidavit, which was reviewed by PEOPLE, authorities linked Kohberger to the case when his DNA was found on a sheath of the knife used in the murders that was left at the scene.

The affidavit also alleged that a cell phone associated with Kohberger pinged in the area of the 1122 King Road residence several times before the night of the murders. Additionally, a source familiar with the investigation told PEOPLE that Kohberger also had photos of one of the female victims on his phone, though it was not specified whether they were taken by him or pulled from social media.

What does Bryan Kohberger’s anticipated plea deal mean for his trial?

On June 30, ABC News reported that a letter had been sent to the victims’ family members that announced Kohberger had accepted a deal to plead guilty to all charges, including four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

If the proposed plea deal is confirmed by the judge, Kohberger’s guilty plea means he will waive his right to a jury trial — where he could have faced the death penalty if convicted — and accept four consecutive life sentences plus up to 10 years on the burglary charge. According to ABC News, he would also waive his appeal rights.

Rahmani told PEOPLE that there is one other direction the case could go: “The only other possibility is Attorney General Pam Bondi stepping in, charging Kohberger with federal murder, and seeking the death penalty like she did with Luigi Mangione because Kohberger crossed state lines, stalked the victims, or some other federal nexus.”

What have the families of the Idaho victims said about Bryan Kohberger’s anticipated plea deal?

Following the announcement that Kohberger planned to accept a plea deal, the Goncalves family wrote on Facebook that they were “beyond furious at the State of Idaho” for the “unexpected” deal, adding that the state had “failed us.”

In a separate Facebook post, the Goncalves family shared an official statement in which they said the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office “mishandled the plea deal.”

“They vaguely mentioned a possible plea on Friday, without seeking our input, and presented the plea on Sunday. Latah County should be ashamed of its Prosecutor’s Office,” the statement read. “Four wonderful young people lost their lives, yet the victims’ families were treated as opponents from the outset. We weren’t even called about the plea; we received an email with a letter attached.”

The statement continued, “After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details. Our family is frustrated right now and that will subside and we will come together as always and deal with the reality that we face moving forward.”

Kaylee’s sister Aubrie also shared a personal statement in which she expressed anger on behalf of the other three families.

“We’ve believed in the process. We’ve had faith in the system. But at this point, it is impossible not to acknowledge the truth: the system has failed these four innocent victims and their families,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that the victims “deserve to be remembered for who they were in life, not only for the tragedy of their deaths.”

“But before that can truly happen, they deserve justice. Nothing less. The introduction of this plea deal, just weeks before the scheduled trial, is both shocking and cruel,” Aubrie wrote, explaining that they “could have had the time to understand it” and “prepare for it emotionally” had it not been introduced with “mere weeks left.”

Will Bryan Kohberger still go to trial?

Kohberger’s trial — in which prosecutors indicated they would pursue the death penalty — had initially been scheduled to begin on Aug. 11, 2025 (after the original fall 2023 trial had already been delayed).

However, if the plea deal is accepted in court on July 2, Kohberger will not go to trial and will instead accept the life sentences outlined in the deal.