Bryan Christopher Kohberger was born on November 21, 1994, and holds American nationality. He is a former criminology PhD student convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 and is now serving four consecutive life sentences without parole.
Who is Bryan Kohberger?
Bryan Kohberger was a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University at the time of the murders. He is responsible for the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
The four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Two other roommates in the house survived.
Investigators arrested Kohberger on December 30, 2022, at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania. That arrest followed a seven-week manhunt that drew national attention.
He faced four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. On July 2, 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges as part of a deal that removed the death penalty as a possible sentence.
Early Life of Bryan Kohberger
Bryan Kohberger was born on November 21, 1994, to Michael Kohberger Jr. and MaryAnn Kohberger. He grew up in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains region of Monroe County.
He has two older sisters, Amanda and Melissa Kohberger. Both studied psychology and went on to work in mental health fields, with Melissa becoming a therapist and Amanda working as a counselor.
His father worked as a maintenance worker, and his mother worked as a paraprofessional in the Pleasant Valley School District. Kohberger attended Pleasant Valley High School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania.
Friends and former classmates have described him as a heavier teenager who struggled with bullying, then lost significant weight during his senior year.
After high school, he studied at Northampton Community College before transferring to DeSales University, where he pursued degrees in psychology and criminal justice.
Bryan Kohberger Age
Bryan Kohberger is 31 years old as of 2026, born on November 21, 1994. His zodiac sign is Scorpio.
He was 28 years old at the time of his arrest in December 2022. By the time of his sentencing in July 2025, he was 30 years old.
At this age, he is currently single and has not been married.
Kohberger is 6 ft tall which is equal to 182 centimeters or 1.82 meters. He weighs 185 pounds which is equal to 84 kgs.
Bryan Kohberger Ethnicity and Nationality
Bryan Kohberger holds American nationality and was born in Pennsylvania. His family background is white American, and he was raised in a working-class household in Monroe County.
The Kohbergers lived in Effort, an unincorporated community near the Pleasant Valley School District. Both of his parents worked steady jobs, and neighbors have described the family as private and unremarkable before the case became public.
Bryan Kohberger Education
Kohberger began his college education at Northampton Community College before transferring to DeSales University in Pennsylvania. There, he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and later a master’s degree in criminal justice.
He went on to enroll in the PhD program in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, in the summer of 2022.
He was also working as a teaching assistant for the university’s criminal justice department at the time of the murders.
Kohberger had completed only his first semester in the WSU doctoral program when he was arrested. The university removed him from its graduate student listings shortly after his arrest was announced.
The Idaho Murders Case
The Killings and Investigation
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, someone entered a rental home near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow and fatally stabbed four students.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, lived in the house, while Ethan Chapin, 20, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was staying there that night.
Two roommates survived the attack. Investigators later said one of them saw a masked intruder inside the home that night.
Police built their case using DNA evidence, cellphone data, and surveillance footage. A knife sheath left at the scene carried male DNA that investigators matched to Kohberger through a genetic genealogy technique, which led them to his father’s DNA collected from trash outside the family home in Pennsylvania.
Investigators also tracked a white Hyundai Elantra, a car Kohberger owned, seen on surveillance video near the crime scene multiple times before the killings.
Arrest and Prosecution
Pennsylvania State Police arrested Kohberger at his parents’ home on December 30, 2022. He was later extradited to Idaho, where a judge ordered him held without bail.
A grand jury in Latah County, Idaho, indicted him in May 2023. He faced four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, and prosecutors initially sought the death penalty.
His defense team spent more than two years challenging the DNA evidence and the genetic genealogy methods police used to identify him. A trial date was repeatedly delayed as both sides argued over what evidence could be presented to a jury.
Guilty Plea and Sentencing
On June 30, 2025, Kohberger accepted a plea deal that would spare him the death penalty in exchange for life without parole and a waiver of his right to appeal. He formally pleaded guilty to all charges on July 2, 2025.
Judge Steven Hippler sentenced him on July 23, 2025, in a Boise, Idaho, courtroom. Families of the victims delivered emotional impact statements before the sentencing, and Kohberger declined the opportunity to address the court.
Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for the murders, plus 10 years for burglary. The judge also ordered him to pay $50,000 in fines and a $5,000 civil penalty to each victim’s family.
Investigators have said they never determined a motive for the killings, and Kohberger has not offered one. Judge Hippler said at sentencing that no explanation could make sense of the crime.
Bryan Kohberger Net Worth
Bryan Kohberger does not have a publicly documented net worth tied to any legitimate career or business.
Before his arrest, he worked as a graduate teaching assistant while pursuing his PhD, a role that typically pays a modest academic stipend.
He was ordered to pay $50,000 in fines and $20,000 in civil penalties to the victims’ families as part of his sentence. He is currently incarcerated and has no known income.
The Bottom Line
Bryan Kohberger, a former criminology PhD student at Washington State University, pleaded guilty on July 2, 2025, to murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022. On July 23, 2025, a judge sentenced him to four consecutive life terms without parole.
He grew up in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, in a working-class family, and studied criminal justice through DeSales University before beginning his doctoral work in Washington state. Investigators say DNA evidence, cellphone records, and surveillance footage connected him to the crime scene.
Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in an Idaho prison. He offered no explanation for the killings at his sentencing and gave up his right to appeal as part of his plea agreement.
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