DavidAlanThomas

Today’s sentencing hearing in a Boise courtroom for quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger left me with more questions than answers. Yes, I already had many questions going into the hearing.

Sitting in a orange prison suit and viewing the proceedings quite stoically, Kohberger watched and listened as multiple family and friends of the deceased spoke out on the physical and mental impact the killings had on them.

The Nov. 13, 2022 deaths of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin captured not only much of the nation’s attention, but also parts of the world. No matter how any of us feel about the case, the victims can never be brought back to life.

Kohberger chose not to speak today when given the chance by the judge. Honestly, did we really think he would open up to the family and friends of the victims now?

I have made it known that while I think Kohberger was involved, I do not think he acted alone.

After hearing today’s Latah County press conference following the sentencing, I must admit I further question if we are getting all the facts.

I will just say for now that I think it would have been a 50-50 chance at best if the state would have gotten a guilty conviction at trial.

Today’s presser noting no known motive, no direct connection to Mogen or anyone else in the home for that matter, no murder weapon, no clear video or photos of Kohberger entering or leaving the home etc. leads me to believe the state got a gift. That is Kohberger willingly pleading guilty. The state must have felt as if it had been served a gift on a silver platter.

There is much more to say in upcoming blog posts.

Most notably what we saw and heard from family and friends today with their victim impact statements. I will save that for my next post.

Until then, more questions than answers on if the real killer is in fact behind bars or others walk freely among us….

If all the reports from yesterday in fact play out in an Idaho courtroom Wednesday local time, accused quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger will plead guilty in the murders of four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022. He is also facing a count of burglary.

Kohberger, a former Washington State University grad assistant, is accused in the murders of Kaylee Goncalves (21), Maddie Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20) and Ethan Chapin (20). The four were killed in a Moscow rental home at 1122 King Road in the early morning hours that Sunday in November.

While I have always thought that Kohberger had some involvement in the crime, I to this day do not 100 percent believe one individual caused all this carnage.

Kohberger, who was scheduled to go to trial later this summer in Boise, reportedly agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty should he have been convicted and sentenced to death. With the death penalty now reportedly removed, Kohberger is expected to plead guilty and face life in prison without any possible parole or ability to appeal his case.

I know if I were in those shoes, I would max out this case until my last appeal was denied.

We know from recent cases the last few decades that some on trial do walk. Think of O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony among such well-known cases. Most people think both were guilty of their respective murder charges, yet both ultimately went free.

While there is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence against Kohberger, there are also a number of questions in the state’s case against him.

If you were him tomorrow in a Boise courtroom, would you change your mind and reject the plea deal if not all was signed, sealed and delivered?

I would much rather take my chances with a jury of 12 of my peers than throw in the towel.

The media has been trained on Idaho the last 24 or so hours.

Most of the focus was on the tragic killing of a couple firefighters who were ambushed while responding to a brush fire in the northwest part of the state.

Turn the page a day and the focus is back on the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students at a rental home in Moscow.

The defendant in the case, former Washington State University grad student Bryan Kohberger, has reportedly offered to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty should he had been convicted. The trial in Boise was scheduled to begin Aug. 11.

While I will have more thoughts on this plea deal later this week, what are your initial thoughts?

Is the plea deal the prosecution offered fair to the families of victims Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin?

Is this justice for the families?

Are the families better off not having to sit through what would have been a painful trial?

More to come….

I finally got chance last evening to watch the recent Dateline on NBC episode of “The Terrible Night on King Road” that aired earlier this month.

Aside from coming up with a rather boring title for this specific show, the episode was nonetheless interesting to say the least.

As someone who has followed the case from day one and stood feet away from the quadruple murder scene on two visits to Moscow back in 2023, I have been drawn to this tragedy.

A single murder case as tragic as it is can be rather riveting to follow. When there are four victims involved and they are college students, you have all the makings of a tragic soap opera. Sadly, this was all too real and not a TV production.

With that in mind, here are a few takes on the two hours of TV I watched last night:

• Defendant Bryan Kohberger was certainly not painted in any positive light. While he doesn’t deserve any special treatment, NBC all but convicted him in this episode. Moving the summer trial to Boise from Moscow is supposed to improve chances of him getting a fair trial. Finding 12 impartial jurors may well have been made more difficult after this two-hour show.
• If looking at pictures of women in bikinis online, reading up on serial killer cases, using gloves to handle garbage, being awkward at social events, driving around towns in the middle of the night etc. is considered suspicious and even criminal behavior, most guys and probably even some women would have been locked by now. In fact, our jails and prisons would have been beyond full. I have extensively studied Ted Bundy and Danny Rolling for years now. It does not mean I’m going to go out and knife a number of college students or anyone for that matter.
• The show gave the theory that the killer started their rampage on the third floor of the home before going back to the second floor. It is alleged that Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves on the third floor sharing a bed were the first two victims. Upon hearing some commotion upstairs, victim Xana Kernodle began going up the stairs before being confronted with the killer. She was then reportedly chased back to her room and killed along with her boyfriend (Ethan Chapin) who had been spending the night there.
• Survivors and fellow roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were reportedly awakened by commotion upstairs and scared by it all, yet waited nearly eight hours to call 911. I’ve been over this portion of the case many times before, so no need to rehash all my thoughts. That said, I still do NOT understand and no one has provided a logical reason as to why the two never went to the third floor to check on or get Maddie and Kaylee during all of this. They were the two oldest women in the home and one would think the most responsible. As such, with noise and Dylan claiming she spotted a masked intruder in the home shortly after the four victims were attacked, why would you not go and check on or get the two on the third floor when safe to do so? Being drunk, young women, scared etc. doesn’t cut it for most people.
• The episode also claims that Dylan partially saw Xana on the floor of her bedroom and allegedly passed out from likely drinking. There is never any mention of lots of blood being seen on or around Xana. If this crime was as brutal as the police and others seem to portray it as, how could Dylan not see any blood? Once again, while I do not think Dylan or Bethany were directly involved, their eight or so hours of actions or rather in-actions are strange and questionable to say the least.
• Dateline barely mentions that Xana and Ethan were at a frat party on the evening before the killings took place. There have been rumors (take them for what they are worth) that there was an incident at the party that may well have involved Ethan and possibly Xana too. While it may be just a rumor, could something from the party have spilled over hours later to 1122 King Road? While it is certainly possible for one person to do these killings in less than 15 minutes, I still feel multiple people were involved in some manner. If they were, that means one or more are walking free two and a half years later.

If you’ve watched the Dateline episode, what is your take on what you saw? Do you think it could help or hurt either side?

*PLEASE keep in mind this blog is for adult discussion on a tragic case that many of us have become invested in. More than happy to share thoughts on it even if we agree to disagree. What won’t be tolerated is name-calling, rude remarks etc.