Did Bryan Kohberger take plea deal after learning his sister might testify?
Oct 17, 2025, 6:41 AM
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse, for his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (Photo: Kyle Green, The Associated Press)
(Photo: Kyle Green, The Associated Press)
Bryan Kohberger’s sister could’ve testified as a witness for prosecutors if the case against him had gone to trial.
Newly unsealed court documents list Amanda Kohberger on the state’s amended witness list, filed on June 25.
Just days later, he took a plea deal, preventing a trial.
There are about 180 names on the witness list for the prosecution, including Amanda’s. She’s the only family member of Bryan’s whose name is listed for both the defense and prosecution.
Per the documents, Bryan’s mother, father, and sister, Melissa, were also on the list of 56 people that his team may have called on to testify.
Other notable names from the state’s list include surviving roommates Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, and Ethan Chapin’s triplet brother and sister, Hunter and Mazie Chapin.
Bryan was sentenced to life without parole on July 23 for the murders of Ethan, Ethan’s girlfriend Xana Kernodle, and Xana’s roommates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.
The crime took place at a home near the University of Idaho in November 2022.
Bryan, who was a Ph.D. criminology student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested about a month later at his family’s home in Pennsylvania.
Investigators revealed DNA found on a Q-tip from the garbage of his parents’ home matched DNA found on a knife sheath found inside the home where the students were murdered.
A motive for the killings is unknown – and may never be known. At his sentencing this summer, Bryan told the judge, “I respectfully decline” when asked if he would like to explain.
He’s incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna.
