Bryan Kohberger to avoid death penalty in plea deal over brutal Idaho slayings

Bryan Kohberger, the defendant in the brutal slayings of four Idaho college students, is pleading guilty in a deal to avoid a death sentence, ABC News reported Monday evening.

"Kohberger — who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the 2022 killings of roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin — will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count, according to the plea agreement," said the report.

The killings, which saw the four victims brutally stabbed to death in the University of Idaho's female student housing, shocked the college town of Moscow, which had not seen a killing in years, and unnerved the nation as police spent weeks struggling for answers or a suspect.

Kohberger, a criminology student across the border in Washington State, was found by police after he drove back to his family home in Pennsylvania, where he was witnessed by law enforcement trying to clean his car and dispose of evidence.