Watch: Bryan Kohberger Shockingly Backtracks on Guilty Plea for Idaho Murders
Bryan Kohberger’s family respects the judicial system.
And while they support the 31-year-old’s legal right to revoke his guilty plea in the 2022 murders of four students from the University of Idaho, they don’t want their support to belie the severity of the crimes.
“Our full support of Bryan’s decision to pursue post-conviction relief,” Kohberger’s family said in a statement to ABC, “does not come from a place of disregard.”
They emphasized that they don’t want their support “to compound the unimaginable grief the families have borne so courageously,” referencing the loved ones of victims Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.”
“Rather, it comes from our family’s need to see that the complete and unvarnished truth is told,” the statement continued. “Like everyone, we seek answers to all the questions that have been raised, which can only be addressed through a proper trial, as opposed to an improper plea.”
Despite confessing to the 2022 murders in 2025 and subsequently receiving four consecutive life sentences as a result of a plea deal, Kohberger filed a petition—known as a motion for post-conviction relief—in the summer of 2026 to withdraw his guilty plea.
“Over a year later, it is self evident that, in State v. Kohberger, justice was not served,” he began in a statement provided to The New York Times on July 26 via his family. “Unanswered questions seem to multiply with each piece of discovery, unsealed and the public demands the truth.”
The former PhD student described the State’s narrative as a “work of fiction,” alleging it prevented true justice from being served.
“Circumnavigated by a broken plea, the trial never provided the public the clarity conducive to closure,” Kohberger wrote, “and justice shall remain abjectly miscarried unless that plea is withdrawn.”
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In addition to declaring his intention to enter a not guilty plea, he requested a new judge and new location for the trial. Kohberger also noted he welcomes “the State the opportunity to prove their case at trial, as well as to, again, file for the death penalty.” (As part of the agreement reached in 2025, prosecutors would no longer seek the death penalty.)
Meanwhile, as the families of the victims prepare to potentially enter a court room again, Kohberger’s family emphasized they remain on their minds.
“As a family, we continue to carry the victims, their families, and the entire Moscow community in our hearts and daily prayer,” they added in their statement to ABC. “We continue to love and support Bryan and we continue to respect the memory of those lost. We seek to find justice and a conclusive resolution through the legal process.”
A hearing to review Kohberger’s request for a new judge and trial location is currently scheduled for Oct. 15, while a hearing regarding his plea is scheduled for June17, 2027.
In the meantime, for more information on the gruesome case, read on.
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