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Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to serve four lifetimes in prison for the murders of four University of Idaho students without parole plus 10 additional years for burglary
He confessed to the murders of those four friends in court earlier this month: Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20
He was sentenced after a emotional day of impact statements from the families and friends of his victims
Bryan Kohberger will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four lifetimes in prison without parole for the murders of four University of Idaho students — plus 10 years for a burglary charge and $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.
The convicted murderer, 30, appeared in an Idaho courtroom this afternoon for his sentencing hearing, three weeks after appearing in the same Boise courtroom and confessing to the murders of those four friends: Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The four were found brutally stabbed to death inside a Moscow home on Nov. 13, 2022, and on Wednesday the man who took their lives was sentenced to four lifetimes in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 10 years on a burglary charge.
Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler handed down the sentence after a long and emotional day of victim impact statements from family and friends of the victims.
Among those who delivered statements were surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen and the families of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
The other surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, also wrote a victim impact statement which she had a friend read in court.
Many of the statements were delivered through tears with Alivea Goncalves, the older sister of Kaylee, being one of the rare exceptions.
She received an ovation from the court at the end of her remarks, which she concluded by saying: “You want the truth? Here’s the one you’ll hate the most. If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f—ing ass.”
Judge Hippler told Kohberger he “ripped a hole in the soul” of his victim’s families, fighting back tears as he spoke to the killer in court.
He later applauded the strength and bravery of Mortensen and Funke while deriding those who spent months concocting damaging and false stories about the two playing some role in the murders of their friends.
Kohberger himself did not speak, however, or offer any apology to the family and friends of his victims.
The former criminology student entered guilty pleas to the murders in a last second deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the death penalty.
In exchange, he signed off on Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson recommending to the court that be sentenced to a term of life in prison for each of the four murders.
Judge Hippler had the ability to impose any sentence he deemed just, but ultimately opted to hand down the punishment recommended by prosecutors.
Kohberger will now be transferred from the Ada County Jail to the Idaho Department of Corrections, a spokesperson for the agency tells PEOPLE.
He will not be headed to prison for at least a week after his sentencing, however, said the spokesperson, who provided an overview of what that first week or two would involve for the quadruple murderer.
“Once in IDOC custody, the person goes through a reception and diagnostic process (RDU) to evaluate their needs and determine appropriate housing placement,” the spokesperson said, adding that this process could take anywhere from one to two weeks.
After he completes that process, the IDOC will determine his prisoner classification and based on that, his housing placement, the spokesperson explained.
That placement will likely be in the lone maximum security facility in Idaho, but there is also the possibility of Kohberger being booked into a facility outside the state given his infamy.