Bryan Kohberger’s University of Idaho murder trial was set to be a family affair.
According to newly released court documents obtained by People, Kohberger’s older sister Amanda Kohberger was the only member of the family listed as one of 180 people identified by prosecutors as possible witnesses at trial.
However, Amanda never took the stand, because just one week after the motion was filed on June 25, Kohberger, to avoid the death penalty, pled guilty to the murders of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
The college students were found brutally murdered in November of 2022 inside an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho.
Prosecutors Planned to Call Surviving Roommates to Testify in Idaho Murder Trial
The prosecution’s list of potential witnesses included surviving roommates Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, who both were at home at the time of the brutal 2022 murders. Ethan Chapin’s siblings Hunter and Mazie Chapin, who were said to be at the crime scene the next day, were also on the list.
Mortensen delivered a powerful victim impact statement at Kohberger’s sentencing in July, according to CBS News, as she talked about the night that “changed everything.”
“What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break,” she tearfully recalled. “I should have been figuring out who I was. I should have been having the college experience and starting to establish my future. Instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”
Chapin’s parents, Jim and Stacy Chapin, were vocal in their support of Kohberger’s plea deal, which shielded Ethan’s triplet siblings from having to re-live the trauma on the stand.
“I’m ready for my kids to move on,” Jim told NBC’s Today after the plea was announced. “I’m ready for us to move on.
Possible Kohberger Defense Witnesses Revealed
The court documents, unsealed by Ada County Judge Steven Hippler, also gave new clues into the possible strategy Kohberger’s defense team may have used to reduce his culpability in the murders, if he had been convicted at trial.
His sister Amanda—who CBS News reported worked as a school counselor—was also listed as a possible defense witness, along with his sister Melissa and parents Michael and Maryann, People reported.
Amanda and Maryann were both in court in July when Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to The New York Post.
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Washington State University professor John Snyder was another name to make the list of 56 potential defense witnesses. John oversaw Kohberger in his post as a teaching assistant at the university before his arrest.
Kohberger—who was linked to the crime through DNA and cell phone records—is currently serving out his life sentence inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, Idaho.
