Bryan Kohberger accepted his plea deal just days after prosecutors listed his sister as a witness

Just days after prosecutors added his sister, Amanda Kohberger, to their witness list, Bryan Kohberger agreed to a plea deal, abruptly ending the high-profile case before it could go to trial, according to newly unsealed court filings.

The documents reveal that Amanda Kohberger appeared on both the state’s amended witness list and the defense’s mitigation witness list submitted by lead attorney Anne Taylor. This unusual overlap positioned her as a potential witness for both sides in the weeks leading up to the plea.

Within days of the June 25 filing naming his sister as a prosecution witness, Kohberger accepted a deal that prevented the case from moving to trial. The filings highlight the stark contrast between the two sides’ strategies. Prosecutors’ updated witness list included 180 names—ranging from investigators and forensic experts to relatives of the victims—and notably featured Amanda Kohberger.

Bryan Kohberger at his sentencing hearing in Boise, Idaho. — Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse during his sentencing hearing, in Boise, Idaho, USA, 23 July 2025. KYLE GREEN/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock

An earlier ABC News report, citing expunged 2014 police records, noted that Michael Kohberger, Bryan’s father, once told officers his son had stolen his sister Melissa’s iPhone. Police confirmed the case had been expunged and said the record “no longer exists.”

The defense’s mitigation list, filed June 6, contained 56 potential witnesses for the sentencing phase, including psychologists, corrections experts, and nearly all members of Kohberger’s immediate family.

The case drew nationwide attention following the brutal killings of four University of Idaho students—Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves—on November 13, 2022, in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

Idaho Maximum Security Institution, seen through a chain-link fence. — Within days of the June 25 filing that listed his sister as a prosecution witness, he accepted a plea deal that spared the case from going to trial. KBOI

Kohberger, a former Ph.D. criminology student at Washington State University, was arrested in December 2022 after an extensive investigation that spanned several states. The 30-year-old ultimately pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

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