Fmr Homicide Detective Describes Scenario That Could Put Kohberger Back ‘On The Street’ Despite Life Sentence

Former Washington D.C. homicide detective Ted Williams said Wednesday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that there is a possibility Bryan Kohberger ends up “back on the street” due to the court missing “why” he killed four Idaho college students, despite his plea agreement sentencing him to life in prison.

A plea deal for Kohberger was announced Monday, with the 30-year-old pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection to the deaths of roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin. During his plea hearing Wednesday, Kohberger was heard admitting “yes” to the murders with guest host Charlie Hurt asking Williams what still remains unknown in the case.

“You know, Charlie, let me say I was out there in November of 2022 covering the murder of these four promising college students. And what we do not know is the why,” Williams said. “Why would a Washington State Ph.D. criminology student go into that home and murder those students? I got to tell you, we missed the opportunity today to learn why. There are two things.”

“The prosecutors, in entering into this plea agreement, could have made a part and parcel of the plea agreement that Brian Kohberger stand up and tell the world, tell the citizens of Iowa, tell these parents why he murdered these kids. He didn’t do it with the prosecutors in that kind of a deal. Today, Judge Hippler could have had him stand up and tell the world why he killed these kids. That didn’t happen. That is lost,” Williams added.

In November 2022, four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, with two roommates surviving the attack. The surviving roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortenson, told officials during the investigation that they had previously seen a man dressed in black clothes and a mask walking past the house before the attack. (RELATED: Verdict Reached In High Profile Case Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs)

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By December 2022, Kohberger, a former criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania. Limited information was released at the time, but court documents showed officials saying Kohberger’s cellphone data reportedly placed him at the scene 23 times, and his DNA matched a knife sheath found at the crime scene.

“What I can see happening and visualize is about 15 years from now, this guy will be in a jail cell, writing a book, and he will say, ‘I didn’t commit those crimes.’ And all of a sudden, you’ll have some television studio come in and do a piece on him. Before you know it, he may be back, unfortunately, on the street, although he was sentenced to four life sentences with life without the possibility of parole,” Williams said.

Hurt then asked Williams if he has “any idea” of why presiding Judge Steven Hippler wouldn’t require Kohberger to state his explanation for the murders, to which Williams said he has “no idea.”

“I have no idea whatsoever. I’ve talked to friends in the judicial community and elsewhere, and they’ve all said that the judge could have had him stand up and face the world and tell them why he killed these kids,” Williams said. “But it’s sentencing. Even if the jurors say ‘Stand up and tell us why you killed him,’ he doesn’t have to do that.”

While some of the victims’ family members agreed with the plea deal, others, like the Goncalves, vocalized their frustration with the state, posting on a Facebook page that the case ended in a “a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details.” Prior to the agreement, Kohberger’s trial had been scheduled for Aug. 11, with jury selection set to begin Aug. 4.

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