Bryan Kohberger Seeks to Take Back Guilty Plea in Idaho College Murders, Claims He’s Innocent

Bryan Kohberger, the man who admitted to brutally murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022, said he has filed a petition to withdraw his guilty plea.

Kohberger, 31, told the New York Times in a written statement on Sunday, July 26, that he is innocent.

“Justice was not served,” Kohberger said in the statement provided via his family, adding that “unanswered questions seem to multiply with each piece of discovery unsealed, and the public demands the truth.”

“Circumnavigated by a broken plea, the trial never provided the public the clarity conducive to closure, and justice shall remain abjectly miscarried unless that plea is withdrawn,” he added. “I hereby declare my intention to enter a not guilty plea, and welcome the State the opportunity to prove their case at trial, as well as to, again, file for the death penalty.”

“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” he said, thanking his family and those who have supported him.

In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were brutally stabbed to death in their off-campus Moscow apartment by Kohberger.

Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders in order to avoid the death penalty. He is currently serving four life sentences without parole.

Kohberger reiterated in a phone call to the Times from prison that he had an “absolute claim of innocence.”

However, he did not provide the publication with much more information regarding why he says he is innocent in the tragic college crime, which gained national attention.

Kohberger — who is behind bars at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution — told the Times “the intention is for all of those questions to be investigated and answered appropriately in a trial setting.”

“Why am I breaking my silence?” he said. “A lot went wrong in those plea discussions. I really do want that to be heard.”