How Did Brian Kohberger Actually Get Into the House Where the University of Idaho Students Lived?

In early July 2025, then-suspected murderer in the case of the University of Idaho students, Brian Kohberger, pleaded guilty. Weeks later, he faced sentencing. According to CNN, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Despite that part of the case being over, there are still a lot of questions about what happened, especially since Kohberger's guilty plea meant there would be no lengthy trial.

One thing the public largely wants to know is how Kohberger got into the house. Per multiple outlets, including CBS News, Kohberger entered the home shared by six students and murdered four of them in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle were found dead later that morning.

Although six roommates lived in the home at the time, two others, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, weren't harmed after Kohberger entered the home and brutally stabbed Goncalves, Mogen, Chapin, and Kernodle. According to ABC7 in Los Angeles, Kohberger used the sliding door in the kitchen to enter the home.

It was reportedly a little after 4 a.m., after a DoorDash order had been dropped off. Per court documents obtained by the outlet, Kohberger entered the home of the Idaho students and went upstairs, where he fatally stabbed two of them. Prosecutors reportedly said that Kohberger killed one of the other students when he may have been on his way out of the home, and then killed a fourth.

After the murders, Kohberger left the home, but he may have been back in the area around the time authorities were called. According to CNN, his cell phone was pinged near the home a little after 9 a.m. He was later arrested at his family's home in Pennsylvania, and he asserted his innocence immediately following his arrest. It wasn't until July 2025 that Kohberger pleaded guilty.

At Kohberger's July 23, 2025, sentencing hearing, per CNN, he was sentenced to life in prison for the four counts of murder he pleaded guilty to. He was permitted to speak at the hearing, but he declined. It was a move that left many wondering about the details of his motives, and it continues to keep the families of the victims in the dark about why he committed the murders he admitted to.

Prior to Kohberger's sentencing, Donald Trump posted about it on Truth Social and shared that he wanted the judge to demand that Kohberger explain why he committed the murders.

"These were vicious murders, with so many questions left unanswered," he wrote. "While life imprisonment is tough, it's certainly better than receiving the death penalty but, before sentencing, I hope the judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING."