The Ada County court has unsealed the autopsy reports of the University of Idaho students who were tragically killed. The case took a turn when Bryan Kohberger, the accused, requested a change of venue. Dr. Veena Singh, the chief medical examiner from Spokane, conducted the autopsies. She was expected to testify during the penalty phase if Kohberger had not pleaded guilty.
“They endured a high degree of pain and suffering,” Dr. Singh noted in the reports.
The students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle, were fatally stabbed in November 2022. Their injuries align with a “Ka-Bar Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife,” believed to be the murder weapon. However, different parts of the weapon might have caused some of the wounds.
Police found a KA-BAR knife sheath in the victims’ room. This sheath is thought to have contained the knife used by Kohberger, and it bore his DNA. The victims died from multiple sharp-force injuries inflicted in the early hours of November 13, 2022. Kaylee Goncalves, unlike her peers, also suffered blunt-force trauma.
On the night of the attack, three of the four victims were asleep. Xana Kernodle, the only one not in bed, had defensive wounds on her hands and arms. Kohberger was identified and arrested after police used investigative genetic genealogy techniques. This pointed to Kohberger, who was studying criminology at Washington State University, only 10 miles from the crime site.
Kohberger was apprehended at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022. He pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and is serving four life sentences plus ten additional years. In the initial weeks of his imprisonment, he complained about the food and treatment from other prisoners.