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Lawyers for convicted Idaho student murderer Bryan Kohberger have asked a judge to excuse the 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student from having to pay roughly $27,000 to two of the four victims’ families, arguing that they’ve already received more than enough through donations from people around the country via GoFundMe.
Kohberger agreed to pay more than $250,000 in criminal fines and fees plus another $20,000 in civil judgments per family to the parents of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, as part of his plea deal.
His lawyers argue he shouldn’t have to pay another roughly $20,000 to Goncalves’ parents or nearly $7,000 more to Mogen’s mother, Karen Laramie, in travel and accommodation expenses requested by the prosecution.
BRYAN KOHBERGER TRANSFERRED TO MAXIMUM SECURITY STATE PRISON
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. Kohberger pleaded guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty for the stabbing of four University of Idaho students nearly three years ago. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
“The additional funds sought do not qualify as an economic loss under Idaho Code 19-5304 because Steve and Kristi Goncalves and Karen Larmie (sic) received extensive funds through multiple GoFundMe campaigns that specifically asked for and covered the expenses sought,” attorneys Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Bicka Barlow wrote in a court filing.
Read the court filing:
They later wrote that “Mr. Kohberger has no ability now or in the future to pay restitution because he is serving four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years.”
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
CREEPY SELFIES RECOVERED FROM IDAHO KILLER BRYAN KOHBERGER’S PHONE REVEALED
Across three fundraisers outlined in the court filing, donors gave $73,493 in one campaign for both Goncalves and Mogen, $48,815 so Laramie could attend Kohberger’s case in person, and $85,583 to Steve and Kristi Goncalves and their surviving children for the same purpose.
This still image taken from surveillance video of an Albertson’s supermarket in Lewiston, Washington, shows Bryan Kohberger shopping hours after the Idaho student murders. (Moscow Police Department)
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Kohberger pleaded guilty to the November 2022 murders in July, weeks before he would have gone to trial after denying the charges for more than two years.
The deal spared him the death penalty in exchange for forfeiting his right to appeal or seek a sentence reduction.