On July 2, 2025, Bryan Kohberger pled guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students. The prosecution had its final word on the matter before members of the victims’ families spoke about the losses they had suffered. Kohberger offered no allocution and was sentenced to life in prison on July 23rd of that year.

The sentencing of a defendant usually provides a modicum of closure to relatives, friends and the general public. However, this case has had a number of questions that continue to pester the minds of people like bestselling author and former FBI Hostage Rescue Team sniper Christopher Whitcomb --- especially now that Kohberger is seeking to take back his guilty plea, claiming that he was “convinced to falsely confess.”

"The case had a swift resolution and no lengthy trial. However, there is more than a gut feeling after reading this thought-provoking book that justice has been denied to the victims and their families."

On November 13, 2022, a 911 call went out from the vicinity of the house located at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho. There was carnage inside the residence as Officer Mitch Nunes of the Moscow Police Department found the bloody corpses of Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, as well as the savagely murdered bodies of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. 

Officer Nunes interviewed occupant Dylan Mortensen, who detailed a possible encounter with a masked assailant eight hours previously. Mortensen had heard some commotion and notified roommate Bethany Funke, yet they didn’t reach out to the authorities until almost noon. The University of Idaho began an early holiday shutdown as the police searched for relevant clues.

Such crimes were a rarity in this small town, so the Moscow Police Department and the Idaho State Police were under the gun to apprehend a sadistic killer. A month and a half later, and with some assistance from the FBI, a Washington State University student was arrested at his home in Pennsylvania. 

The case against Bryan Kohberger hinged on means and opportunity, yet the motive was not clear. A knife sheath purportedly owned by Kohberger was found amongst the blood and human misery, and a fingerprint matching his was allegedly obtained from it. A circumstantial case for his guilt could be made, yet there were nagging issues concerning the scene --- from scant physical evidence to hair belonging to an unknown party discovered in the bed of one of the victims. Blood stains were found in areas inconsistent with the locations of the slain students. A discerning eye could begin to deconstruct a seemingly ironclad case.

In BROKEN PLEA, Whitcomb does an extensive deep dive into the tragic events that transpired four years ago and provides information that pokes holes in the prosecution’s case while offering up the possibility of multiple perpetrators. His service as an FBI agent comes through in his deductive reasoning and investigation of the facts. As deftly shown by Whitcomb, the police and prosecutors were quick to hype the circumstantial evidence while downplaying anything exculpatory. 

The case had a swift resolution and no lengthy trial. However, there is more than a gut feeling after reading this thought-provoking book that justice has been denied to the victims and their families.