Bryan Kohberger’s victims ‘endured a high degree of pain’ and suffering, unsealed autopsy reports show

Bryan Kohberger's victims 'endured a high degree of pain' and suffering, unsealed autopsy reports show

Dr. Veena Singh found all four victims suffered wounds consistent with a Ka-Bar Marine Corps fighting knife

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Bryan Kohberger receives life without parole for murders of 4 Idaho students

Fox News correspondent Dan Springer reports on Bryan Kohberger's sentencing hearing on 'Special Report.'

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The autopsy reports for the University of Idaho student victims have been unsealed by the Ada County court, where the case was transferred after killer Bryan Kohberger successfully asked for a change of venue.

They were conducted by Dr. Veena Singh, Spokane's chief medical examiner, who prosecutors said was planning to testify in the penalty phase of trial had their accused killer not pleaded guilty first.

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University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates pose in the final photo shared by Goncalves on Instagram before four students were fatally stabbed in November 2022. (Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram)

The reports do not include photographs. Some of the information about the devastating injuries to the victims has already been made public.

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Dr. Singh found that all of the victims suffered wounds "consistent" with a "Ka-Bar Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife" — the suspected murder weapon. Some injuries may have been caused by different parts of the weapon, she found.

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An evidence photo from the Moscow Police Department shows a KA-BAR knife sheath believed to have housed the knife Bryan Kohberger used to murder four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Moscow Police Department)

All four were killed by multiple sharp-force injuries and "endured a high degree of pain and/or suffering" in the attack, which took place as three of the four were sleeping around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022.

She noted that Kaylee Goncalves, 21, had also suffered blunt-force injuries to her face and that an "unidentified object" appeared to have been used to cover her mouth. She also showed signs of asphyxia.

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Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025, for his sentencing hearing for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (Kyle Green/AP Photo)

The victims were Goncalves, her 21-year-old best friend, Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.

Kernodle was the only one not in bed when Kohberger attacked — suffering defensive wounds on her hands and arms.

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Police found a leather Ka-Bar sheath in the bed with Goncalves and Mogen that prosecutors later said had Kohberger's DNA on it.

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The victims of the Nov. 13 University of Idaho massacre are Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen. (Instagram)

Investigators used investigative genetic genealogy to come up with leads about the suspect, and discovered a potential match in Kohberger, who had been attending classes 10 miles from the crime scene. He was arrested at his parents' house in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022.

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The reports were included in a batch of newly unsealed court filings as the court continues to make more information in the case available to the public.

Kohberger, who was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at the neighboring Washington State University, pleaded guilty last year to avoid death by the firing squad.

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He is serving four consecutive life sentences plus another 10 years.

His early weeks in prison were marked with complaints about the food and mistreatment by fellow inmates.

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