A PROLIFIC serial killer convicted of murdering at least eight women across the US has rallied around Bryan Kohberger after his case ended this week.
The Idaho killer was sentenced on Wednesday to four consecutive life sentences for the murders of students Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin.
Bryan Kohberger was handed four life sentences and is now being supported by a notorious serial killer[/caption]
Jesperson is serving a life sentence for the murders of at least eight women he killed across multiple states in the 1990s[/caption]
(L-R) Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke at their home near campus[/caption]
Kohberger will be evaluated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna before he is put behind bars for the rest of his life.
Keith Jesperson, 70, known as the Happy Face serial killer, says he will be requesting that the 30-year-old is moved to his prison in Oregon.
The ex-trucker earned his nickname for doodling smiley faces on letters to press and cops during his five-state killing spree between 1990 and 1995 where he strangled and killed multiple women.
He has been serving his life sentence at the Oregon State Penitentiary since 1995.
The serial killer who has claimed to have murdered over 160 people detailed his thoughts about Kohberger’s case in a note to Keith Rovere, an ex-prison minister who shared it with Fox News.
It comes as…
- Kohberger ‘mentioned knife used to kill Idaho students’ in creepy chat with Tinder match about worst ways to die
- His new mugshot shows blank stare as it’s revealed he ‘won’t go straight to jail’ on 4 life sentences
- The harrowing step-by-step journey Kohberger took as he broke into Idaho students’ house & stabbed four to death is revealed
- Judge wipes away tears as he sentences Kohberger to 4 life sentences after victims families poured rage onto killer
“His best hope is to be transfered (sic) to here, the max prison in Oregon to be away from those who want to make a name for themselves by killing him,” Jesperson wrote.
“This prison gets inmates from other states in order to protect them from the drama.”
“I will write to the Idaho Department of Corrections to tell them to consider sending Kohberger here to save them the high-risk security issues in protecting him in Idaho,” he later added.
“In the general population, he will be singled out right away to be made a target for those who see him as weak for the crimes of that kind of murder.”
COWARDLY CRIMES
The court heard of how Kohberger killed three of his four victims while they were asleep as powerful family impact statements blasted him as a coward.
Kaylee Goncalves‘ father revealed how his daughter had been stabbed over 30 times in the student home in Moscow by Kohberger on November 13, 2022.
Meanwhile, her sister Alivea told the killer: “If you hadn’t attacked them in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f**king a**.”
Since the hearing, cops have revealed the horrors they were met with upon entering the home – details that will also contribute to the disdain other prisoners will have towards Kohberger.
Lead detective Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson told ABC News how Chapin’s blood had leaked out the side of the house from where his body was located in his girlfriend Xana’s bedroom.
She was found on the floor next to the bed he was on.
The full details of Bryan Kohberger’s sentence
On July 23, 2025, Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Bryan Kohberger to the following:
- Count 1: Burglary – 10 years fixed, zero years in determinate. $50,000 fine.
- Count 2: First-degree murder of Madison Mogen: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 3: First-degree murder of Kaylee Goncalves: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 4: First-degree murder of Xana Kernodle: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
- Count 5: First-degree murder of Ethan Chapin: Fixed term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. $50,000 fine and civil penalty of $5,000 payable to the family of the victim.
The sentencings will run consecutively to one another.
On the third floor, Kaylee’s dog was in her room while she was found together with Maddie in her bed.
“I don’t think anyone of us were prepared that it was four young, completely innocent kids,” Gilbertson said. “How do you prepare for that?”
Despite Jesperson’s transfer request, the Idaho killer’s two weeks of evaluation will determine where he will live out the rest of his days.
“The Reception and Diagnostic Unit (RDU) process evaluates their needs and determines appropriate housing placement; this process takes 7-14 days,” a spokesperson for the IDOC told The U.S. Sun.
“We wait until a person completes the RDU process to determine their classification, housing placement, and any privileges,” they added.
Kohberger is undergoing evaluation for up to two weeks before it is decided where he will live out his sentence[/caption]
Dylan Mortensen speaks of her ordeal during the sentencing hearing[/caption]
Benjamin Mogen, father of Madison Mogen, cries during the hearing[/caption]
Out-of-state placements are decided case-by-case and the Oregon prison is regularly used to house prisoners where there are security concerns and other needs.
However, Idaho State Corrections officials have not made any suggestion that Kohberger will be moved out of state, in which case he will remain in the maximum security prison in Kuna.
“The safety and security of staff and the population are a priority in everything IDOC does, including placement,” Blake Lopez, public information officer for the Idaho Department of Corrections told The Post.
According to Fox News, it is likely that Kohberger will initially be placed in “lockdown” where he will be in solitary confinement – allowed out for just one hour a day “to see the sky“.
SECRET MOTIVE
Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders on July 2 to avoid the death penalty and has never given a motive.
“He’s the only one that has the ‘why,’” Gilbertson said.
“And oftentimes that ‘why,’ it may only make sense to him.”
“I personally feel that, for whatever reason, he targeted one of the young women on the third floor,” lead prosecutor Bill Thompson told ABC News.
“The fact that he found them together, whether that was planned, we’ll never know,” he said. “It’s more likely than not he did not expect to encounter Xana and the others up and about.”
“We are fortunate that he got scared and ran and left without harming Dylan or Bethany,” he added.
The two survivors Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, shared gut-wrenching statements where they spoke about the fear and anxiety that follows them after the horrifying ordeal.
“He is a hollow vessel, something less than human. He may have taken so much from me, but he will never get to take my voice,” Dylan told the court through tears.
The sentencing hearing was the first time both survivors spoke out for the first time about the murders.
University of Idaho murders timeline
On November 13, 2022, a brutal home invasion claimed the lives of four University of Idaho students.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in a Moscow, Idaho, off-campus home.
A six-week manhunt ensued as cops searched for a suspect.
On December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger, 30, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania – 2,500 miles away from the crime scene.
He was taken into custody and charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, was linked to the crime scene through phone records, his car’s location, and DNA evidence found at the home where the murders took place.
The house was demolished in December 2023 despite backlash from the victims’ families.
Kohberger was held at Latah County Jail where he awaited trial.
On September 9, 2024, an Idaho judge ruled to move the upcoming murder trial out of Moscow after Kohberger’s lawyer argued that the town was prejudiced against him.
The trial was expected to start in August 2025.
But on June 30, 2025, Kohberger struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the charges on July 2.
The move was blasted by the victims’ families, who wanted Kohberger to face justice through a trial.
On July 23, Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life sentences in prison with an additional 10 years for burglary.
Friends and family members of the four victims shared powerful impact statements at the sentencing hearing, as roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke also spoke out for the first time.
