Families of Bryan Kohberger’s victims sue his college for ignoring ‘warning signs’ in run up to killings
The families of four University of Idaho students murdered in their beds say the warning signs were there, but ignored, long before Bryan Kohberger carried out one of the deadliest crimes in the state’s history.
On Wednesday, the families of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin filed a lawsuit against Washington State University, alleging the school failed to act on repeated complaints about Kohberger’s inappropriate behavior while he was a graduate student and teaching assistant, ultimately allowing a foreseeable tragedy to unfold.
The lawsuit accuses WSU of gross negligence, wrongful death and violations of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination at public universities.
The suit argues that administrators failed to intervene despite numerous reports that Kohberger was stalking and harassing women in the months leading up to the November 2022 killings.
Kohberger, who was enrolled in WSU’s criminology Ph.D. program and lived in university housing in Pullman, pleaded guilty in July to fatally stabbing the four students at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, about seven miles away. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after accepting a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.
As part of the plea agreement, Kohberger waived his right to appeal and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms, plus 10 years, more than $300,000 in fines and ordered to pay about $32,000 in restitution to the families and the Idaho victim’s compensation fund, plus another $20,000 in civil damages.
After Kohberger’s sentencing, officials released investigative records that the families’ attorneys say revealed a pattern of institutional failure.
“The information now coming to light paints a disturbing picture of institutional inaction in the face of repeated and dire warnings,” the families’ attorneys said in a statement. “These failures were not the result of a lack of authority or available safeguards, but rather a breakdown in accountability and responsibility at critical moments.”
Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, who vowed last year to pursue legal action, is a lead plaintiff in the case, along with Madison Mogen’s mother Karen Laramie, Xana Kernodle’s father Jeff Kernodle and Ethan Chapin’s mother Stacy Chapin. The families are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
“The plaintiffs seek to hold WSU liable for its own decisions and actions to remain idle in the face of known extreme and repeated instances of discrimination, sexual harassment and stalking by Kohberger occurring in its educational program,” it states. “… That ultimately culminated in Kohberger stalking and murdering the decedents.”
According to the lawsuit, WSU had a duty to supervise Kohberger as a student, employee, campus resident and university internet user. But during his one semester at the school as a student, there were at least 13 formal complaints filed against him.
“There was no indication that WSU acted on these formal complaints, or that it acted in an urgent and decisive manner commensurate with the imminent and serious threat that Kohberger posed,” the lawsuit states. “WSU failed to exercise its supervisory power and disciplinary authority over Kohberger, despite having repeated notice of the high risk of serious misconduct.”
The Independent has reached out to WSU for comment.
The suit alleges Kohberger “developed a reputation for discriminatory, harassing and stalking behavior” that the university allowed to persist. By September 2022, professors were discussing a possible “intervention” over his treatment of female students, the complaint says.
Women allegedly feared for their safety, requested escorts to their cars and created informal warning systems to protect one another when Kohberger was present.
Less than two weeks before the murders, Kohberger was called into a meeting with faculty members to address concerns about his conduct, according to prior reporting by The New York Times. WSU fired him from his teaching assistant position in early December, after the killings but before his arrest, citing unsatisfactory performance and failure to meet “norms of professional behavior.”
Kohberger’s firing from the school came too late, the families argue in the lawsuit.
“The victims’ families have come together with a shared purpose to seek transparency, accountability, and meaningful reform,” their attorneys said.
“This effort is not about vengeance or speculation. This is about ensuring that institutions entrusted with the safety of young people take threats seriously and act decisively when warning signs are present.”
Kohberger, now 31, is serving his sentence at Idaho’s maximum-security prison just south of Boise.
