Bryan Kohberger Abruptly Agreed To Plea Deal After Sister Was Put On Witness List, New Documents Reveal

Bryan Kohberger is said to have accepted a plea deal after prosecutors added someone close to him to their witness list.

According to reports, the prosecution had planned to call his sister, Amanda, as a witness if the case went to trial. It remains unclear whether she had any knowledge of the convicted murderer's crimes, but Kohberger's decision to take the plea effectively ended the possibility of that information becoming public.

Bryan Kohberger is currently serving four consecutive life sentences at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution for the murders of four University of Idaho students.

In July earlier this year, the long-anticipated trial of Bryan Kohberger was halted when the convicted murderer agreed to a plea deal.

At the center of the agreement was a sentence of four consecutive life terms, which Kohberger accepted after previously appearing determined to fight his case in court.

Now, documents obtained by TMZ reveal that the former PhD student made this decision just days after prosecutors added his sister, Amanda, to their witness list.

Interestingly, Amanda was the only immediate family member on the list, which seemed to hint that they had a special reason for wanting to call her during the trial.

Whatever the reason might have been remains unclear, as the plea deal meant Amanda's testimony would not be heard in court.

The latest news comes after it was revealed that Kohberger and his mother, MaryAnn, exchanged a brief chat about the Idaho murders before his shock arrest.

Forensic experts told NewsNation's Banfield that he had received a text message from his mother about the killings just four days after the gruesome incident.

MaryAnn Kohberger is said to have sent her son a text message about a news article on the case while they were on a phone call.

While it's unclear what exactly they were chatting about, the experts believe the phone conversation may have also revolved around the Idaho murders.

Additionally, the experts noted that there was no text response from Kohberger to his mother, hinting that he likely responded to her text message via phone call.

In the meantime, there's also no evidence that MaryAnn was aware that her son was the Idaho killer, despite the coincidental chat, as she may have simply sent it to Kohberger out of concern, as he lived near the crime scene.

If the case had gone to trial, the investigators' DNA evidence of Korberger was expected to play a major role.

They had discovered a knife sheath with his DNA at the off-campus home where Kohberger fatally stabbed Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin in 2022.

Other incriminating evidence included video surveillance showing Kohberger's car moving to and from the crime scene area.

However, the murder weapon was never found, nor was Kohberger's motive officially confirmed.

At present, Kohberger is being held at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.

He is housed in the J-Block section and must adhere to a strict schedule that requires him to spend 23 hours a day in his cell and wear restraints whenever he is outside it. He is also reportedly only allowed to shower every other day.

Weeks into Kohberger's life sentence, the former PhD student appears to be living a largely uneventful life.

His daily routine is reportedly interrupted only by occasional complaints about his treatment at the facility, according to TMZ.

One of his complaints reportedly involved being unable to access JPay, the system used for sending money to an inmate's trust account and providing other correctional services.

Another complaint concerned a "supply request" that he claimed was never fulfilled.

Both complaints were addressed by staff, and it appears Kohberger was satisfied with the responses, as he reportedly later sent a thank-you letter to one of the officials.

Despite being in prison, footage of Kohberger somehow made its way onto the internet in August.

At first, there were speculations that the video was AI-generated, a notion further fueled by an initial statement released by the IDOC.

However, a later statement from the agency confirmed that the footage was real and that they were conducting a serious investigation into the matter.

This was followed by a report of an internal email from IDOC Director Bree Derrick to prison staff, indicating that the video was most likely recorded from inside IMSI and not the other prisons where Kohberger was residing during his prosecution.

"These appear to be taken from inside IMSI. We are taking this matter very seriously," read the mail at the time.

Still, the individual who leaked the video continues to remain elusive despite the efforts of IDOC.