Friends and family of the four University of Idaho students in the US who were killed by Brian Kochberger in their rented home have made emotional statements about love, loss and conviction during his trial.
“The world is a better place because of her,” Scott Laramie, Madison Mogen’s stepfather, said in court. “Karen and I are ordinary people, but our lives were extraordinary because we had Maddie.”
Kaylee Gonsalves' father mocked Kochberger for leaving his DNA and getting caught while a criminology graduate student at nearby Washington State University.
“You were so careless, so stupid, so shallow,” Steve Gonsalves said. “A master's degree? You're a laughing stock.”
Judge Stephen Hippler sentenced Kochberger to four consecutive life terms without parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal stabbings of Ms. Mogen, Ms. Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on the morning of Nov. 13, 2022. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglary.
Earlier this month, just weeks before the trial was set to begin, the defendant pleaded guilty in a deal that avoided the death penalty.
Kochberger entered the house through a sliding kitchen door and brutally stabbed four friends who appeared to have no connection to him. No motive was given for the crime, and Kochberger chose not to testify at the hearing.
Dylan Mortenson, a roommate who told police she saw a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask that night, burst into tears as she described how Kochberger, sitting across the room in an orange jumpsuit, “was taking in the light they brought into every room.”
“He's an empty vessel, something subhuman,” Mr. Mortenson said. “A body without empathy, without remorse.”
Mr Mortenson and another surviving neighbour, Bethany Funke, described crippling panic and anxiety attacks after the attack.
“I slept in my parents' room for almost a year, made them double-lock every door, set an alarm and constantly check the entire room in case anyone was hiding,” Ms Funke wrote in a statement provided by her friend.
“I haven't had a good night's sleep since it happened. I wake up in a constant panic, afraid that someone is going to come in, or that someone is going to hurt me, or that I'm about to lose someone close to me.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
