SEEKING ACCOUNTABILITY

Families of Bryan Kohberger’s Victims File Massive New Lawsuit

The Idaho killer’s former university is being accused of failing to act on multiple warning signs.

The families of the four University of Idaho students murdered by Bryan Kohberger are suing his former school for damages, accusing it of failing to act on several warning signs. In the lawsuit, the families of Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Ethan Chapin demanded that Washington State University be held responsible 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.” The suit alleges that shortly after arriving on campus, Kohberger “developed a reputation for discriminatory, harassing, and stalking behavior, instilling substantial fear among young female students and fellow WSU employees, necessitating regular security escorts for multiple females.” The lawsuit also mentions at least 13 formal reports submitted to the school about Kohberger’s inappropriate behavior. He would go on to kill Mogen, Kernodle, Goncalves, and Chapin in a home eight miles away in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. At the time of the killings, Kohberger was a teaching assistant in the university’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, where he was obtaining a PhD. Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges in order to avoid the death penalty, and in July 2025, was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.