RESTITUTION

Idaho Killer Bryan Kohberger Ordered to Pay for Victims’ Urns

The convicted murderer has already been ordered to pay more than $50,000 in restitution.

Bryan Kohberger can add one more expense to his growing tally of legal fees: paying for two of his victims’ final resting places. Kohberger, who is serving four consecutive life sentences for murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022, has been ordered to cover the cost of urns for two of his victims, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. District Judge Steven Hippler ruled Thursday that Kohberger must pay $1,588 to the family of Goncalves and $1,420 to the family of Mogen. Kohberger, 30, had already been ordered to pay just under $32,000 in restitution to the families of the remaining two victims, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, on top of $20,000 to each family in a civil judgment, which included an agreement to cover the victims’ funeral expenses. He also owes more than $251,000 in criminal fines and fees. Kohberger’s attorneys argued that he should not be held responsible for the urns because he would not have an opportunity to earn money in prison. Judge Hippler dismissed that claim, writing in his Thursday ruling that the killer had already received enough in donations—mostly from his own family—to “at least come close” to covering all expenses. Kohberger pleaded guilty in June to fatally stabbing the four students after breaking into their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, the night of Nov. 13, 2022. At the time, Kohberger was a Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, studying criminology.