Bryan Kohberger accepted plea deal days after learning his sister was on prosecution witness list

NEED TO KNOW

• Bryan Kohberger accepted a plea deal just days after seeing the prosecution’s witness list for the plea phase of his trial, which revealed that his sister Amanda could be called to testify.

• A newly unsealed document reveals the names on that list, of which Amanda is the only member of the Kohberger family, likely because her brother allegedly stole her phone in 2014.

• Amanda was also included on Kohberger’s list of mitigating witnesses, whose testimony he hoped would lessen his guilt if convicted of murder.

Bryan Kohberger might have been forced to face his sister in court if his case had gone to trial.

Amanda Kohberger was among the witnesses prosecutors could call to testify in her brother’s murder trial.

She was the only immediate member of the Kohberger family on that witness list, which Ada County Judge Steven Hippler recently ordered unsealed.

A few days after this motion was filed, on June 25, 2025, Kohberger agreed to a deal with prosecutors.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson had previously said he didn’t think Kohberger’s family would have anything to help his case if he called them to testify, but Amanda might have been the only exception because her brother had been charged with misdemeanor theft for allegedly stealing her cell phone in 2014.

It was Kohberger’s father who reported the theft, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE.

Other notable names included among the more than 180 potential witnesses whom prosecutors could have called to testify at trial were surviving roommates Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen and victim Ethan Chapin’s triplet siblings, Hunter and Mazie Chapin.

Those two brothers were the only immediate relatives of any of the victims who were going to testify, likely because they were both at the scene the morning the four victims’ bodies were discovered.

After Kohberger accepted a deal with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to four counts of murder to avoid execution, Stacy Chapin, the mother of Ethan and the triplets, said she was relieved that her children and surviving roommates would no longer have to testify and relive their painful memories of that day.

In addition to the list of witnesses prosecutors planned to call during the guilt phase of the trial, Judge Hippler also revealed the list of witnesses the defense planned to call during the mitigation phase of the trial.

Kohberger’s sister potentially would have been doing double duty, as her name also appears on her brother’s witness list.

Amanda is one of 56 people the defense planned to possibly call to provide testimony that could reduce Kohberger’s guilt in the murders of Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.

The other names on the list included Kohberger’s other sister, Melissa; his parents Michael and Maryann; and Washington State University professor John Snyder.

Kohberger worked as a teaching assistant for Snyder at WSU.

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His inclusion on the list is a bit surprising, however, as Snyder complained about Kohberger after a verbal altercation between the pair, which resulted in the criminology department issuing Kohberger a warning about his conduct.

At a meeting with faculty members, which took place two weeks before the murders, Kohberger was presented with an improvement plan.

At first there was some improvement in Kohberger’s professional behavior, but at the end of the first semester things worsened again to the point that he was informed that he would no longer be in his position when he returned the following semester.

After his arrest, WSU issued a letter prohibiting him from ever setting foot on campus again.

There will be no chance of that happening as Kohberger is currently serving four life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Amanda and Kohberger’s mother, Maryann, were present at the sentencing on July 23, 2025.

Upon learning his fate, Kohberger left the courtroom, ignoring both women.

Read the original article on People