Image Credit: Monroe County Correctional Facility credit/Shutterstock
Bryan Kohberger is currently on trial after he was accused of murdering four college students in the 2022 University of Idaho shooting in November of that year. After the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, Bryan, 28, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022. He is the youngest child of Michael Kohberger Jr. and MaryAnn Kohberger. He has two older sisters Amanda and Melissa Kohberger.
Following Bryan’s arrest, his family released a statement via his public defender, showing support for Bryan, while also expressing sympathy for the victims’ families, per The New York Post. “We have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions,” they said. “There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them.”
Bryan is seen in jail in January. (Latah County Sheriff’s Office/UPI/Shutterstock)
As Bryan is on trial, here’s everything you need to know about the suspect’s family.
Michael Kohberger Jr.
Both of Bryan’s parents were employees of the Pleasant Valley School District for many years. Michael was a maintenance worker for the school district from 2006 to 2019, according to The New York Post. Weeks after the killings, Michael had flown out to Washington to travel home to Albrightsville, Pennsylvania with his son, according to Newsweek. In mid-December, the father and son drove for about 2,500 miles in the white Hyundai Elantra that police had told the public to be on the lookout for. Bryan had stayed with his family through the holidays, until his arrest on December 30.
Both of Bryan’s parents were also subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury in May 2023, per CNN. Sources told the news organization that an attorney for them tried to have the subpoena thrown out, but he was unsuccessful.
After the Idaho murders, it was revealed that Bryan had first been arrested in 2014 for misdemeanor theft, when he allegedly took his sister’s phone, per ABC News. It was actually Michael who had called law enforcement about the stolen property. Bryan didn’t serve any jail time for the arrest.
MaryAnn Kohberger
As mentioned above, MaryAnn Kohberger was also employed by the Pleasant Valley School District until 2020. She worked as a paraprofessional assisting special-needs students, according to The Post. Besides her work in the school, MaryAnn occasionally wrote letters to the local paper, Pocono Record. In June 2022, she wrote one reflecting on school shootings in America. She also shared a poem that her daughter had written about the tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas. “As I sat this morning, reeling from yet another school shooting, I found myself wrestling with which actions need to be taken to stop all the madness. What is the answer? Gun control measures? Mental health intervention?” MaryAnn wrote to the paper. “As I read the poem, I thought, whatever the solution, I pray we consider the children before the gun.”
Amanda Kohberger
Not much is known about Bryan’s older sister, Amanda. Following her brother’s arrest, it was reported that both she and her sister Melissa had each been fired from their jobs in March 2023, according to The New York Post. While it’s not clear what Amanda did for work, she was also an actress, but only had one credit in the 2011 horror film Two Days Back, per IMDb.
Melissa Kohberger
In MaryAnn’s letter to the Pocono Record, she had written that Melissa worked as a mental health therapist in New Jersey. As mentioned above, her mother had also shared a poem that she wrote about the Uvalde shooting. Like her sister, it was reported that she had been fired from her job.
