Cold-blooded killer Bryan Kohberger was ordered to fork over some of the nearly $30,000 in donations he’s received from twisted supporters to pay back his victims’ families — in a court loss on the third anniversary of his horrifying quadruple murder.
Kohberger had argued last week that he was unable to pay $27,000 in additional restitution to the families of two of the four University of Idaho students he butchered in their off-campus home in 2023.
But a judge tossed out his poverty plea Thursday, noting that the confessed murderer received hundreds of donations from supporters and family members totaling $28,360, the Idaho Statesmen reported.
However, he was only ordered to pay an additional $3,000 to the families of two of his victims, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, to cover the cost of the women’s urns.
The full amount sought was shaved after the defense successfully argued that Idaho restitution does not cover travel and hotel expenses, which had bumped up the price tag.
He had already been ordered to pay $29,000 to the families of victims Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Kohberger, who turns 31 next week, “has received nearly enough through donations to cover the amount of restitution already ordered,” judge Steven Hippler wrote in his decision.
“While these funds may no longer be available to Defendant, it is foreseeable that he will continue to receive donations in the future, particularly given that much of the donated amounts came from his family,” he added.
Hippler also said the murderer can get himself a job in prison to earn money.
Kohberger, who is behind bars serving four consecutive life sentences, was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in fines as part of his guilty plea.
That included the $29,000 in restitution to the families of Kernodle and Chapin — but not for Goncalves and Mogen, according to the Idaho Statesmen.
Kohberger, a former Washington University graduate student, savagely murdered the four University of Idaho friends in an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho on November 13, 2022.
He confessed in July, just before he was due to go to trial for the murders, avoiding the chance of the death penalty if he was convicted by a jury. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.
