A chapter in the “horrid saga” of the murders of four Idaho college students came to an end on live TV on Wednesday, July 23, when Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
It was gut-wrenching TV, difficult to watch, as the victims’ friends and relatives spoke to the court. They disparaged and belittled Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to the murders, to his face. “Sit up straight when I talk to you,” Olivia Goncalves, the sister of one of the victims, demanded of Kohberger during her statement. “Did you know them? Did you approach them before you killed them?”
Yet even after Judge Steven Hippler had sentenced Kohberger, one question hung over the case, and was asked by many:
Why?
Even Donald Trump weighed in on Idaho murders
Why did Kohberger brutally murder Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, in November of 2022? It’s a question that has helped make the case a national phenomenon, and the subject of several true-crime documentaries and specials. Even Donald Trump has weighed in, looking for an explanation.
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Trump took to social media on Monday, July 21, to encourage Hippler to require some sort of explanation from Kohberger. “There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING,” he posted. During a White House briefing after the sentencing on Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said, “If it were up to the president, he would have forced this monster to publicly explain why he chose to steal these innocent souls.”
But there’s a second context for the same question: Why do we watch?
Why do we watch heartbreak on live TV
Wednesday’s proceedings were excruciating to sit through, one heartbreaking story after another. Certainly, the nature of the crimes, a break-in followed by savage murders, contributes to the curiosity factor. So does the number of victims.
“The world’s watching because of the kids, not because of you,” Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, told Kohberger in court Wednesday. “Nobody cares about you. … In time, you will be nothing but two initials, forgotten to the wind.”
I’m not sure that’s true. Kohberger himself added to the uniqueness of the case. He was a doctoral student in criminal justice, a weird detail. Police didn’t arrest him for a month and a half, adding to the intrigue. Wild rumors about the case floated around the internet, as they so often do with high-profile crimes. It’s also impossible to ignore that the murders of white victims often generate more media coverage than those of people of color.
Kohberger hasn’t offered any explanation or apology, and he declined to speak in court Wednesday, as is his right. Meaning that, as Hippler said, “What we don’t know is why.”
Hippler said he didn’t want to focus too much on the why of the case, because it gives Kohberger relevance. And if he did make a statement, Hippler asked: “Do we really believe after all this he is capable of speaking the truth?”
Cable TV was all over coverage of the sentencing
As when Kohberger entered his guilty pleas on July 2, cable news was all over the story. Fox News stayed with the statements all morning (anchor John Roberts is the one who called it a “horrid saga”), while CNN and MSNBC dipped in and out continuously. As difficult as it was to watch, it was also hard to turn away. The emotional impact was devastating, even among officers of the court.
“The judge who just gave those sentences … the way that he spoke with such disdain for Kohberger, I think, is really remarkable,” Veronica Miracle, a CNN correspondent said after the sentencing.
Indeed, Hippler’s voice broke while he addressed Kohberger.
“Parents who took their children to college in a truck full of moving boxes had to bring them home in hearses lined with coffins,” Hippler said.
It’s unimaginable, impossible even to comprehend. Yet there it was, playing out all over TV.
One thing is certain. Another case, for whatever reasons make us tune in, will come along too soon, capturing the public imagination — and taking the place of this one.
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