Bryan Kohberger agreed to the plea deal in the past few days, just weeks before his trial was to begin, after his attorneys tried but failed to have execution stricken as a possible punishment.

The grieving family of 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves spent weeks waiting for an arrest in her killing. Since then, they and relatives of the three other University of Idaho students fatally stabbed on a late 2022 night in their off-campus home have endured a legal process punctuated by delay after delay.