Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students, is attempting to withdraw his plea, citing allegations of coercion, disinformation, false promises, and withheld exculpatory evidence. A key element of his motion centers on "clumps of unknown hair" discovered in the hands of victim Ethan Chapin, which Kohberger claims were not adequately investigated by his defense team.
Kohberger's handwritten affidavit, first reported by The New York Times, asserts he was "convinced to falsely confess" due to these alleged improprieties. The hair found in Chapin's hands is described by former FBI agent Chris Whitcomb, author of a book on the case, as "dark blonde, light brown with reddish tint" and approximately six inches long, characteristics he claims do not match Kohberger's hair. Whitcomb also stated that more hair was found in blood on the bed frame and that this evidence was never DNA tested.
Legal experts largely view Kohberger's attempt to retract his guilty plea as unlikely to succeed. "He needs to allege enough to try and prove that there’s some merit to this claim. And so, my guess is that that’s him grasping at straws and trying to find something, some sort of way of getting just enough factual basis in this to try and get an attorney involved," said Idaho-based lawyer Ryan Black. Black added that Kohberger's prior defense team was highly competent and that if exculpatory evidence existed, it likely would have surfaced earlier.
Former prosecutor Neama Rahmani echoed this skepticism, telling The Post, "I think this petition will lose, it will not be granted." However, Rahmani acknowledged that the issue of the hair represents "the only possible, narrow path" for Kohberger to potentially withdraw his plea. To succeed, Kohberger would need to convince a judge that his lawyers performed poorly or that the prosecution withheld crucial evidence, thereby influencing his decision to plead guilty.
New York Law School Professor Anna Cominsky explained that a judge would first need to determine if Kohberger's allegations have any merit before considering whether they would have impacted his guilty plea. The motion also implies that Kohberger believes the hair could belong to the actual perpetrator, though other observers suggest it could simply be displaced from another victim or a household item during the violent events.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in April 2023, five weeks before his trial was scheduled to begin. The plea deal removed the possibility of the death penalty, which he had faced if convicted at trial. The four victims—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—were fatally stabbed in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022. Kohberger, then a criminology PhD student, has maintained his innocence in court filings despite his guilty plea.