BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday in the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 that terrified the campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Kohberger, who was a criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University, admitted to the killings before entering a formal guilty plea in a deal with prosecutors that allows him to avoid the death penalty, though the motive remains unclear. He had been set to go to trial in August.

The small farming community of Moscow, in the northern Idaho panhandle, had not seen a homicide in about five years when Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead at a rental home near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed each was stabbed multiple times and some had defensive wounds.

Kohberger first killed Mogen and Goncalves together and then ran into Kernodle, who was still awake, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said at the hearing Wednesday. He then stabbed Kernodle and her boyfriend, Chapin, who was still asleep, Thompson said. There were no signs of sexual assault, he said.

Family members became increasingly emotional as Idaho Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler explained each charge to Kohberger, naming each victim individually. Some cried into tissues, while other wiped tears with their hands. Kohberger remained impassive as he confirmed to the judge that he stabbed the four victims.

As he pleaded guilty, some in the family section looked down and others craned to see him.

Kohberger told the judge he understood the terms of the plea deal, which stipulates he will serve four life sentences and won’t be able to appeal. The judge set the official sentencing for July 23.

Hippler said as the hearing began that he would not take into account public opinion when deciding whether to accept the agreement.

“This court cannot require the prosecutor to seek the death penalty, nor would it be appropriate for this court to do that," he said.

Idaho killings seized the nation's attention

The killings grabbed headlines around the world and set off a nationwide hunt, including an elaborate effort to track down a white sedan spotted on surveillance cameras repeatedly driving by the rental home. Police said they used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect and accessed cellphone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings.

At the time, Kohberger was a criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University who had just completed his first semester and was a teaching assistant in the criminology program.

Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, weeks later. Thompson said investigators recovered a Q-tip from the garbage at his parents’ house to match Kohberger's DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene.

Online shopping records showed that Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife months earlier — as well as a sheath like the one found at the scene.

The county prosecutor said the murder weapon has not been found and revealed new details about how Kohberger tried to cover up the killings.

Kohberger bought another knife sheath to replace the one he left at the crime scene and scrubbed his apartment and office, Thompson said. His car had been “pretty much disassembled” and he changed his car registration, Thompson said.

“The defendant has studied crime,” Thompson said. “In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his Ph.D., and he had that knowledge skill set.”

Motive in killings remains unclear

No motive has emerged for the killings, nor is it clear why the attacker spared two roommates who were in the home. There also was no indication he had a relationship with any of the victims, who all were friends and members of the university’s Greek system.

Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video show that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings, and that he traveled in the same area that night.

Kohberger’s lawyers said he was simply on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed.

Families split on plea deal

Although the Goncalves family opposed the agreement and said they would seek to stop it, they also argued that any such deal should require Kohberger to make a full confession, detail the facts of what happened and provide the location of the murder weapon.

"We deserve to know when the beginning of the end was,” they wrote in a Facebook post.

Kaylee Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, left the courthouse before Kohberger entered the courtroom. “I’m just getting out of this zoo,” he told reporters.

The family of Chapin — one of three triplets who attended the university together — supports the deal, their spokesperson, Christina Teves, said Tuesday.

Attorney Leander James read a statement from Mogen’s mother and stepfather after the guilty pleas that said they supported the agreement with the prosecutors.

“While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they respect our belief that this is the best outcome for the victims, their families and the state of Idaho,” the family said.

“We now embark on a new path,” they said. “We embark on a path of hope and healing.”

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Johnson reported from Seattle.