Forensic pathologist was set to testify three Idaho victims suffered before death

Three of the four students murdered in Idaho — Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen — "endured a high degree of pain and/or suffering before their deaths as a result of the injuries inflicted," according to testimony a forensic pathologist had been prepared to deliver to jurors at Bryan Kohberger's murder trial.

Dr Veena Singh was set to appear as a prosecution expert witness, having conducted the autopsies of all four victims in her capacity as medical examiner for Spokane County, Washington. The details emerged from a newly unsealed discovery disclosure obtained by PEOPLE. In each of the four cases, Singh concluded that the manner of death was homicide.

Chapin suffered less than the others, documents suggest

Singh had also been prepared to tell the court that Ethan Chapin "experienced a high degree of pain and/or suffering before his death as a result of the injuries inflicted but to a lesser degree than the other decedents."

Previously reported autopsy findings revealed that three of the victims — Goncalves, Mogen, and Chapin — were killed whilst lying in bed, sustaining fatal injuries before they were able to rise to their feet.

Kernodle fought back against her attacker

Kernodle, by contrast, was not asleep at the time of the attack. She mounted a fierce resistance against her killer as he stabbed her 67 times. The sheer volume of injuries she sustained meant that her autopsy report ran four pages longer than those of any of the other victims.

Guilty plea spared jurors from testimony

Singh was ultimately never required to take the stand. Kohberger reached an agreement with prosecutors, entering guilty pleas to four counts of murder to avoid the death penalty.

At the plea hearing, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson revealed for the first time that Kohberger had not intended to kill all of his victims on the night of 13 November 2022, though he had entered the residence in the small town of Moscow "with the intent to kill."

Thompson grew visibly emotional during his address, struggling to hold back tears as he continued: "We will not represent that he intended to commit all of the murders that he did that night, but we know that that is what resulted."

He concluded his remarks by stating that regardless of whether Kohberger's actions had been fully premeditated, he had killed all four victims "intentionally, willfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought."

Four life sentences with no possibility of parole

Kohberger is now serving four concurrent life sentences in an Idaho prison, with no possibility of parole.