Inside the new lives of Bryan Kohberger’s reclusive family: Killer’s sister breaks silence as devoted parents risk their home to pay thousands for his cushy prison life and retrial

By RUTH BASHINSKY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Published: 20:17 EDT, 14 October 2026 | Updated: 20:25 EDT, 14 October 2026

Bryan Kohberger’s family is stepping up its support for the convicted killer almost four years after he murdered four University of Idaho students.

The Daily Mail can reveal his parents, Michael and Maryann, remortgaged their home in rural Pennsylvania earlier this year to fund their son’s sensational bid for a retrial.

The family has also been paying for their son’s prison lifestyle thousands of miles away in Idaho where he is serving four life sentences over the November 13, 2022 massacre.

Their continued support of their son and the heinous nature of his crimes have made the family outcasts in their hometown, where locals told the Daily Mail they rarely leave their four-bedroom property in a gated community in the Poconos.

It was at this property in December 2022 that Kohberger was dramatically arrested by a SWAT team following a six-week, nationwide manhunt in which investigators matched his DNA to a knife sheath left at the crime scene.

Kohberger, then a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at Washington State University, broke into a student house in nearby Moscow, Idaho, in the early hours and stabbed to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20. He had no known connection to the victims.

In July 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in a deal that spared him the death penalty but never required him to explain his motive.

The Kohberger family described that plea deal as improper and said it supports his claim that he was pressured into pleading guilty to a crime he says he did not commit.

Bryan Kohberger’s family is supporting his bid for a retrial despite being a convicted killer

Kohberger’s sister Melissa said the family was ‘hanging in there’

Kohberger’s other sister, Amanda, is rarely seen in her hometown in the Poconos

Kohberger’s family, including elder sisters Amanda and Melissa, have largely avoided doing interviews or commenting publicly on the case out of respect for the families of the victims. But behind the scenes, the family has been steadfast in its support of their killer son.

In May, Kohberger’s parents refinanced their Poconos home, taking out a new, substantially larger mortgage.

Property records show the couple secured a $246,000 loan, extending their repayment deadline by another 12 years.

The Daily Mail understands the family then hired Jason Goldman, a high-profile Manhattan defense attorney, to help with Kohberger’s post-conviction bid in late August.

The family has also been funding Bryan’s lifestyle behind bars.

Commissary records show Kohberger has received nearly $11,000 since he was jailed, which was used to buy items such as snacks, toiletries, stationery and phone credit.

Maryann’s name appears routinely in the balance sheets, making deposits several times a month.

A well-placed prison source told the Daily Mail that money has continued to flow into Kohberger’s account, with the family sending him thousands in the last six months.

The couple declined to comment through their attorney, who confirmed the family will be virtually attending Thursday’s hearing.

Maryann and Michael, aged 65 and 70 respectively, have only appeared at one of their son’s court appearances and visited him on the eve of his sentencing.

Kohberger’s middle sister, Melissa, 34, who quit her training as a therapist after her brothers’ arrest, said the family was ‘hanging in there’ but not yet ready to comment further.

Kohberger’s mother Maryann (center, left of Amanda) and father remortgaged their home earlier this year ahead of his push for post-conviction relief

Maddie Mogen (top) Kaylee Goncalves (second from left) Xana Kernodle (second from right) and Ethan Chapin (center) – all students at the University of Idaho – were knifed to death on November 13, 2022 in the quiet, college town of Moscow (source: kayleegonclaves/Instagram)

In his petition, Kohberger alleged that his previous attorneys had pressured him into falsely confessing and misled him about the consequences of accepting a plea deal.

He also claimed they failed to tell him about unidentified hairs found at the crime scene and that his plea was ‘induced by unkept promises’ and ‘threats’ from his own lawyers.

The family backed his attempt to overturn his conviction, insisting their ‘full support of Bryan’s decision… does not come from a place of disregard,’ in a September 17 statement.

The family said the only way to get the truth was for there to be a proper trial. They also reiterated their love and support for the convicted killer.

But back home in Pennsylvania, the family’s continued devotion to their son has been met with disbelief.

‘It’s insane. It’s disgusting. I think he did it. There was enough evidence,’ a former schoolmate of Kohberger’s said.

The woman, who now works as a server at a restaurant in town, said she was friends with Kohberger’s eldest sister, Amanda, or ‘Mandy’.

‘Bryan was the grade below me. They [the family] seemed very close, they seemed very normal.’

She added that Amanda, 38, still lives locally after leaving her job as a school counsellor following the murders, and that she routinely has seen their dad running errands inside their secluded hometown.

Amanda mostly keeps to herself, but has been unable to escape her brother’s infamy, with even rare trips to the local mechanic drawing attention.

Goncalves and best friend Mogen are believed to have been the targets of Kohberger – despite not knowing him

Locals report sightings of the family are incredibly rare, but there are signs of life at the home

‘Everyone is like “yo, that’s his sister,”‘ a Mavis Tire employee, who has serviced Amanda’s car several times, said.

The Kohberger name provokes a visceral reaction in the town of Albrightsville where the family moved in 2014 from nearby Effort.

‘That little f***ing lunatic went to school with me,’ a female bartender at The Brick Lounge bar and restaurant said.

The staff member, who did not want to be named, said she was a senior when Kohberger entered high school.

‘He was like the kid, not to be an a**h**e, the kid who would walk along the lockers with his book bag and sit in the corner in the lunchroom,’ she added.

Inside a gated area with a security guard at the entrance, the Kohbergers have maintained a low profile in their home.

Locals report that sightings of the family are incredibly rare, but there are signs of life at the home.

Packages accumulate on the porch before being collected and lights are seen coming on and going off at night.

Remnants of Christmas decorations could still be seen, giving the home an oddly frozen-in-time feel.

When family members are spotted in public, they carry the stigma of Kohberger’s horrific crimes.

‘They’re probably hiding. It’s just so traumatic,’ one longtime resident said. ‘You think you raise your child right and then they turn out to be a murderer.’

‘I have only seen his father, I have never seen his mother or his sister,’ a gas station employee said, adding that the Kohbergers are seen so infrequently that he often wonders if they have left the area altogether.

‘I mean, if I was them, I would move. Everybody knew where they lived. I would move out of state where nobody knows me.’

The family was preparing to attend the first in a series of hearings into Kohberger’s bid to overturn his conviction when Thursday’s hearing was abruptly vacated, with no reason publicly given for the cancellation.

His lawyer, Jason Goldman, said: ‘This simply marks the start of a longer post-conviction relief process.’