Bryan Kohberger’s first court appearance since he made a stunning bid to undo his guilty plea for the murders of four University of Idaho students has been abruptly canceled - with the reason shrouded in mystery.
The 31-year-old former criminology PhD student was set to appear for a virtual court hearing on Thursday afternoon in what marked the first step in his fight to suddenly proclaim his innocence and head to trial over the 2022 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
In the hearing, Judge Steven Hippler was expected to hear arguments from both Kohberger’s newly-appointed lawyers and Latah County prosecutors over the defense’s bid to oust the judge from proceedings.
The defense argued Judge Hippler showed bias in his past handling of the case including his refusal to delay the trial and his comments at sentencing branding Kohberger a ‘faceless coward.’
The prosecution disagreed and pushed back against the judge’s removal, with both sides set for a showdown on the matter in this week's hearing.
But, for reasons that remain unclear, the hearing was quietly vacated by the judge on Tuesday.
Judge Hippler also vacated two other hearings: a status conference and evidentiary hearing slated for June 2027.
An amended order governing proceedings and setting hearings was quietly added to the court docket on Tuesday and is yet to be publicly released.
The family of Kohberger’s victim Kaylee Goncalves told the Daily Mail that they had not been told about the hearing being canceled - or the reason behind it - as of Tuesday night.
Bryan Kohberger at his sentencing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23
Best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (left) and young couple Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (right) were murdered by Bryan Kohberger on November 13, 2022
Requests by the Daily Mail for information to the court, prosecution and defense teams remained unanswered as of Wednesday morning.
Jason Goldman, a New York attorney representing Kohberger’s family, said in a statement that the delay 'simply marks the start of a longer post-conviction relief process.'
The hearing was set to be the first court appearance for Kohberger since he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in July 2025 - a moment that seemed to bring some finality to the case that terrorized the college town of Moscow and tore apart the families of four popular students.
In the early hours of November 13, 2022, the then 27-year-old criminology PhD student at Washington State University broke into 1122 King Road in Moscow armed with a military knife he had bought from Amazon months earlier.
Inside, he went floor to floor, stabbing best friends Goncalves and Mogen, both 21, and young couple Kernodle and Chapin, both 20, to death.
Around six weeks later, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania and charged with the murders - tracked down through DNA on a knife sheath left behind at the scene.
After fighting the charges for more than two years, he finally changed his plea to guilty in July 2025, just weeks before the trial was set to begin.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Kohberger was spared from the death penalty, instead being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He also agreed to waive all rights to appeal.
But, one year on, the convicted killer made a sudden U-turn.
In messages to The New York Times - his first ever comments to the media - and a hastily created court motion, Kohberger claimed he is in fact innocent of the murders and wants to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial.
Judge Steven Hippler wiped away tears at his sentencing before calling Bryan Kohberger a 'faceless coward'
He accused his defense team - which spent two years fighting to strike the death penalty for various reasons including an autism diagnosis - of misleading him into striking a plea agreement and has since been appointed a new defense attorney, Gregory Rauch.
As a first step in his fight to toss his conviction, Kohberger filed a motion seeking to have Judge Hippler ousted from the case and for the case to be moved out of Ada County - back to Moscow where the murders took place.
Kohberger’s defense argued for Judge Hippler’s removal saying that he showed bias in his comments when sentencing the convicted killer.
Back on July 23, 2025, Judge Hippler - who became tearful during heartbreaking victim impact statements - described Kohberger as a 'faceless coward,' who 'slithered' into the off-campus student home and 'senselessly slaughtered’ the four students.
Judge Hippler also addressed the lack of motive for his crimes, saying that any explanation the killer might give could not be believed.
‘Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how can anyone truly believe that what he says is the truth?’ he said.
'Do we really believe, after all of this, he is capable of speaking the truth, or of giving up something of himself to help the very people whose lives he destroyed?’
He added: 'His acts of evil have made him the worst of the worst. Even in pleading guilty he's giving nothing hinting of remorse or redemption or regret for the pain that he's caused and therefore I will not attempt to speak of him further other than to sentence him and remove him forever from society.'
In a motion, the defense hit out at the judge’s comments calling them ‘forward-looking judgments about his credibility’. ‘And credibility may now be at the center of this proceeding,’ Rauch said.
Rauch also argued that Judge Hippler ploughed ahead with the trial despite the defense telling him they needed more time to prepare, in part due to Kohberger’s ‘difficulty comprehending adverse rulings and discerning their effects upon the case as a whole.’
The judge denied the request on June 26, 2025. Six days later, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges.
The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, on November 20, 2022, seen days after Kohberger's killing spree
Bryan Kohberger is seen inside a prison cell in Idaho's maximum security prison in Kuna where the Daily Mail exclusively reported he was being tormented by other inmates
Prosecutors, led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson who announced his retirement last week, pushed back on the defense’s claims of bias, arguing that the ‘very nature of sentencing... requires a trial judge to form strong opinions and convictions’ in order to hand down an appropriate sentence.
The two sides had been expected to spar over the matter on Thursday.
The convicted killer filed a petition in July arguing ineffective counsel from his defense team who misled him into accepting a plea deal.
The language in his petition - and in a statement to the New York Times - echoed that of a recent book, Broken Plea, which questioned the outcome of the case.
His backflip also came after the Daily Mail exclusively reported that Kohberger was having a tough time inside Idaho's Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, with his fellow inmates tormenting him all hours of the day and night since his arrival there last summer.
Kohberger’s family is standing by him in his push to stand trial, saying in a recent statement that they ‘need to see that the complete and unvarnished truth is told.’
‘Like everyone, we seek answers to all the questions that have been raised, which can only be addressed through a proper trial, as opposed to an improper plea,’ the family said.
Kohberger’s new defense attorney now has until November 13 - the four-year anniversary of the murders - to file an amended petition seeking a new trial.