Bryan Kohberger’s parents have reportedly remortgaged their home in order to fund their son’s attempt to overturn his convictions for murdering four university students.
The couple secured a $246,000 loan against their Pennsylvania property, according to records seen by the Daily Mail.
Michael and Maryann Kohberger are reported to have refinanced the house back in May, taking on a substantially larger mortgage and extending their repayment deadline by 12 years.
The Mail reports that the borrowing was intended to help pay for their son’s legal challenge. His parents declined to comment through their lawyer.
Kohberger is serving four life sentences for stabbing four University of Idaho students to death at a house in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022. At the time, he was a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University.
The victims were Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, both 20. Kohberger had no known connection to any of them.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in July 2025 under an agreement that saw him spared the death penalty. The deal meant that the case never went to trial and it didn’t require him to explain his motive.
His parents are now supporting his attempt to overturn those convictions, backing their son’s claim that his lawyers pressured him into admitting crimes that he now says he didn’t commit. The family recently hired Manhattan defence lawyer Jason Goldman to help with the challenge.
In his petition, Kohberger alleged that his previous legal team pressured him into falsely confessing. He claimed that his plea was ‘induced by unkept promises’ and ‘threats’ from his own lawyers.
He also alleged that they failed to tell him about unidentified ‘clumps’ of hair found clutched in Chapin’s hand. Because he pleaded guilty, that evidence was never examined at a trial.
Goldman has said that his team will first scrutinise the constitutional and procedural issues surrounding the guilty plea. That could include an evidentiary hearing addressing the hair found at the scene.
The family publicly backed the challenge in a statement, arguing that a proper trial was needed in order to establish the truth. They expressed their ‘full support of Bryan’s decision’ and said that it ‘does not come from a place of disregard’.
Their financial support has also covered everyday purchases made by Kohberger behind bars. Commissary records cited by the Mail claim to show that the 31-year-old received nearly $11,000 since he was jailed. The money was spent on items such as snacks, toiletries, stationery and phone credit.
His mother Maryann reportedly made deposits several times a month, with her name appearing regularly in the records.
The home that his parents have refinanced is actually the same property where a SWAT team famously arrested Kohberger in December 2022. His arrest followed a six-week manhunt in which investigators matched his DNA to a knife sheath which was left at the crime scene.
Michael, 70, and Maryann, 65, live in a four bedroom house in a gated community in the picturesque Poconos. They moved to Albrightsville from nearby Effort in 2014, with locals saying that they rarely see the family around town.
Some locals have publicly criticised their continued support for Kohberger.
A former schoolmate of his, who said that she’d been friends with his older sister Amanda, told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s insane. It’s disgusting. I think he did it. There was enough evidence.’
His two sisters have largely sought to swerve interviews or public comment about the case. Melissa had previously commented that the family was ‘hanging in there’.
As for Kohberger’s parents, they’ve only attended one of their son’s court appearances in person and visited him on the eve of his sentencing. They had planned to join Thursday’s hearing remotely as he pursued his bid to overturn the convictions.
That hearing was cancelled, with no reason publicly given. Responding to the cancellation, Goldman said: ‘This simply marks the start of a longer post-conviction relief process.’