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One question haunts loved ones of the Idaho victims: why did Bryan Kohberger do it?
Alivea Goncalves unleashed on the man who murdered her little sister during Wednesday sentencing hearing, peppering Bryan Kohberger with questions that she says “reverberate violently in my own head so loudly that I can’t think straight.”
“How was your life right before you murdered my sisters?” she asked.
“Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment?
“Where is the murder weapon, the clothes you wore that night?
“What did you bring into the house with you?
“What were Kaylee’s last words?
At the heart of Alivea’s demands was the same overwhelming question that continues to haunt the loved ones of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, as well as the public: Why did he do it?
Kohberger, 30, declined to speak during his sentencing hearing inside the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho for the 2022 murders of the four college students.
When asked if he wished to address the court, he simply said, “I respectfully decline.”
That is the longest sentence he’s said publicly in years. But his vague response continues to frustrate the families who simply want to know why their kids were killed.
With no explanation offered and no known link between the killer and the victims, the motive behind one of the most shocking crimes in Idaho history remains a mystery.
Even the judge, who gave emotional comments to the families in his remarks, acknowledged the frustration.
“As we sit here today, this case is ending, and we are now certain who committed these unspeakable acts of evil,” Judge Steven Hippler told the court before handing down four consecutive life sentences.
“But we don’t know, and what we may never know, is why.”
A crime without a known motive
On November 13, 2022, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death at their off-campus home in the college town of Moscow, Idaho. Two other roommates were home at the time and survived, but they were not harmed.
Nearly seven weeks later, authorities arrested Kohberger at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Key evidence that led to Kohberger’s arrest and conviction included surveillance footage of his white Hyundai Elantra and DNA found on a knife sheath left at the crime scene.
But while police were able to trace physical clues and build a case, they found no thread connecting Kohberger to the victims.
“We have never, to this day, found a single connection between him and any of the four victims or the two surviving roommates,” Lt. Darren Gilbertson of the Idaho State Police said at a press conference following the sentencing on Wednesday
“There is no evidence of a history of violence, no evidence of a serial killer in waiting,” added Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson.
“If people are concerned he had some history or trail of disturbing behaviors before this, we’re not aware of it.”
Unanswered questions
Kohberger’s sentencing marked the end of the legal battle but offered little peace for the victims’ families.
Hippler acknowledged the families and public’s desire to understand why the crime happened, but cautioned against giving Kohberger the power that comes from public attention.
“The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention and the power he appears to crave,” Hippler said. “Yet, even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?”
“Do we really believe after all this, he’s capable of speaking the truth or of giving up something of himself to help the very people whose lives he destroyed? Rather, I suspect the so-called reason would be dished out in enticing, self-serving and aggrandizing untruthful bits, leaving people wanting more information, more insight, and thus enhancing even further the power he seeks to hold,” Hippler added.
Prosecutor Bill Thompson echoed this at the press conference.
“I don’t believe that there’s anything that would come out of his mouth that would be the truth,” Thompson said.
Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life terms for murder, an additional 10 years for burglary, and ordered to pay $290,000 in restitution.
Still, for the families of Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin, justice feels incomplete.
In the end, they may never know what led a man with no known connection to the victims to commit such a calculated act of violence, why he chose to rip a community apart.
Sister Alivea made it clear in her scathing address to Kohberger that having her questions answered would not make her think any better of him.
“You act like no one can ever understand your mind,” she said. “But the truth is you’re basic. You’re a textbook case of insecurity disguised as control. Your patterns are predictable. Your motives are shallow. You are not profound. You’re pathetic.
“You aren’t special or deep, not mysterious or exceptional. Don’t ever get it twisted again.”
WASHINGTON (7News) — The thousands of people attending the Great American State Fair and other areas around the National Mall are being ordered to evacuate as stormy weather approaches.
The National Weather Service previously announced a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in the District. Officials are asking attendees to seek shelter.
SEE ALSO: Historic Fourth of July fireworks to light up National Mall: How to watch live
The DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management released a list of places where the crowds can go to get out of the weather:
Federal Buildings:
- Ronald Reagan Building – 100 Pennsylvania Ave NW
- Dept. of Commerce – 1401 Constitution Ave NW
- Dept. of Agriculture – 1400 Independence Dr SW
- Dept. of Education – 400 Maryland Ave SW
- Internal Revenue Service – 1111 Constitution Ave NW
- Voice of America – 330 Independence Ave SW
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial – 16 E Basin Dr SW
Museums:
- National Museum of American History – 1300 Constitution Ave NW
- National Museum of Natural History – 1000 Constitution Ave NW
- National Museum of African American History and Culture – 1400 Constitution Ave NW
Freedom 250 organizers released this statement:
“The safety of our guests, performers, and staff is our top priority. Due to approaching severe storms, Freedom 250, United States Secret Service, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and all public safety partners are asking all guests to evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building. Available shelter locations include the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Internal Revenue Service, VOA Building, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, the African American Museum, and the Ronald Reagan Building. Please remain calm, follow the directions of law enforcement and event staff, and stay tuned to Freedom 250’s official channels for updates. Freedom 250 will share updates on programming and doors reopening — please stay close to our official channels for updates.”
The Secret Service said they have suspended screening on the National Mall.
“Security screening on the National Mall has been suspended due to dangerous storms,” the Secret Service said. “If you are already on the grounds, follow directions from officers and event staff and move to shelter immediately. Do not shelter under trees.”
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Metro riders are also asked to seek shelter. Commuters should expect heavy crowds at stations near the National Mall and are asked to consider using L’Enfant Plaza, Metro Center, Archives, Federal Triangle or Federal Center SW stations to avoid congestion.
The nation’s capital may be the focal point of the 250th Independence Day celebration, but people all across America have plans to mark the occasion, from boisterous public parades to quiet personal reflections on history.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
As the United States turns 250 years old, Americans across the country are spending the holiday thinking about what the big birthday means to them, with reflections and celebrations as diverse as the nation itself.
NPR’s member station reporters fanned out to collect snapshots of the occasion from sea to shining sea.
In one ‘City of Presidents,’ Main Street is decorated for a party
At least two cities in the U.S.call themselves the “City of Presidents” and Cuba City, in Wisconsin, is one of them, largely due to its patriotic Main Street decorations. Every year from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day, red, white, and blue shields, one for each U.S. president, are prominently displayed high up on the light poles lining Main Street.
It’s a tradition that began in 1976 to commemorate the country’s bicentennial, says Donna Rogers, who is president of the ongoing project but admitted that when it first started, she wasn’t particularly tuned-in to the display.
“I was raising three little boys and working at John Deere, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to community service at that time,” she said.
Donna Rogers shows off one of Cuba City’s presidential lampposts.
Susan Bence/WUWM
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Susan Bence/WUWM
A few years later, she was tapped to help keep the initiative alive.
When she thinks of the country’s history, she says the signing of the Declaration of Independence and abolition of slavery top her list, plus a current event–
“Of course, now, our nation’s 250th birthday. I think those three would be the three most important things in history to me,” she said, quickly adding “[the] right for women to vote, don’t forget that, right?”
Rogers and Cuba City are pulling out all the stops for the 250th, with a parade and a mac-and-cheese festival, because “that was some of our founding fathers favorite foods, along with turkey and cranberries and other items.”
She laughed and admitted she googled that. True or not, Rogers says they’ll go all-out to celebrate the 250th in her “City of Presidents”.
WUWM’s Susan Bence reported from Cuba City, Wisconsin.
In Georgia, a civics competition inspires hope for future generations
At the Georgia state finals of the National Civics Bee, middle school students were peppered with questions about the U.S. government.
Like this one: why is a single energetic executive desirable?
The answer: it promotes accountability and decisive leadership.
9th grader Ella Hummel got it right.
“I’ve always kind of had the idea of serving in politics,” she said after the competition. “And I really think that civics has opened my mind.”
Ella will advance to the civics bee finals later this fall, with her grandmother, Peggy Farmer, cheering her on. Farmer remembers the excitement around the bicentennial in 1976, but said she feels a different energy around this year’s anniversary.
“It’s a togetherness type of thing that’s really not around all the time now,” she mused. “I think it’s just the world’s changed a lot.”
But there is something Farmer will celebrate about America on this Independence Day: her grandkid, the Georgia Civics Bee Champion.
“Maybe she and the kids that was sitting up there, they can change [the country] a little bit. I mean, they seem to be having a ball with each other up there today, so that’s a good thing.”
GPB’s Sofi Gratas reported from Atlanta.
In Texas, appreciating the process of patriotism
Rodney Ellis, who has served 43 years in public office, is guardedly optimistic that America will stay on a path towards progress.
John Burnett
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John Burnett
Rodney Ellis will celebrate at picnics around his precinct in Houston with barbecue pork ribs and ice tea, and a heaping helping of worry about the nation’s future. The tall, garrulous 72-year-old county commissioner is guardedly patriotic.
“We should be celebrating that America is a process,” he said. “Patriotism is telling the truth, and doin’ the work to repair the harms that have come about over these 250 years.”
The son of a maid and a landscaper, Ellis has served 43 years in public office, first as a Houston city councilman, then state senator, and now as a Harris County commissioner.
Fifty years ago, during the bicentennial, Ellis was a public affairs graduate student at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1976, there were 18 Black representatives in Congress; today there are 67.
“We’ve made tremendous progress since then, tremendous gains,” he said. “And so when I compare what was happening then to what’s happening now, I look at how quickly a lot of those fundamental rights, those gains that we’ve taken for granted have rolled back so quickly.”
He ticked off areas where he believes America has lost ground: clean air and clean water, people of color in key positions in government, owning up to uncomfortable U.S. history, and selfless public service.
But, said the commissioner with a broad grin, that’s how it’s always been in America.
“Progress is made but along the way sometimes you take two steps forward and 10 steps back, but you don’t give up.”
John Burnett reported from Houston, TX.
In Milwaukee, Fourth of July tacos with a big helping of pride
Gissell Vera is proud to be both American and Mexican. She plans to celebrate both of her cultures with a Fourth of July carne asada cookout.
Maayan Silver/WUWM
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Maayan Silver/WUWM
Gissell Vera ordered carne asada tacos on her favorite patio in Milwaukee, a vibrant spot punctuated with strings of international flags and a steady cumbia drumbeat.
“The music, the colors, the language, all of it is part of me and I am a proud American,” she said.
Vera is a U.S. citizen from a mixed status family; her parents emigrated from Veracruz, Mexico.
“My family has particularly always been grateful for this country and the opportunities that it’s provided us,” said the 25 year-old. “Although there is always the fear and uncertainty of what immigration reform could, how it could impact us, we choose to live every day without fear.”
Vera said there’s a phrase she’s heard many immigrants use to describe their relationship to the United States, “ni de aquí ni de allá,”, meaning ‘neither from here or there.’
“It’s almost like a limbo in which we existed,” she explained. “And I think that now I’m very proud to say that I am ‘de aquí’ and ‘de allá’. So I am proud to be from here and from there.”
She said she’ll join her family for a cookout to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, but instead of hot dogs, they’ll be grilling carne asada.
WUWM’s Maayan Silver reported from Milwaukee.
In the Mountain West, a closer look at a national myth
As America turned 250 this year, historian Megan Kate Nelson used the occasion to take a closer look at a foundational myth of the country’s history and ask, “what stories do we carry forward?”
Her new book ‘The Westerners’ profiled pioneers who, according to Nelson, don’t fit “the narrative of white Easterners moving westward in covered wagons with a nuclear family in tow, engaging with a series of challenges.”
A statue of Sacagawea along the banks of the Missouri River in Great Falls, Mont. Sacajawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied Lewis and Clark as an interpreter and guide. Her role in the expedition is reexamined in Megan Kate Nelson’s book.
Matt Volz/AP
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Matt Volz/AP
That includes historical figures like Polly Bemis, who was trafficked from China to the Idaho frontier, and María Gertrudis Barceló, a Santa Fe saloon owner and professional gambler.
Even the well-known figure, Sacagawea, gets another look.
“I read through the Lewis and Clark journals. They mention her more than 150 times, and she is always doing something or saying something,” said Nelson. “My favorite part: when they arrive on the western coast, they set up camp a couple miles away from the ocean, and she yells at William Clark. ‘You are going to take me to go see the ocean! I did not travel all this way not to see the ocean!’”
Nelson said it’s more important than ever to elevate a fuller picture of westward expansion, and to challenge the frontier myth that “there’s only one white pioneer; there’s only one kind of story of American greatness.”
Ryan Warner reported from Crested Butte, Colorado.
In Rhode Island, the parade is nearly as old as the nation itself
Every Independence Day, the yellow stripes dividing Hope Street get a patriotic makeover.
David Wright/Ocean State Media
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David Wright/Ocean State Media
The town of Bristol, Rhode Island, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Independence Day celebration. This year, they will celebrate America’s 250th with their 241st birthday bash for the country, an effort that brought together over 100 volunteers as part of the Fourth of July committee.
Plans include a parade with at least 34 floats, a golf tournament, a “Miss Fourth of July” beauty pageant, and a gala ball.
Even the double yellow line down Hope Street got its annual red, white and blue makeover for the parade.
For the past decade, Heidi Vermilyea has been in charge of the parade souvenirs, selling hats, t-shirts, and Christmas tree ornaments out of a blue trailer.
“I think I’ve missed the parade once when I was in Europe for the Fourth of July,” Vermilyea admits. “But otherwise, I have been either watching the parade or working the parade my whole life.”
Even when she’s not working the events, she’s decked out in stars-and-stripes, all the way down to her patriotic pedicure.
Heidi Vermilyea runs the souvenir truck for Bristol’s parade every July 4th. But her American flag outfits are year-round display of her patriotism.
David Wright/Ocean State Media
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David Wright/Ocean State Media
“Politics you can be left, right, moderate, whatever,” Vermilyea explains. “Patriotism is just loving your community. Helping out to make your community, your country a better place.”
The way she sees it, she’s flying the flag for Bristol, her family and friends.
This story was reported by Ocean State Media’s David Wright.
In Oregon, grappling with a complicated history
Some of Mitchell S. Jackson’s fondest childhood memories are of the Fourth of July.
“My mother would always buy me an outfit that had a red, white, and blue color scheme,” Jackson, who is now 50 years old, remembered. “And it was joyous, you know, to don those colors.”
But as the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer grew up, he learned more about America’s history of slavery and racism. Jackson said that made his relationship to his country more complicated, especially after he was convicted on drug and weapons charges as a 21-year-old and imprisoned for over a year.
“I lost my right to vote before I ever voted, before it ever dawned on me that my suffrage was important,” remembers Jackson. “And I would say that that is an American project, that a young Black boy loses his right to vote.”
Jackson said these inequalities, both historical and modern, call into question the very anniversary we’re celebrating.
“When I hear 250, I know that that’s a false number, right?”
Mitchell S. Jackson at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. For Jackson, the 250th is not a true celebration of American freedom, since so many people were enslaved at the time.
Erwin JT Trollinger
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Erwin JT Trollinger
Jackson said that to him, true freedom in America only goes back 160 years, to when the 14th amendment granted everyone equal protection under the law. Or even just 62 years to the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed segregation.
“If you love something, you’re also critical of it,” he pointed out. “You don’t just love it blindly, or I hope you don’t just love it blindly. So if you truly love America, then you gotta tell the truth about America.”
Jackson says there are ways for Black Americans to make the Fourth of July, and America itself, their own. But it’s a group project to understand who we are, and who we’ve been, and who we can become.
Deena Prichep reported from Portland, Oregon.
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Family-owned company prepares to put on the largest fireworks display in history: “It is the biggest show that we’ve ever done”
Washington — There are fireworks, and then there’s what’s in store for Saturday in Washington, D.C.
When the sun goes down on Independence Day, the skies of Washington are expected to fill with a record-setting 850,000 individual fireworks for a 40-minute spectacle like no one has seen before.
A company called Pyrotecnico will attempt the biggest fireworks show in history, using five generations of family know-how and a background in Super Bowls and large musical acts to help America celebrate its 250th birthday with a bang.
“I mean, it is the biggest show that we’ve done,” Rocco Vitale, president of Pyrotecnico, told CBS News. “…My earliest memories of fireworks displays and doing the Fourth of July was here.”
Pyrotecnico has been planning this year’s show since January, using computers to simulate the display. But now it’s time for the real thing.
Vitale gave CBS News an exclusive look at his not-so-secret weapons: eight barges out on the Potomac River, each one ready to light up the night sky.
“Each firing location has a communication device, and its all set on GPS. And once the time of the show is put into the system, it goes at that time,” Vitale explained.
According to Freedom 250, the organizer of the “Salute to America 250 Celebration & Fireworks” on the National Mall, President Trump will deliver remarks at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time, and the fireworks display will get underway at 10:45 p.m. The event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.
Join CBS for “The Great American Block Party 250,” a primetime special on Saturday, July 4, hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, featuring live musical performances, celebrations around the country, and the largest fireworks show in history in the skies over the nation’s capital. Tune in July 4 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream it on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7.
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