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What was it like to be the lead prosecutor in the Brian Cobberger case? A case that captured the world's
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attention with seemingly everyone looking over your shoulder and commenting on your every legal move. And
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how did that plea deal come to be? And why was there no stipulation that Coberger provide key answers? Today I'm
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speaking with Latalk County, Idaho prosecutor Bill Thompson. He has worked on this case from day one. This is
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Inside the Bryant Colberger case, the Idaho student murders. I'm 48 hours correspondent Peter Vans. It is great to
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be with you, Bill. Thank you for joining us. Um, can you tell us what it was like
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for you to be at the center of this case that literally commanded attention all around the world? Well, I didn't feel
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like I wanted to be at the center of the case. It's really just a team effort. This was a huge team effort. I've been
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the prosecutor here for over 30 years now. I've never seen this degree of coordination with agencies like the FBI
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and the Idaho State Police as well as our Moscow Police Department. >> You're the quarterback, kind of the team
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captain, and all of that social media pressure. Did you feel that during the course of all of this? Did you pay any
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attention to it or did you try to brush that aside? >> Actually, I don't watch social media.
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Um, we made our decisions based on what the law was, what the evidence was. And frankly, we were pretty successful in
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insulating ourselves from what the swings of public opinion might be out there uh on the internet.
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Bill, I have to tell you during that sentencing hearing, I have never, as a reporter who's been in in dozens and
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dozens of courtrooms, I've never seen such emotion as I witnessed during that hearing. Both you and the judge were
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moved to tears. What is it about this case that touches you so personally? >> Well, it's just so
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it's so sad in every possible sense. I we we've dealt with many homicide cases unfortunately during my my time here as
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the prosecutor. Uh but this one just was so sad. Such a loss of life. These young
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people, you know, four people killed in their home in the middle of the night. Uh it was just simply
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cruel uh and heartless. And feeling for those families and feeling for the two surviving roommates, uh my goodness. Um,
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you know, I was sitting right next to to one of them as she was giving her statement and she asked that that we
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block her view of the defendant. That's why I was sitting kind of at a funny angle, but that was overwhelmingly
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powerful. Uh, pure honesty and emotion from this young woman in such strength and it was remarkable and and for Dylan
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Mortonson after what she had experienced through social media, she just said it all from the heart. Um, it brought that
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teared me I teared me up. I mean, she was just a remarkable person. What was it like for you to listen to her?
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>> Oh, it was it was almost overwhelming. U, but I saw her strength and I knew that we needed to be strong with her and
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for her. >> Bill, you have been in the house where these students were brutally murdered.
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You saw the blood. You've seen what was done to these students bodies. How do you describe the crimes that Brian
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Coberger committed? >> These crimes, these murders were brutal. We've we've seen plenty of homicides and
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each one is different. Um, but this is one that you'll never be able to erase from your eyes and from your memory.
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>> Were you actually inside that house while the victims were still present? >> Yes. Ashley Jennings, my senior deputy,
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and I were both on scene on November 13th. We were in the house. We were working with the investigators uh and
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seeing firsthand what was going on, what the crime scene looked like. Um it's part of our philosophy. We work
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with our officers right from the very beginning. Um but it brings with it some challenges and this certainly brought
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emotional, physically emotional challenges with it. You've also been in the same room as Brian Coberger. Um,
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you've looked into this man's eyes and you've watched his reactions during these victim impact statements. What did
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you see? >> I saw nothing in Brian Coberger while the impact statements were going on.
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It's as though his eyes were empty. >> He made eye contact with with each of these people completely
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unmoved. No reaction, no remorse, no tears. What does that tell you about this man?
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What is inside him? If if anything, I don't know how to answer that. Um he's an enigma to me. Uh the evil that he
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committed is incomprehensible. In many cases when I'm in court, I'm engaging directly with the defendant.
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I think I did it once at the sentencing and that was just to point out that he wasn't going to leave prison until he
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was dead and that was it. I don't care to ever interact with him again. I'd be happy to never hear his voice again,
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never see him. Bill, I want to ask you a question. I know you've been asked this
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already a bunch of times, but as you well know, everyone, the families and friends of those students, the public at
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large, everyone is vexed by the question of why did he do this? Do you have a theory?
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>> I don't know why he did this. Early on in the investigation when we had u folks
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from the FBI's behavioral analysis unit, their profilers, they were here helping
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with the investigation in the first few weeks. Um as they were looking at the case, even just the little we knew then.
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They were telling us in all likelihood we would never find out or understand why this occurred. And even if the
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murderer were to tell us the reasons that in all likelihood it wouldn't make sense to ordinary people like ourselves.
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>> So we know that Colberger had done some homework he'd studied um past crimes. Is
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it within the realm of possibility that for Coberger this was a thrill kill? >> I don't think we can rule out anything.
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I mean he certainly is a criminal justice major. He was studying criminal behavior. He studied serial killers. We
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know that um the investigators recovered uh textbooks uh on those topics that were part of classes he was taking. He
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studied how to manage a crime scene and that was evidence that we were prepared to offer a trial to help explain why
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this particular crime scene it was so clean of incriminating evidence and his car was so clean of incriminating
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evidence. There was a lot of thought and preparation put into that. When I talk to people about this case,
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people know that there are Ring doorbells and security cameras that pick up automobiles in an area and everyone
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knows about DNA. How would you describe He meticulously seemed to prepare for this and yet he
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made some mistakes. >> Well, no plan is perfect and we don't know what may have changed his plans if
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it did inside the home. um because we don't know who he intended to attack first. Uh we do believe that uh Zana
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encountered him while she was still awake. She was up. Um she'd received a Door Dash uh order. Um that very likely
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could have put him into a panic. Uh and panicked people make some mistakes. Or maybe it's just simply he's not as smart
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as he thought he was. Um we'll never know for sure and we really don't need to know for sure. We look at at where
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this investigation went. They started out with one sample of DNA from a knife sheath. It was from a single male
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unknown source and the car leaving the scene. That's what the investigators had. Um that's the what Cobberger left
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behind. Uh and from there the team put the case together to where he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There's no
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question. You know, in those weeks after the murder when the public was getting more and more uh frustrated that they
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they felt as though no progress was being made. In fact, progress was being made. It's just you can't reveal it.
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Right. >> Correct. Yes. Well, whenever investigation's going on, the investigators aren't going to compromise
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what they know. That's important to protect the the quality of investigation. It was a bit satisfying
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uh when we finally were able to come public with the charges and the basis for the charges and to see the skeptics
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out there scratch their heads and say, "Oh yeah, these folks really did know what they were doing." And I know you've
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talked about this quite a bit, but the fact that the defense team came to you seeking a deal, doesn't that mean that
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you had the leverage in this case that essentially you were holding all of the cards that since Brian Coberger clearly
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now wanted to live? So help me out on this because even the president of the United States weighed in on this issue.
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Why didn't you put a stipulation into this deal where Colberger would have to have honestly answered all questions
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about these murders to the satisfaction of detectives before this plea could be finalized? Why didn't you do that?
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>> Well, and you know, Judge Hitler talked about this at the time of sentencing.
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Um, there is nothing that I believe that Mr. Cobberger could say that would shed
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the actual truth on what happened. If he were to talk, he would only say things to benefit himself that would further
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victimize the families. That's what we've seen repeatedly over the years um in in particularly in major cases. Uh
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under Idaho law, there's no way we could compel him to disclose. Um, and if we'd
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gone to trial, he would have never even acknowledged guilt. We would have just moved into appeal time. So, it was our
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our conclusion that straight up guilty please as charged, waiver of appeal for closure. So, we have accountability and
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closure with fixed life sentences was the best course. >> Bill, based on my experience and and
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with my colleagues on 48 hours, we cover murder cases for a living. I had a story
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in which in a plea deal, the defendant was, it was contingent on the defendant agreeing to show where he had disposed
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of a body. And a colleague of mine had a a case in another state where the plea deal stipulated that not only did they
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have to show where the body was, but give a narrative of how that person um committed the crime. And it answered all
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sorts of questions for the families. you guys didn't decided not to do that and why not at least try. I I don't
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understand that. >> Well, and I I understand what you're saying and and I certainly understand
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and hear from uh the families and members of the public uh who will always have the question why. Uh as we viewed
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this and looking at the circumstances of this case, it was our conclusion and ultimately my conclusion. I'll take
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responsibility. I'm the elected prosecutor, so it stops with me. Um, but it was our our team's decision that
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getting the guilty p, straight up factual guilty p uh was going to be the best legal way to approach this. I think
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that there were concerns that somebody like this particular defendant uh if he was trying to allocate in a specific
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factual fashion, he could actually undermine the basis for his plea and the judge would not have as solid of a
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foundation to uphold the plea. So we we analyze this really from a pretty strict
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legal factual point of view. It's not to say that we don't understand and appreciate folks desires to know what
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really happened, but I have no faith at all that Mr. Cobberger would ever truthfully explain what happened or what
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he would say would make any sense. And I think that would even further victimize
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our families. >> But why not challenge him on that? Why not see if you might get some honesty
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from him? >> Yeah, I I hear what you're saying, Peter. And um we have considered that
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and we decided that our best course on this case with this defendant in Idaho was to proceed as we did. Uh I'm not
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going to say the decision was perfect. It certainly doesn't perfectly answer everybody's questions. I I realize that.
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But I also accept that um as I said earlier from the beginning we were advised by the profiling professionals
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that even if the person who committed these homicides uh tried to explain his ra reasoning and what occurred that it
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wouldn't make sense uh to ordinary people and that would further victimize these poor families. It was a judgment
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call. I accept it. It was a judgment call. Is it true that you are personally opposed to the death penalty?
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You know, I don't know that I have strong feelings one way or the other. We've had uh a handful of death penalty
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potential cases during the time here. We have had one case where the death penalty was imposed and it was thrown
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out uh after the Arizona versus ring versus Arizona decision uh came down. Um and that was a case involving Dale
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Shackleford. That was a 10-week trial. Uh and we elected at that point that many years after the fact uh that it
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wasn't realistic to go back to trial uh just to seek the death penalty. Um so you know we have pursued the death
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penalty where we think it's appropriate. Um in the cases we've had to try and death penalty eligible
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we've had it there. Uh we've decided each case on its merits and I I really don't have a personal moral feeling one
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way or another. Uh the law of the state of Idaho is the death penalty is the sentencing option for certain crimes.
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And this this crime would certainly fit the elements of a death penalty case if we'd gone to trial. How difficult was it
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for you to take the death penalty off the table in this case? >> I don't know how to how to characterize
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it as being difficult. Making the decision was difficult because it was a major decision. Uh and it was changing
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course from where we'd been working for so many months preparing to go to trial.
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So, we took a step back and look, we being the attorney team, the prosecutor attorney team, uh, and just kind of
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analyzed each aspect of this case and we came to the conclusion that if the defendant was prepared to plead guilty
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straight up, factually admit the crimes uh, and agree to wave appeals and we get
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fixed life sentences, that that was an appropriate resolution. I've always thought that the death
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penalty in in various states is basically reserved for those spectacularly heinous crimes like this
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one where someone like Coberger here he butchers these four kids shows no remorse. Wasn't it your responsibility
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to to take this case as far as you could so that he gets the maximum penalty that
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is in Idaho law? What do you say to that? >> Oh, I would say that it's my responsibility as a prosecutor to do
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justice. Prosecutors who blindly go into court on an agenda, I think are doing a
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disservice to their profession in the public. This case and his actions certainly deserve the death penalty if
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we had had to go to trial. No question about it. for Coberger in his mind. Wasn't this plea deal a
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victory? He gets to live. >> You know, I can't speak to what's going on in his mind. I don't see it as being
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a victory where he's going to prison. The only way he's going to leave is when he's dead.
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>> I've been in many a maximum security prison. And for what it's worth, they are places of extreme punishment. I'll
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put it that way. I can say a lot more than that. But when you park sometimes in the parking lot outside a maximum
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security prison and you hear people shouting inside from the parking lot, you know there's a hellscape behind
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those walls. >> You're right. And there's something to be said for a person being reminded
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every day of the punishment for what they've done. >> Give us a sense of what your closing
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statement would have been if you had an opportunity to sum it all up. Uh Peter, actually the best way to look at that is
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go back to what we did in court on July 2nd in front of Judge Hiper. Uh where we
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gave the summary of the evidence in this case. Uh and we presented it I presented
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it uh in a manner very similar to what we have argue would have argued to the jury would presented opening statements
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and argued in closing uh arguments. Uh the length of the evidence here that once the investigators
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identified Mr. Coberger, they were able to bring into play uh not only the DNA match, which was significant in and of
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itself. It's kind of tough to explain that away when your DNA is on the sheath of the murder weapon next to the body of
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one of the victims. >> As you know, uh, Bill, jurors want that CSI moment, they call it, and you had
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one in this case. You had a a CSI moment that was irrefutable. Well, and as the story came out, it it really was a
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multiple CSI moment because we didn't file charges uh even though we had a lot of circumstantial evidence until they
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did the trash pole in Pennsylvania and we got the paternal DNA match uh from a Q-tip in that trash pole that said the
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source of that DNA on the Q-tip is the father of the person whose DNA was on the knife she was the DSI moment to
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start for us. That's what really triggered us being able to get the arrest warrant in place, the search
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warrants in Pennsylvania, get him arrested, get a direct DNA sample from him, and it matched. That was that was
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overwhelmingly powerful. >> When do you believe the Coberger family realized that their son was the murderer
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in this case? >> I don't know for sure. Uh when the investigators spoke with them after his
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arrest, uh there was nothing the investigators uh heard or saw to suggest that the family knew uh that Mr.
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Cobberger was responsible for this. The information we have and the defense maintained his factual innocence uh all
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the way up to the time of the plea would suggest to us that he never acknowledged
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guilt to his family. um quite possibly not until he stood up in court on July 2nd and entered his guilty pis
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at that time. That may very well have been the first time they actually heard it. Police reports reveal that Kaylee
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Gonzalez had told roommates that she saw a creepy looking man while she was walking her dog and that roommates
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returned to find that the front door had been damaged. Do you believe that Coberger was possibly stalking the
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house, stalking them? >> Well, we think that Coberger was certainly stalking that neighborhood.
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Um, and we're aware of those incidents where where the roommates uh at the house would sense per perhaps that
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somebody was up on the bank behind the house when the dog went out or uh that somebody was being followed. Um, the
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cell phone experts were not able to correlate um Mr. Coberger's phone being in the
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area at the time of those occurrences. Um, but they were able to show that he was in that area some 20 plus times. Um,
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other times at night between like 10 and early morning hours, 10:00 in the evening when there would be no
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legitimate reason for him to be over here to shop here being Moscow, being in Moscow to shop, uh, which was his
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routine practice. So, we certainly believe that those trips uh were uh involved Mr. Cobberger uh looking uh and
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surveilling or stalking, whatever the case may be, >> wanting to see what their living
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patterns were when they came and went from the house, getting familiar with that neighborhood, things like that.
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>> Certainly, and certainly there may have been other potential victims that he was
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looking at. The Gonzalez family told me in an interview some months ago that they
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thought he must have been in that house prior to the murders because on the night of the murder, it's alleged that
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he had entered that house and gone right up to Matt Madison Mogan's room. Do you
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think that's a possibility? >> It's possible. We The investigators never undercovered any evidence that
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would definitively prove that, but I think that's a legitimate point. The layout of the house is unique. It's a
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little bit confusing. Admittedly, if he was parked up behind the house on that bank, which we believe is where he
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parked, he would be able to see into the house at night and he would be able to see whose rooms were where. Um whether
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he was actually in the house at some point before November 13th, we don't know for sure. We can't exclude that.
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>> Bill, for you personally, what questions do you still have about this case? Well, I don't have any question about
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whether we have convicted the killer. Uh I think if there are questions, they're
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more details uh that really in the big picture don't have any significance. Um our feeling is that we have accomplished
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a lot to obtain straight up guilty pleas to all five charges in the indictment. um and have him spend the rest of his
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life, not leave prison until he's dead with no appeals. So we have that finality for the families and for our
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community. >> And so each night now, Bill, as you put your head on that pillow to go to sleep,
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are you still preoccupied with this case? Is your heart still broken? Do you still have moments of of emotion looking
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back at this uh tragedy uh for the state of Idaho, for the country? There is never a day that goes by that I
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don't remember this and remember what happened to these poor young people and what happened to their families and
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their friends and the community. And I don't know that that ever is going to end. Um,
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for the past over 2 and 1/2 years, I have woken up every night around 2:00 in the morning and we'll just sit there
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with this spinning in my head and I keep a pad of paper and a pen right beside the bed so I can sit up and write down
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what's going through my mind about what we need to do with the case before I fall back asleep and forget it. Um,
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that's been our life for well over two and a half years. Uh and I think gradually that that will
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change for us. Um but what has happened in our community with these murders uh is forever.
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>> And one last message to Bryant Cobberger if he happens to be listening to this.
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>> Goodbye and good riddens. >> Thank you, Bill Thompson. >> You're welcome. Thank you for the time.
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And thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Vans.