Overview
- The Spokane County medical examiner’s autopsy reports were unsealed this week and describe multiple sharp‑force wounds, blunt‑force trauma, signs of asphyxia, and conclusions that several victims “endured a high degree of pain and/or suffering” before death.
- The reports say the injuries are consistent with a Ka‑Bar Full Size U.S. Marine Corps fighting knife and note a leather Ka‑Bar sheath found at the scene that prosecutors reported contained DNA linked to Bryan Kohberger.
- Autopsy summaries circulated in court filings and reported by multiple outlets include high wound counts cited from the files: about 38 for Kaylee Goncalves, 67 for Xana Kernodle, at least 28 for Madison Mogen, and 17 for Ethan Chapin.
- The autopsies describe Kernodle fighting back with defensive wounds that penetrated hand bones, Goncalves suffering blunt‑force facial injuries and signs of an object over her mouth, and Chapin sustaining deep neck and chest wounds.
- Kohberger pleaded guilty in 2025 and is serving consecutive life terms, so the planned live testimony by the medical examiner was not needed and the plea left no publicly disclosed motive for the killings.