Just a few days after prosecutors unexpectedly added Amanda Kohberger, Bryan Kohberger’s sister, to their list of witnesses, Bryan agreed to a plea deal. This decision brought an unexpected conclusion to the case before it could proceed to trial, according to newly released court documents.

The unsealed court papers indicate that Amanda Kohberger was named on the state’s updated witness list. She also appeared on the defense’s mitigation witness list, curated by lead attorney Anne Taylor.

These overlapping documents suggest that Amanda was prepared to testify for both the prosecution and the defense in the lead-up to Bryan Kohberger’s plea agreement. Just days after the June 25 filing that included his sister as a prosecution witness, Bryan accepted a plea deal, thereby avoiding a trial.

Maryann Kohberger (wearing sunglasses), mother of Bryan Kohberger, along with her daughter, Amanda Kohberger, exit Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, July 23, 2025. The pair were in attendance for Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing for the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

The court filings underscore the different strategies at work in the case. The prosecution’s witness list, filed on June 25, included 180 names ranging from investigators and forensic experts to family members of the victims, with Amanda Kohberger prominently featured.

According to an ABC News report citing copies of 2014 police records, Michael Kohberger, Bryan’s father, once told officers that his son had stolen his sister Melissa’s iPhone. Police declined to comment but confirmed the case had been expunged and the record “no longer exists.”

By contrast, the defense’s mitigation list, filed June 6, named 56 witnesses intended for the sentencing phase, including psychologists, corrections experts and nearly every member of Kohberger’s immediate family.

Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. Kohberger pleaded guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty for the stabbing of four University of Idaho students. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)

The case has drawn national attention since the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when four students — Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves — were found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho.

Kohberger, a former Ph.D. criminology student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in December 2022 after a cross-country investigation.

Exterior view of Idaho State Correctional Complex in Kuna, Idaho, July 22, 2025. Bryan Kohberger is being housed at this facility after being sentenced for killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.