All About the Tragic Idaho College Murders

One of the most followed stories that occurred this past November was the murders of four University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Gonclaves.

Four college student’s lives sadly came to a tragic end on an early Sunday morning. Moscow police documents reveal all of the information on the crimes.

On Saturday night, November 12th, 2022, Gonclaves and Mogen went out to a local bar in Moscow, Idaho near the University of Idaho campus. At the same time, Chapin and Kernodle went to the Sigma Chi house.

At 1:40 a.m.Sunday morning, Gonclaves and Mogen were seen at a local food truck called Grub Truck. A man was seen with them during this time. Yet, this person was not seen as a suspect and cleared by police. The food truck streams their business on a social media platform, “Twitch”. On the stream, Gonclaves and Mogen are seen purchasing food. After purchasing the food, they returned to their home at 1:45 a.m. which is located near the campus.

Chapin and Kernodle arrived home at around the same time. All the girls lived together at this house, including two other roommates. Ethan Chapin was Xana Kernodle’s boyfriend. He did not live with them, yet, he slept over this night.

According to an affidavit produced by the Moscow police department, Kernodle received a DoorDash order at 4:00 a.m. One of the surviving roommates also tells police that around the same time, she recalls hearing Kernodle playing with her dog. A phone record shows that at 4:12am, Kernodle was active on TikTok. The roommate states that she thought she heard Gonclaves say “there’s someone here” around 4 a.m.

After this comment was made, the roommate checked outside her bedroom. The roommate saw no one. Later, she opened the door a second time. This time, she heard crying coming from Kernodle’s room. After she heard the crying, she also heard a male voice say, “It’s okay, I’m going to help you.”

The roommate stated she saw a man in all black clothes and a mask walking by her room. The roommate recalls to police how she was “frozen” and “in shock”. She described the man as “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows and around 5-foot-10”.

At 4:17 a.m. around the same time that the roommate claimed to see the man, security cameras from the area near to Kernodle’s room capture sounds that appear to be “whimpering, dog barks, and a loud thud”. This was all according to police documents.

Later that morning, at 11:58 a.m, both surviving roommates made a 911 call. They made the call requesting assistance on an unconscious person. The police arrived on the scene, only to come upon the worst imagined, four dead bodies.

According to the autopsies performed on the bodies, the victims were all stabbed multiple times. According to police, there was no sexual assault and the victims were all asleep when they were attacked. The Moscow Police also added that they had some defensive wounds.

After the bodies were recovered by police, security cameras in the same neighborhood revealed a white Hyundai Elantra going by the house four times, the last time at 4:04 a.m. This is around the time police believe the murders occurred. Police traced the car’s travel that night. The car was traced back to Pullman, Washington.

The two roommates were ruled out as suspects along with the man seen with Gonclaves and Mogan the same night as the murders. The main suspect is Bryan Kohberger, 28, who is studying for his doctorate at Washington State University, in Pullman. The University of Idaho is about seven miles away. He was studying for a doctorate in criminal justice and criminology.

The suspect was arrested in Pennsylvania, near where his family lives. He was arrested for four counts of first degree murder. If he is found guilty, he will face the death penalty. Yet, the police believe there was no connection between the suspect and the victims. There is also no true motive that is known at this time.

The evidence at issue is very hard to ignore or downplay. A knife sheath found at the crime scene was DNA tested. The DNA matched to the DNA found on trash from the Kohnerger residence. Also, the white Hyundai Elantra matched Kohnerger’s car.

The Kohberger family released a statement saying, “We will continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family we will love and support our son and brother. We have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions. We respect privacy in this matter as our family and the families suffering loss can move forward through the legal process.”

On January 5, Kohberger made his first court appearance. The victim’s families were all present.

Moscow Police Chief James fry tells ABC , “We believe we have our guy, the one that committed these murders,” Yet, Jarrod Burguan, Former Chief of the San Bernardino Police Department told ABC in an interview, “The whole case up to this point has been a mystery and there’s been very little information that has come out of the authorities. Obviously, they won’t just settle on Mr. Kohnerger.”

All the victim’s families are relieved that a suspect was arrested. Ben Mogen, Madison Mogen’s father, tells ABC, “It was a huge weight that got lifted, at the same time, I knew that for the rest of my life, there was going to be someone’s face that I was going to have in my head. I just think I have to be more focused on the fact that we caught someone.”

At this point, the case is still seen as unsolved. Yet, the Moscow police are still looking at this case very deeply in order to bring justice to the victims.