The murder of four college students rocked the quiet town of Moscow, Idaho, and led to the arrest of prime suspect Bryan Kohberger.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – all students at the University of Idaho – were ambushed in their rooms and stabbed to death with a military-style knife that has yet to be found. Police were called to the gruesome scene at the off-campus residence almost eight hours after the vicious attack.
For weeks, only scant details about the carnage were revealed as the community reeled from the tragedy and grappled with fears of a murderer on the loose. That changed with the December 2022 arrest of Washington State University student Mr Kohberger, whose apartment, office and family home were raided and searched for evidence.
A grand jury indicted Kohberger on four counts of first-degree murder and one burglary charge, effectively rerouting the case directly to the state’s felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process.
A trial was initially set for October 2023 but was postponed when Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial.
After over two and a half years, Kohberger’s trial was scheduled to start on August 18. But now, Kohberger is expected to take a plea deal, according to several reports.
NewsNation’s Brian Entin reported Monday, citing unnamed sources, that the prosecution had proposed dropping the death penalty in exchange for Kohberger pleading guilty to the four murders and serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kohberger will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and waives all right to appeal, per ABC News.
Here, The Independent takes a deep dive into the developments in the complex case:
How did the stabbings unfold?
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in the young women’s rental home on King Road in Moscow on November 13, 2022. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was staying at the residence, which is just a few minutes walk from campus, on the night of the murders.
According to an affidavit for Kohberger’s arrest, the killings are believed to have taken place around 4 am.
Among the revelations in the 18-page document is that Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath that he left behind at the crime scene. The tan leather Kabar sheath, which featured the Marine Corps symbol, was discovered on Mogen’s bed next to her body.
At the time of the quadruple homicide, the two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortenson, were inside the home, but were left unharmed. The police report reveals that Mortenson came face to face with the masked killer.
According to Mortenson’s terrifying account, she had gone to sleep in her bedroom on the second floor of the three-floor home and was woken by what sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog in one of the third-floor bedrooms.
She told investigators she was in her bedroom on the second floor of the home – the same floor where Kernodle and Chapin were killed – and was standing in the doorway as the killer walked right past her. A short time later, Mortenson said that she heard someone believed to be either Goncalves or Kernodle saying, “There’s someone here.”
Minutes later, Morterson said that she looked out of her bedroom for the first time but did not see anything. She then opened her door for a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle’s room, the documents state.
At that point, she said she heard a man’s voice saying, “It’s ok, I’m going to help you.”
When she opened her door for a third time minutes later, she said she saw “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her.” As she stood in a “frozen shock phase,” she said the man, whom she did not recognize, walked past her and headed toward the back sliding glass door of the home. She then locked herself in her room.
Despite the close encounter, a 911 call wasn’t made until 11.58 am – eight hours later. The call, made from one of the surviving roommates’ cellphones, reported an “unconscious individual.” It is unclear if the killer saw her or whether she simply had a lucky escape because he didn’t notice her inside the dark home.
This raises the question of whether or not the killer planned to murder all four victims or whether some of the victims were treated as collateral damage in the horrific attack. Goncalves and Mogen’s bodies were found in a bedroom on the third floor, while Kernodle and Chapin were found on the second floor of the home.
The affidavit reveals no details about what connection, if any, Kohberger had to the victims.
Kohberger, a criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman, having moved there to begin the academic program in August 2022.
Who are the victims?
Goncalves and Mogen were seniors at the University of Idaho and were expected to graduate in 2023.
At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves’ father, Steve, told how the two “absolutely beautiful” young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.
“They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything,” he said at the time. “Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.
“And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.”
Kernodle was a junior and Chapin was a freshman at the college. They had begun dating months before their deaths. The couple is believed to have been awake at the time the stabbings were carried out.
Six months after the stabbings, the families of the slain students accepted posthumous awards for their achievements.
Mogen and Goncalves’ relatives walked across the stage for their degrees in an emotional ceremony on May 13. Mogen was going to school for marketing and Goncalves for general studies. Kernodle’s family also accepted her certificate in marketing at a separate ceremony, while Chapin’s award in sports, recreation and management was mailed to his parents.
Who is Bryan Kohberger?
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was studying for his PhD and working as a teaching assistant in criminal justice at WSU.
Prior to this, Kohberger studied criminology at DeSales University first as an undergraduate and then was set to finish his graduate studies in June 2022.
According to online school records, Kohberger received an associate arts degree in 2018 from Northampton Community College in Albrightsville and received a master’s degree in criminal justice this year from DeSales University.
While studying at DeSales, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland, who interviewed the BTK serial killer and wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer.
He was working part-time as a security guard until August 2021 at Pleasant Valley School District, where his mother was listed as a paraprofessional.
Kohberger had carried out a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”
He also reached out to potential participants on Reddit, with the chilling survey resurfacing after his arrest.
“In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post said.
His fascination appears to have continued around the time of the murders when he applied for an internship with the local police department.
The affidavit revealed that he applied for an internship in the fall of 2022 with the Pullman Police Department and wrote in an essay how he had an interest “in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.”
What the unsealed records reveal
After weeks of no updates on the investigation, law enforcement in Idaho and Pennsylvania announced Kohberger’s arrest on December 30, 2022. A search warrant was executed at Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman the same day he was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
A record of evidence recovered during the apartment search revealed the seizure of 15 items, including hairs, receipts, a computer tower, a disposable glove and items with peculiar stains.
In the search warrant record, investigators list several items with stains, including cuttings of a mattress cover, a “reddish/brown” stain on an uncovered pillow and a “collection of dark red spot.” Dr. Monte Miller, a former crime scene investigator and forensic expert, and former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told The Independent in January 2023 that investigators most likely believed those items had blood stains.
“A reddish or brown stain is a euphemism for, ‘We found something that looks like blood,’” Miller said at the time. “It might be blood from the victims, might be his blood. They don’t know until they test it, but they’ll be able to get DNA if it is blood. We don’t know what the stains in the cover sheets look like, but again they’re looking for any kind of DNA, evidence that might have come from the crime scene.”
Coffindaffer added: “They don’t call it blood, but it’s definitely inferred that it was blood.”
Court documents released by Washington authorities showed that multiple items taken from Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman had been tested for the presence of blood. While most items came back negative, two unspecified items were positive.
Another item included on the list of seizures was a “possible animal hair strand.” While Kohberger is not believed to have a pet, one of the victims he is accused of killing, Goncalves, had a dog that was at home at the time of the murders and was later found by police responding to the scene.
“The possible animal hair they’ll try to connect that to the dog left at the scene,” according to Miller. “If there’s a root on that, if there is any skin on that hair, they could do a DNA test with that dog. If it’s just a hair that’s been shed and there is no skin, they would still be able to do a microscopical comparison and exclude most dogs but they wouldn’t be able to connect it necessarily to that dog.”
Kohberger was also linked to the crime through cellphone records and his white Hyundai Elantra, a similar model of the car seen near the murder home around the time of the murders. Kohberger changed the license plates on his Hyundai Elantra just days after the murders.
The suspect’s car had Pennsylvania plates when it was pulled over by police in Moscow, in August 2022, according to a citation from the Latah County Sheriff’s Office. A review of documents on CarFax by Newsweek showed that Kohberger changed the registration from Pennsylvania to Washington, five days after four students were found stabbed to death.
What we don’t know
No murder weapon has been found, police said before the gag order was issued following Kohberger’s arrest.
It is not known if the killer personally knew one or more of the victims and whether the attack was carried out in a fit of jealousy or rage. No motive is known.
Investigators have not revealed whether they believed the killer entered the house before the victims arrived home and hid before striking in their sleep or whether he entered the house after the students returned.
Kohberger indicted by grand jury
Each murder count of Kohberger’s indictment from May 16, 2023, states that he “did wilfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought, kill and murder” each of the victims by stabbing.
On May 22 of that year, Kohberger refused to enter a plea in Latah County District Court, with his attorney saying that he was “standing silent” on the charges.
The response prompted the judge to enter a “not guilty” plea on Kohberger’s behalf, setting the stage for a trial in which he could potentially face the death penalty.
Kohberger’s parents asked to testify in Pennsylvania death case
It has also emerged that Kohberger’s parents have been ordered to testify before a grand jury in the family’s home state of Pennsylvania in the case of a woman found dead almost a year after her sudden disappearance.
CNN reported May 24, 2023, citing a source who said that the accused killer’s mother has already given evidence to the grand jury while his father was scheduled to testify. The information could then be shared with Idaho prosecutors, CNN reported at the time.
The investigation is said to be about the disappearance and death of a 45-year-old woman Dana Smithers, per Eyewitness News.
Smithers vanished without a trace in May 2022 from Monroe County, Pennsylvania – where Kohberger was living at the time. Her remains were found last month in a wooded area.
What comes next?
Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in the case, citing five “aggravating circumstances” that could warrant the maximum sentence of capital punishment.
The judge had set Kohberger’s trial date for October 2, 2023, following requests by Kohberger’s attorney and the state. But, in a shock move, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, causing the trial to be delayed.
Kohberger then attempted to have cameras banned in court, but Judge John C Judge indicated that would not happen.
In late December 2023, prosecutors then filed a motion requesting that the trial take place in the summer of 2024, arguing that the defense has had enough time to review the evidence in the case.
The state noted that the procedures should preferably unfold while high schools and universities in the area are not in the midst of the academic calendar, given the large media presence expected.
A trial was set for this August, despite Kohberger’s team’s efforts to delay it again. A hearing for a change of plea is scheduled for July 2.
The family of Goncalves said they were “beyond furious” with prosecutors over the plea deal.
“They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected. We appreciate all your love and support,” they wrote on Facebook Monday.
