Everything we know about the Idaho murders

On November 13th, 2022, Bryan Kohberger murdered four University of Idaho students. The students were brutally stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. The news quickly spread, and the small, quiet college town was thrown into shock. The town hadn’t experienced a murder in several years, and it left many in the community fearful as the suspect was at large for more than a month and a half.  

The victims – Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 – were murdered in the early hours of November 13th in what police originally called a “targeted attack.” Thanks to around 19,000 tips from the community, multiple pieces of evidence left by the killer, and weeks of investigations, the police were quickly able to apprehend 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, a Ph. D student of criminology at Washington State University, only 8 miles away from the murder scene.  

The Timeline of the Murders 

On the night of November 13th, two pairs of roommates went out. Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin left separately and returned just before 2 a.m., shortly followed by Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. The other two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen, 21, and Bethany Funke, 21, stayed behind and were present in the house at the time of the murders.  

Footage of the Moscow neighborhood shows a white Hyundai Elantra driving around the students’ townhouse three times around 3:30 a.m. Kernodle then received a DoorDash order at 4 a.m. At the same time, Dylan Mortensen had been woken up by what she said sounded like her roommate playing with her dog upstairs. Then, at 4:04 a.m., the Elantra was seen driving around the home for the fourth time.  

Phone records show that Kernodle was on her phone until 4:12 a.m. Then sometime after 4 a.m., crying could be heard from Kernodle’s room along with a male voice saying “It’s okay, I’m going to help you,” Dylan Mortensen told police.  

According to court documents, a security camera from a nearby home captured audio of a whimper, loud thud, and a dog barking. Mortensen then told investigators that she opened up her bedroom door once more and saw a man with “bushy eyebrows,” black clothes, and a mask covering his mouth and nose. She then continued to say that she saw him walk towards a sliding glass door before she lost sight and closed and locked her door.  

The Elantra was then sighted speeding away from the home at 4:20 a.m.  

Police did not arrive on the scene until 12 p.m. the following day after a 911 call was made to report an unconscious person. It was then the bodies of the four college students were found.  

It is unclear why Mortensen or Funke did not call 911 when the murders were occurring, and many questions remain as to why Kohberger committed the murders in the first place.  

Kohberger was officially arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary on December 30th. He was held without bond until being extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho on January 4th.  

Authorities have not identified a motive or identified if Kohberger had any connection to the victims. The murder weapon has also not been found.  

The next preliminary hearing is on June 26th, 2023, after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy probable cause hearing on January 12th.