It was a crime that rocked not only the small north Idaho town of Moscow but the whole country. Between 4 and 4:25 a.m. on November 13, four college students from the University of Idaho were brutally murdered in their beds. For nearly seven hours, the bodies of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen remained in their rooms until they were discovered by a roommate, who then called 911.
For over a month and a half, the most chilling detail of the grizzly crime was the fact that police had no leads. Detectives could not identify any suspects with clear motives, neighbors hadn't made any reports of suspicious activity, and even the school itself was at a loss as to who could have committed such a heinous act and why.
U of I students return home
As police continued to search for clues, students fled to their homes. There was a killer loose in the Pacific Northwest, and nobody knew if they would strike again.
"You just want your kids safe," Brian Kittelson, a father of a U of I first-year student, told Idaho news station KTVB following his daughter's return home for Thanksgiving. The Kittelson family decided it would be best for her to remain with them until the police apprehended a suspect.
"After that first night ...after the murders, it was a no-brainer. She wanted to come home," Kittelson added.
For students who decided to stay on campus, Idaho state police increased their presence in the area and performed regular neighborhood sweeps to try and make sure everyone was safe.
Despite originally claiming there was no threat, three days after the murders, the Idaho Police Department made a revised statement. "We cannot say there is no threat to the community," Chief James Fry said on November 16.
The crimes were shocking to the north Idaho community, which hadn't seen a murder in seven years. Moscow, like many towns in the Eastern Washington and Idaho Panhandle region, is a place where neighbors check on each other, grocery clerks know everyone's names, and doors stay unlocked at night.
A suspect is apprehended
While people across the region began locking their doors at night and keeping a lookout for anything suspicious, many residents are resting easier these days.
On December 30, 2022, police apprehended their lead suspect, Brian Kohberger. Despite having no clear connection or motive linking him to the murders at first, security footage had shown Kohberger's white Elantra in front of the house at the time of the murders, then again hours later. After consulting more street camera footage, the police found that his car had made nearly 12 visits to the house in recent weeks. He was apparently casing the area.
Kohberger was arrested at his family's home in Effort, Pennsylvania, over a month after the murders. Police had been surveilling him and the house for nearly four days before they made their arrest.
Kohberger completed his undergraduate studies in psychology and forensics in 2020 at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. He then studied criminology there under the highly regarded forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland. In 2022 he finished his graduate program there, and decided to move to Washington, where he was pursuing a doctorate in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman.
Kohberger was perhaps too enthralled by his studies. Classmates of his recalled his participation and increased engagement in conversations about forensics, DNA, and strategies prosecutors use to put away criminals. Despite his interest in the subject matter, it was ultimately a single source of
Kohberger's DNA left on a knife sheath at the scene of the crime that provided authorities with enough evidence to arrest him.
Kohberger did not flee after the crime. Instead, he returned to Pullman, where he continued going to class, taking part in discussions regarding criminal justice, and even grading papers as a teacher's assistant. Following the end of the semester, he drove back to his hometown in Pennsylvania with his father, a trip they had planned since his move to Washington. Kohberger and his father were pulled over twice in their cross-country trek, but both times were let go.
Kohberger was extradited to Idaho, where he is facing four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary. He has not yet entered a plea but will face his next status hearing on January 12.