The suspect in the University of Idaho murder case appeared in an Idaho courtroom on January 12th, 2023. In the early hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were fatally stabbed in their off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho.
Who is Bryan Kohberger?
Bryan Kohberger is a 28 year old male. Kohberger is facing homicide charges in the murder of four University of Idaho college students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, on November 13. Law enforcement in Pennsylvania arrested Kohberger in his hometown of Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County in the early hours of December 30.
Kohberger is now held without bail in Latch County Jail in Idaho state. Kohberger had just finished his first semester at Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, the campus is roughly 15 minutes from the University of Idaho by car. Kohberger enrolled at the school as a Ph.D. student in criminology and also worked as a teaching assistant there.
Who were the four University of Idaho students?
Madison Mogen is a 21 year old college senior. She was a marketing major, a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and worked at Mad Greek restaurant. Her father said, “She was the world to us.”
Ethen Chapin was a 20 year old triplet from Conway, Washington. All three triplets enrolled in the University of Idaho last August. Chapin was a freshman majoring in sports management and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
He was dating 20-year-old Xana Kernodle although he didn’t own the house where the Idaho students were murder, he was there to sleep over with his girlfriend. Chapin's mother said “(she) remember(s) her son as someone who ‘loved unconditionally’ and touched lives we had no idea existed.’”
Kaylee Goncalves was a 21 year old senior from Rathdrum. Goncalves was majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. Her sister, Alivea Goncalves, told NBC's Today Show that Kaylee had recently bought a 2016 Range Rover, planned a trip to Europe next year, and expected to move to Texas after graduation.
Goncalves and Mogen had grown up together like sisters in northern Idaho. "They were sisters; she was one of ours," Goncalves’ mother said at the memorial service.
Xana Kernodle was a 20 year old girl. She was majoring in marketing, a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and loved her dog, Shoeshine, electronic dance music, and going on family trips with her sister and father, according to her obituary. Kernodle, was remembered by her family for being "positive, funny and loved by everyone." Kernodle was originally from Avondale, Arizona, but moved to Post Falls, Idaho, which is about 25 miles east of Spokane.
In December, Jazzmin Kernodlesaid at a memorial service that her little sister loved living in Moscow with her friends. Kernodle shared the rental house with Mogen, Goncalves and two other roommates who survived the attack.
What happened that night?
According to the affidavit, Kernodle got a DoorDash order at the house at about 4 a.m. One of the surviving roommates said she woke up around 4 a.m. from what sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog.
"A short time" later, the roommate said, "she heard someone she thought was Goncalves say something to the effect of 'there's someone here,'". But that could have been Kernodle on her phone because records showed she was on TikTok at about 4:12 a.m.
The roommate said "she looked out of her bedroom but did not see anything when she heard the comment about someone being in the house," the documents said. "She opened her door a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle's room." The roommate "then said she heard a male voice say something to the effect of 'It's ok, I'm going to help you.'"
The roommate said she opened her door again when she heard the crying, and she saw a man in black clothes and a mask walking past her. She stood "frozen" and in "shock." The roommate said she didn't recognize the man, who she said walked toward the house's sliding glass door. She described him as 5’ 10” or taller, and "not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows."
On the morning of Nov. 13, the two roommates called friends over to their house because they thought one of the victims on the second floor had passed out and wasn't waking up, police said. At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call from one of the roommate's phones requested help for an unconscious person, police said.
Responding officers then found the four victims. Authorities said they do not believe anyone at the house at the time of the 911 call was involved in the murders. After the bodies were discovered, authorities reviewed surveillance video and saw the suspect's white Hyundai Elantra go by the victims' house three times, before entering the area for a fourth time at 4:04 a.m., according to the documents. Police said they traced the car's travel that night back to Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger lived.
Once Arrested
After Kohberger's arrest on Dec. 15th, the Sheriff's Department and state police said there was no information at the time on the suspect in the Idaho crimes or specific information on the white Hyundai Elantra. Authorities said DNA from the suspect was recovered on a knife sheath left on a victim's bed, according to the documents.
On Dec. 27, police recovered trash from Kohberger's parent’s house in Pennsylvania, and a lab determined the DNA from the trash was the father of the person who left DNA on the knife sheath. Kohberger, who was arrested for four counts of first-degree murder and burglary, agreed to be extradited to Idaho during his January 3 court appearance in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
January 5th, as Kohberger made his first court appearance in Moscow that same day, Kaylee Goncalves' parents stared him down as he entered the courtroom in a bright orange jumpsuit and no shackles. Charges were read for the murders of each student. The judge said each victim was "stabbed and murdered with premeditation with malice and forethought." Families were overcome with emotion as their child's name was read.
Then the judge asked Kohberger if he wanted to represent himself or have a court appointed attorney, and he calmly replied with, "I have court appointed counsel."
Kohberger is now waiting for a next court date to appeal.
All information as of January 7th.
