Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students—Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Ethan Chapin (20)—were brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho. The gruesome killings, which occurred in a three-story house where five female students lived, shocked the small college town, which had not seen a homicide since 2015. Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, survived the attack, with Mortensen reporting seeing a masked intruder with “bushy eyebrows” leaving the scene. The murders sparked national attention, fueled by weeks of speculation and fear as police initially released limited details. Investigators eventually identified a suspect through DNA evidence found on a KA-BAR knife sheath at the crime scene, surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra, and cellphone data, leading to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger on December 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Initially pleading not guilty, Kohberger’s defense claimed he was on a solo drive during the killings, but prosecutors presented compelling evidence, including DNA from his father’s Q-tip in the family’s trash linking him to the crime scene, his car’s multiple passes near the victims’ home, and his phone’s suspicious activity. On July 2, 2025, Kohberger unexpectedly pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, admitting to the murders in a Boise courtroom. He waived his right to appeal and faces four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years for burglary, with sentencing scheduled for July 23, 2025. The plea deal divided victims’ families, with some, like Kaylee Goncalves’ father, expressing frustration over unanswered questions about motive and the missing murder weapon, while others supported the resolution to avoid a prolonged trial
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students—Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Ethan Chapin (20)—were brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho. The gruesome killings, which occurred in a three-story house where five female students lived, shocked the small college town, which had not seen a homicide since 2015. Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, survived the attack, with Mortensen reporting seeing a masked intruder with “bushy eyebrows” leaving the scene. The murders sparked national attention, fueled by weeks of speculation and fear as police initially released limited details. Investigators eventually identified a suspect through DNA evidence found on a KA-BAR knife sheath at the crime scene, surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra, and cellphone data, leading to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger on December 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Initially pleading not guilty, Kohberger’s defense claimed he was on a solo drive during the killings, but prosecutors presented compelling evidence, including DNA from his father’s Q-tip in the family’s trash linking him to the crime scene, his car’s multiple passes near the victims’ home, and his phone’s suspicious activity. On July 2, 2025, Kohberger unexpectedly pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, admitting to the murders in a Boise courtroom. He waived his right to appeal and faces four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years for burglary, with sentencing scheduled for July 23, 2025. The plea deal divided victims’ families, with some, like Kaylee Goncalves’ father, expressing frustration over unanswered questions about motive and the missing murder weapon, while others supported the resolution to avoid a prolonged trial
