The Idaho Murders: Four Lives, One Night, and the Search for Justice

On November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were murdered in their beds. This is the definitive account of the investigation, the victims, and the search for justice.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was weeks from graduation with a marketing degree and a new job in Texas. Madison Mogen, 21, was her inseparable best friend since sixth grade. Xana Kernodle, 20, was known for her infectious warmth and kindness. Ethan Chapin, 20, was visiting his girlfriend, a beloved son and triplet brother with a bright future.

In the early morning hours of November 13, all four were brutally murdered in an off-campus house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho—a small college town that prided itself on safety. Two surviving roommates slept through the attack. The killer vanished into the darkness.

For seven weeks, the Moscow Police Department, Idaho State Police, and FBI pursued one of the most complex investigations in Idaho history. With no immediate suspect, the community lived in fear while investigators collected surveillance footage from over 100 cameras, analyzed cell phone data, and employed cutting-edge forensic genetic genealogy techniques. A white Hyundai Elantra captured on camera near the scene became the breakthrough investigators needed.



On December 30, 2022, authorities arrested Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology doctoral student at nearby Washington State University—a man studying the very crimes he stood accused of committing.