She then saw a man dressed in black and wearing a mask walk past her bedroom door.
Terrified, she locked herself in her room. Around 4:30 a.m., Dylan texted her friend Bethany Funke and then ran to Bethany's room in the basement. They stayed locked in for the rest of the night.
When their housemates didn't answer their phones by noon, the two girls desperately called two friends, Hunter Johnson and Emily Alandt, who lived nearby, asking them to "check the house because they were too scared."
"When Dylan called, I didn't think it was anything urgent, so I walked over. When I got there, Dylan and Bethany were outside the house. They looked terrified, just putting their hands over their mouths as if to say 'I don't know what's going on'," Emily recalled.
A horrific scene
Hunter Johnson bravely went upstairs to the second-floor room. There, he found the bloody bodies of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin and his girlfriend, Xana Kernodle. To protect the others, Hunter quickly ushered them out of the house and called 911 at approximately 11:58 a.m.
When police arrived, they discovered four people dead. The other two victims were 21-year-old Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. All four victims were students at the University of Idaho, renting a house at 1122 King Road, off-campus.
Dylan told her friends she didn't call 911 immediately after seeing the masked man because she was "drunk and didn't want to believe what was happening".
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The last photo of the victims, taken just hours before the murders: Madison Mogen (top), Kaylee Goncalves (second from left), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle (second from right), along with the two surviving roommates: Dylan Mortensen (far left) and Bethany Funke. Photo: Instagram |
The last photo of the victims, taken just hours before the murders: Madison Mogen (top), Kaylee Goncalves (second from left), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle (second from right), along with the two surviving roommates: Dylan Mortensen (far left) and Bethany Funke. Photo: Instagram
According to police, the perpetrator used "extreme force" in the attacks. Autopsy results showed Xana suffered over 50 stab wounds, mostly defensive, with fatal wounds to her lungs and heart. Kaylee's face was unrecognizable due to severe trauma, having endured over 30 stab wounds.
The murder weapon was a sharp, single-edged knife. The sheath was found next to Madison's body.
Arrest of the 'criminology PhD student'
The quadruple homicide of the University of Idaho students shocked the US, sending panic through the peaceful small-town community of Moscow, Idaho.
Shortly afterward, police announced they were searching for a white Hyundai Elantra seen driving past the house twice on the day of the murders, once earlier and again around 9 a.m.
Weeks passed with no answers, no arrests, and no suspects. Facebook groups sprang up with hundreds of thousands of members posting questions and theories about what happened.
After hundreds of interviews and thousands of leads in the search for the suspect, police zeroed in on Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at Washington State University (WSU), a 15-minute drive from the crime scene.
In mid-December 2022, authorities tracked Bryan to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was spending the holidays after finishing his first semester. Bryan was arrested on 30/12/2022 and extradited to Idaho a few days later.
In his first interrogation, when asked if he had heard about the murders of the four students, Bryan replied, "Of course," as he had received an alert about the incident from WSU, located about 10 miles from the University of Idaho. But when the detective asked if he "wanted to talk about it," Bryan responded, "Oh, I think I'll need a lawyer."
Obsessed with serial killers
To those who knew Bryan, his arrest was not entirely surprising. Before studying in Washington, Bryan took a forensic psychology class at a university in Pennsylvania. He seemed lonely, eccentric, "smart but robotic," lacking normal social skills.
Bryan had long been known to have issues with women. Arguments with students even led to his dismissal from a teaching position just days before his arrest.
Classmates remembered Bryan as a bright student, but obsessed with infamous killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. However, his choice of major allowed him to delve into the minds of serial killers and their motives without raising suspicion.
A teaching assistant who worked with Bryan at WSU observed what looked like "fingernail scratches" on his face around the time of the murders. Bryan explained it as a car accident.
Evidence unravels the 'perfect crime'
According to the prosecutor, Bryan studied criminology, even writing a detailed paper on crime scene processing for his doctoral dissertation, giving him expert knowledge. However, he made several mistakes when committing the actual crime.
Investigators established a timeline of what happened on 13/11/2022. Around 4 a.m., Bryan entered 1122 King Road through the sliding kitchen door at the back of the house. He went up to the third floor and stabbed Madison and Kaylee to death.
He then went downstairs and encountered Xana, who had just picked up a food delivery, and attacked her. Ethan, Xana's boyfriend, who was sleeping in the room, was also killed.
Investigations revealed Bryan's cell phone repeatedly pinged near 1122 King Road. From 9/7 to 7/11/2022, his phone connected to a cell tower in the area approximately 23 times between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.
On 13/11/2022, Bryan left his apartment in Pullman, Washington, just a 15-minute drive from 1122 King Road. His phone was turned off around 2:54 a.m. and didn't turn back on until around 4:48 a.m. when he returned to his apartment.
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The house at 1122 King Road, where the four students were murdered, was later demolished by authorities. Photo: NYP |
The house at 1122 King Road, where the four students were murdered, was later demolished by authorities. Photo: NYP
The white Hyundai Elantra driven by Bryan was seen passing 1122 King Road multiple times on surveillance video. Idaho police identified the suspicious vehicle as belonging to Bryan after he was pulled over for running a red light on 22/8/2022, and his name, phone number, and address were recorded.
On 13/11/2022, surveillance video data showed the white Hyundai arriving in Moscow around 3:02 a.m. Around 3:30 a.m., roadside surveillance cameras showed the car circling the neighborhood near 1122 King Road. At 4:05 a.m., Bryan parked on the street behind the house.
At 4:20 a.m., surveillance data showed the car leaving the area at high speed. Bryan then drove onto remote country roads, avoiding highways with cameras, returning to his apartment at 5:30 a.m.
Around 9 a.m., phone signals showed Bryan had returned to the King Road area, staying for about 10 minutes before returning to his apartment in Pullman.
Regarding the murder weapon, Bryan purchased a Ka-Bar knife, typically used for combat, on Amazon using a gift card in 3/2022. He attempted to delete the purchase history.
DNA testing revealed a single male's DNA on the knife sheath found next to Madison's body, as well as in the blood of Madison and Kaylee.
Before Bryan's arrest, authorities secretly collected trash from his parents' home in Pennsylvania. Experts determined the DNA on a cotton swab belonged to "the father of the person whose DNA was found on the knife sheath at the crime scene".
After Bryan was extradited to Idaho, police matched his DNA and confirmed it matched the DNA on the knife sheath.
Authorities did not find the murder weapon, nor did they find any useful evidence in Bryan's apartment or office. Upon searching the Hyundai, they found it meticulously cleaned, leaving nothing even in the car's crevices.
According to the prosecutor, Bryan was well-versed in common investigative techniques and tried to cover his tracks, such as thoroughly cleaning the car after the murders, but this only made him more suspicious.
"He's certainly smarter than most killers. But this wasn't the perfect crime," said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. Rahmani said the key mistake of the knife sheath suggested the murders were more difficult than Bryan anticipated, indicating he faced chaos while attacking multiple people and encountering fierce resistance.
Controversial plea deal
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but on July 2nd, Bryan agreed to a plea deal, admitting to all charges and waiving his right to appeal to avoid execution. The plea deal didn't require him to explain his motive or actions during sentencing.
The victims' families had mixed reactions to the plea deal. Madison's father expressed relief, allowing the family to "truly put this behind us". Kaylee's family strongly criticized the deal, believing it would give Bryan a chance to live a "better, fulfilling life in prison".
In response, prosecutor Bill Thompson pointed out the defense team had made extensive efforts to dismiss the case, and although prosecutors had sufficient evidence, a trial could lead to years or even decades of appeals.
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Bryan Kohberger maintained an emotionless, reticent demeanor in court. In this photo, he wears prison garb while attending his sentencing on July 23rd. Photo: MEGA |
Bryan Kohberger maintained an emotionless, reticent demeanor in court. In this photo, he wears prison garb while attending his sentencing on July 23rd. Photo: MEGA
On July 23rd, Bryan was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole and ordered to pay $50,000 to each family.
When handing down the sentence, Judge Steven Hippler called Bryan a "coward," criticizing him for showing no remorse or repentance for his crimes. He became so emotional that he had to wipe away tears with a tissue.
When asked by the judge if he had any comments after facing the victims' families for the first time, Bryan coldly replied: "I decline". It was his longest statement in court since his arrest.
Lingering questions about motive
Following the sentencing, the Idaho State Police said in a press conference: "To this day, we have not found any connection between the defendant and any of the victims and the two surviving roommates". He added that there weren't even any social media connections between Bryan and the victims.
Authorities stated it remains unclear who, if anyone, Bryan specifically targeted in the attack.
Since Bryan's arrest, there have been numerous theories about why he targeted the victims.
Madison received particular attention from "online sleuths" as a potential target. Authors Vicky Ward and James Patterson theorized in their recent book - *The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy* - that Bryan may have wanted to kill Madison to emulate Elliot Rodger.
Elliot, a self-proclaimed "incel" who despised women, killed six people after being rejected by a blonde sorority girl named Maddy. *The Idaho Four* suggests Bryan may have idolized the killer and hated Madison.
"He went straight to her room. And her room could be seen from the road if parked at the cul-de-sac behind their house", Vicky Ward wrote.
Former President Donald Trump said on July 21st that he hoped Judge Hippler would "at least make Bryan Kohberger explain why he committed these horrific murders". But Hippler questioned whether Bryan could put aside his selfishness to offer a truthful explanation.
"Even if I could compel him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone be certain that what he said was the truth?", Hippler expressed.
Judge Hippler urged the media and public to end Bryan's "moment of fame," arguing that continued focus on why he killed the four victims would give the murderer the attention and power he craved.
Tue Anh (according to NYP, CBS, Sun)
