• News
  • Life
  • TV & Film
  • Beauty
  • Style
  • Home
  • News
    • Celebrity
    • Entertainment
    • Politics
    • Royal Family
  • Life
    • Animals
    • Food & Drink
    • Women's Health
    • Mental Health
    • Sex & Relationships
    • Travel
    • Real Life
  • TV & Film
    • True Crime
    • Documentaries
    • Netflix
    • BBC
    • ITV
    • Tyla Recommends
  • Beauty
    • Hair
    • Make-up
    • Skincare
  • Style
    • Home
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
Submit Your Content
Eerie text University of Idaho issued to students minutes after bodies of four college murder victims were discovered

Home> News> Crime

Published 18:32 15 Jul 2025 GMT+1

Eerie text University of Idaho issued to students minutes after bodies of four college murder victims were discovered

Bryan Kohberger brutally murdered Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen in November 2022

Rhianna Benson

Rhianna Benson

On 13 November 2022, police from the tiny Idaho city of Moscow responded to a report of four 'unconscious' students inside an off-campus University of Idaho accommodation.

Hours later, all other students enrolled at the college received the same unnerving alert message, encouraging them to 'stay away from the area' and 'shelter in place'.

Upon entering the front door to 1122 King Road, officers discovered the murdered bodies of Ethan Chapin and his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, both 20, on the ground floor. The couple had been violently stabbed to death.

Advert

Two of Kernodle's flatmates, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were found on the upper floor of the property, having tragically been killed in the same gruesome way.

Despite the extreme nature of the crimes, it took several hours for news of the quadruple homicide to reach the four victims' familes and friends.

Such is the heartache recalled by those who knew Chapin, Kernodle, Gonclaves and Mogen best, many of whom spoke out in the latest Prime Video documentary, One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, which landed on 11 July.

Bodies discovered

One friend to the group, Emily Alandt, recalls two of the group's other flatmates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke calling her in a panic the morning after the murders, imploring with her and her partner, Hunter Johnson, to come and investigate the property.

The flatmates had been inside the house all night, with Mortensen claiming to have seen a suspicious looking man wearing a mask venturing through the house while she went to use the bathroom.

Advert

In fear, the flatmate locked herself in her room until the morning, when she went to wake Funke.

Alandt recalled being called to the property by the group's two surviving flatmates (Prime Video)
Alandt recalled being called to the property by the group's two surviving flatmates (Prime Video)

After Alandt and Johnson arrived, the latter went through the ground floor of the home while the group waited on the front lawn, emerging to tell them that someone inside the home was 'unconscious'.

"Hunter had enough courage to tell them to call the police for not a real reason," Alandt explains in the documentary. "He worded it very nicely.

Advert

"He said, 'Tell them there's an unconscious person'. [He] saved all of us extreme trauma by not letting us know anything."

Police respond

Despite police responding to the 911 call immediately, no investigating officers would detail the contents of the house to the friends waiting outside. By this point, neighbours from the small town had noticed the emergency response, and had informed the residents' families that police were checking out the property.

Word by this point had also gotten to Chapin's triplet siblings, Hunter and Maizie, who also attended the University of Idaho, that he and Kernodle had been found on the ground floor.

Advert

Chapin and Kernodle were found on the ground floor (Instagram)
Chapin and Kernodle were found on the ground floor (Instagram)

"The cops were not speaking to us at all," friend Josie Lauteren added. "I don't even think they were looking at us."

Gut-wrenching text message

Before the families of Gonclaves and Mogen had been informed of the killings, all students enrolled at the university suddenly received the same disturbing text.

Advert

"VANDAL ALERT. Moscow PD is investigating a homicide on King Rd. near campus," it read.

"Suspect is not known at this time. Stay away from the area and shelter in place."

Recalling the content of the message, friend and neighbour Ava Wood recalls: "It didn't say how many, it didn't say who. Where's Kaylee and Maddy?"

Before the group could ask responding officers about the text alert, another came through, confirming four bodies had been found.

"VANDAL ALERT. Moscow police continues to investigate the death of four people near campus," it read.

Police refused to issue information on the case to the families for several weeks (Prime Video)
Police refused to issue information on the case to the families for several weeks (Prime Video)

"They indicate there is no ongoing threat. More information will be available soon via email."

Alandt tearily recalled: "That was before the cops had even told us that Maddy and Kaylee had passed, and that they were in there."

The official investigation

Idaho's police chief later admitted that his team had never dealt with such a high-stakes investigation in the tiny town of Moscow.

Though the team ruled that the killings were 'a targeted attack', they could 'not conclude if the target was the residence or its occupants'.

Eventually, weeks after the brutal murders, a series of tip-offs led police to a car with a Pennsylvania registration plate, which had been seen driving around King Road weeks before the murders, the night of, and the following morning.

It was soon discovered that Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohlberger, owned the vehicle.

Around the same time, police announced that they were in the midst of running DNA tests on fingerprints found on the sheath from a knife that had been found in Mogen's bedroom.

With Kohberger an official suspect, the FBI began inquiring into the 28-year-old's phone records, discovering that he'd driven from Washington to Idaho the night of the massacre.

Kohberger's arrest and trial

After tracking him down to his parents' property on the East Coast, they compared DNA they'd recovered from the family's trash to that found on the sheath. And finally, police had a match.

Kohberger initially pled not guilty (Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images)
Kohberger initially pled not guilty (Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images)

A SWAT team arrested Kohberger on 30 December before driving him to Latah County jail in Moscow, where he was held without bail.

He was indicted on five charges by a jury - four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

Despite Kohberger pleading not guilty, prosecutors ruled that they were seeking the death penalty.

In July of this year, however, his team agreed to plead guilty on all counts on the grounds that he would receive four consecutive life sentences, rather than capital punishment. His sentencing will take place on 23 July.

One Night in Idaho: The College Murders is available to watch on Amazon.

Featured Image Credit: Prime Video

Topics: Documentaries, True Crime, Crime, US News

Rhianna Benson
Rhianna Benson

Rhianna is an Entertainment Journalist at LADbible Group, working across LADbible, UNILAD and Tyla. She has a Masters in News Journalism from the University of Salford and a Masters in Ancient History from the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked as a Celebrity Reporter for OK! and New Magazines, and as a TV Writer for Reach PLC.

X

@rhiannaBjourno

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • 'Weird' last text message Idaho college murders victim sent to sister just hours before being brutally killed
  • Text messages from surviving Idaho murder roommates shared in ongoing Bryan Kohberger murder case
  • Erik and Lyle Menendez made disturbing statements about parents’ murder during parole hearing
  • Chilling photos Brian Laundrie took days after Gabby Petito’s murder revealed

Choose your content:

a day ago
  • OceanGateOceanGate
    a day ago

    Billionaire planning trip to Titanic wreckage two years after Oceangate disaster

    A billionaire whose 'name you would recognise' is reportedly gearing up to journey to the Titanic wreckage

    News
  • Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAl Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
    a day ago

    People think the gold in Donald Trump’s new White House renovations might not be real

    One social media user claimed some of the objects were 'probably just spray-painted gold'

    News
  • Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty ImagesKenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images
    a day ago

    Donald Trump has revoked Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection

    The news comes despite former President Joe Biden quietly extending it before exiting office

    News
  • Scott Olson/Getty ImagesScott Olson/Getty Images
    a day ago

    JD Vance fuels outrage after 'disgraceful' driving act in an attempt to avoid protesters

    A video of the American Vice President's motorcade attempting to avoid protestors in Wisconsin is circulating online

    News