Eerie text University of Idaho issued to students minutes after bodies of four college murder victims were discovered
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.
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.
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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.
In fear, the flatmate locked herself in her room until the morning, when she went to wake Funke.
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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
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.
Topics: Documentaries, True Crime, Crime, US News
Rhianna Benson