2022 University of Idaho Murders

Overview

The 2022 University of Idaho Murders refers to the quadruple murder of four 20- to 21-year-old University of Idaho students that took place in their rented home on King Road near campus in Moscow, Idaho on November 13th, 2022, between 3 and 4 a.m. The four students, identified as Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, were reportedly stabbed to death while sleeping in their beds. There were no signs of forced entry and it is believed that the killing was a targeted attack. The investigation is ongoing, but on December 30th, police arrested Washington State University criminology student Bryan Christopher Kohberger on suspicion of the murders.

As the investigation went on, online sleuths, especially on Reddit and 4chan, began examining the evidence and attempting to dig up new leads to solve the crime. Some believe the murderer posted on Instagram under the name the_moscow_slayer and that they posted a photo of Goncalves to 4chan on the day of the killings. The photo is seemingly taken from outside a window in Moscow, Idaho and shows a girl's hair that some believe is Gonclaves, although these claims are unconfirmed.

Background

On November 13th, 2022, the City of Moscow, Idaho reported that there was a quadruple murder at a home on King Road.^[1] Police went to the home to respond to reports of an unconscious person, which was made around noon on Sunday, hours after police believe the murder took place. At the home, they found four University of Idaho students, Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Ethan Chapin (20) and Xana Kernodle (20) stabbed to death. Students were ordered to shelter in place until it was confirmed there was no longer an active threat.

On November 14th, FOX News^[2] reported that the town's Mayor, Art Bettge, hypothesized, "It’s one of any of a plenitude of possibilities, including burglary gone wrong, robbery gone wrong … any of those is a possibility and not one to the exclusion of others." This was later found to be unlikely, as police believe it was a targeted attack.

Developments / Investigation

November 14th, 2022 (Stabbing, Isolated Attack)

On November 14th, 2022, FOX News^[3] reported that the students were stabbed to death according to authorities. The report claims that no weapons were found on the scene, but they believe a knife was used. The report also shared a group photo of the four victims reportedly taken hours before the murders (shown below). Police believed it was an "isolated and targeted attack" and that the murderer or murderers are not a threat to the community.

November 15th and 16th, 2022 (Blood Oozing Through Walls, Press Conference)

On November 15th, 2022, the Daily Mail^[4] reported that the attack was so brutal that blood was left "oozing through the walls" of the home. One police source told the Daily Mail that it was "the worst they’ve ever seen," saying, "We have investigators who have been on the job for 20, even 30, years, and they say they have never seen anything like this." The report also gives details of the investigation, sharing that police were going through trash cans close to the home to look for potential weapons and that Chapin's body was found on the second floor of the three-floor home. On November 16th, The New York Times^[5] reported that the police had no suspect and shared photos of a candlelight vigil held for the students.

That day, police gave a press conference giving all available details of the investigation up to that date (shown below). During the conference, Moscow Police Chief James Fry claimed that Chapin and Kernodle were at a party before they were murdered and Mogen and Goncalves were at a bar. Chapin did not live in the house but was visiting his girlfriend, Kernodle. There were two other roommates at the house when police arrived on the scene who were uninjured. Fry is unsure why the caller reported an unconscious individual rather than a quadruple murder. A reporter asked if the roommates witnessed the murder and Fry responded, "I’m not going to go into what they shared." The roommates were all allegedly part of "Greek life on campus."

November 17th, 2022 (/r/IdahoMurders, Pushback Against Police)

On November 17th, 2022, the /r/idahomurders^[6] subreddit was opened to discuss the case and dig up new leads and clues regarding it in an attempt to find the murderers. On that day, Global News^[7] reported that police had been "reticent" on releasing info on the murder and that parents and family members of the victims were critical of the police force's efforts for sharing so little information.

November 18th, 2022 (Calls to Ex-Boyfriend Jack, Food Truck Video, Surviving Roommates Cleared)

On November 18th, 2022, Fox News^[8] reported that Goncalves' sister, Alivea Goncalves, claimed that Kaylee called a man named Jack six times between 2:26 and 2:44 a.m. on the night she was murdered. Between 2:44 and 2:52 a.m., Mogen reportedly called Jack three times. Kaylee allegedly called the man one more time at 2:53 a.m. Allegedly, this is Goncalves' ex-boyfriend and the Goncalves family is certain he was not the murderer.^[19]

That day, CNN^[9] shared a video taken of two of the four victims, Mogen and Goncalves, at a food truck on the night of the murders at around 1:41 a.m. The food truck owner, Joseph Woodall, claimed they did not seem distressed in any way.

That day, ABC News^[10] reported that the two surviving roommates were not believed to be the murderers. Allegedly, they slept through the murders, a fact that some Idaho police found hard to believe.^[20] They also shared a map from the City of Moscow Police department offering a timeline of the whereabouts of the four students hours before the murders (shown below). That day, TMZ^[21] reported that Xana fought back against the attacker.

November 19th to the 21st, 2022 (Stabbed to Death In Beds, Calls to Police)

On November 19th, 2022, Global News^[11] reported that the victims were stabbed to death in their beds and were likely killed in their sleep, according to the county coroner. The coroner reported that they were stabbed in the chest and upper body and there were no signs of sexual assault.

On November 20th, ABC News^[12] reported that "other friends" were in the house when the 911 call was made to the police at around 11:58 a.m., but they did not say how many. The call was reportedly made from one of the surviving roommates' phones. The surviving roommates were still not considered suspects. On November 21st, CNN^[13] released a timeline of the investigation so far.

November 22nd and 23rd, 2022 (Police Dispel Stalking, Skinned Dog Rumors)

On November 22nd, 2022, The Guardian^[14] published an article about the fear that the lack of evidence surrounding the case was causing. In the article, they share a message from Police Colonel Kedrick Wills, who said, "We know that people want answers. We want answers, too." Wills also discouraged people from "spreading rumors" about the case, including about suspects who have been ruled out.

On November 23rd, Global News^[15] published an article sharing a message from the police dispelling rumors that Goncalves was being stalked. They also dispel a rumor that a skinned dog found three weeks before the killings was related to the crime, the police saying it was more likely caused by wildlife.

November 23rd to November 30th, 2022

On November 27th, 2022, ABC Chicago^[16] released a summary of the investigation so far. On November 29th, ABC 6^[17] reported that the father of Goncalves called on the public for help solving the case.

On November 30th, the New York Post^[18] reported that Jeremy Reagan, a "socially awkward" law student at U of I, denied claims that he was the murderer after people online allegedly started spreading the rumor.

Arrest of Bryan Kohberger

On December 30th, 2022, police arrested 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger on suspicion of murder.^[26] Kohberger is a grad student of criminal justice at Washington State University. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania and agreed to be extradited to Idaho to face trial for the crimes.^[27] The motive for the crimes is unknown.

Online Reactions

The case inspired condolences for the victims and calls for the murderers to be found. It also inspired a lot of internet sleuthing and hypothesizing as people poured over the evidence and searched for new leads on the case. Some people hurled accusations at potential suspects, including Goncalves' ex-boyfriend Jack, who Goncalves called six times shortly before the murder. Goncalves' family believes he is innocent (shown below, left). Amateur crime reporters and creators also gave summaries and opinions on the case, including Law & Crime Network (shown below, right).

4chan Posts

On November 27th, 2022, an anonymous user of 4chan's /pol/^[22] board began a "University of Idaho Murder General" thread in order to discuss the case and collect evidence relating to it. The thread includes photographs of a man who goes by dylanmm26 on VSCO seen with one of the victims, screenshots from a now-deleted Instagram account called the_moscow_slayer who followed the victims and posted an image of a knife that some believe to be the murder weapon (shown below, left) and an anonymous 4chan post claiming the killer is named Jack Showalter (shown below, right). One post from November 20th shared on the thread claims that the street where Showalter lives was closed off at one point. None of these claims are confirmed and may be false leads.

/r/IdahoMurders Subreddit

The /r/IdahoMurders subreddit was created on November 17th, 2022, to discuss the ongoing investigation and is largely used to share potential leads on the case. The forum gained over 27,000 followers by November 30th. Some of the forum's top posts share disgust with some of the rumors and hypotheses being spread online and discourage amateur sleuths from jumping to conclusions.^[23][24]

On November 26th, a Redditor made a post on /r/IdahoMurders^[25] claiming they saw two photos on 4chan the day of the murders — one of which they believe is Kaylee Goncalve in her bedroom taken from either outside the window or from in a closet. The other is all black as if taken in the dark. The user provides screenshots of the photos (shown below). One photo is labeled "Step one." One poster claims the anon posted the photos with weird messages the night of the murder along with coordinates that lead to a location near the crime scene. These reports are all unconfirmed and possibly unrelated to the case or fake.

Search Interest

External References