It was the type of scene which is usually associated with luridly gruesome pulp fiction, or low budget horror films. The setting is a small college town and an off-campus tri-level rental home occupied by five attractive college female students in their early 20's. After a night of parties and a stop for some street food, they return home after midnight--one with her boyfriend--then go to bed. Out of the darkness emerges a lunatic armed with a knife. Then the terror begins.
Tragically, this wasn't the script for some grindhouse movie with a title like, "Sorority Slumber Party Massacre," it was Moscow, Idaho--home of the University of Idaho--early in the morning of November 13, 2022. The brutal crimes and the victims were real and so was the murderer, who, in the immediate aftermath, was unidentified and still on the loose.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found late that morning dead in their rooms. All had been stabbed, "multiple times." Two other housemates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen were inexplicitly left alive, completely ignored by the intruder for reasons known only to him.
Initial reports were Funke and Mortensen had both slept through the attack--that their survival was based on the locations of their rooms on the ground floor. Later, police would say Dylan Mortensen woke up around 4AM that morning because she heard noises upstairs. One source said she thought Ms. Goncalves was playing with her dog. Another said she heard Kaylee say loudly, "There's someone here." The report also said Ms. Mortensen heard Xana Kernodle crying, then an unidentified male saying, "It's okay, I'm going to help you."
Later, police reported when Mortensen opened her room door, she saw a man dressed in black, wearing a black mask covering his nose and mouth coming down the hall straight at her. She claims she froze in shock and panic, then the man walked right past her as if she wasn't there. The 20 year old told police she went back into her room, locked the door, then, one supposes at some point she either fell asleep, or passed out.
Whichever the case Moscow emergency services didn't receive a call for help until nearly noon that day, nearly eight hours after the encounter in the hallway. The delay has never been fully explained, at least not to the ever-growing army of internet detectives, conspiracy goofs, and social media, "journalists." Over the next few weeks places like TikTok ran completely amok with theories, speculation, and wild accusations. One user repeatedly accused University of Idaho professor, Rebecca Scofield of orchestrating the murders because she was having a lesbian affair with one of the victims and didn't want it to get out. Ashley Guillard's posts were read by tens of millions of TikTok readers. Her proof, she said, came from Tarot card and other, "psychic," readings. Scofield is currently suing her ass.
In December, just days before Christmas, Bryan Kohberger was arrested and charged with the crimes. He was a grad student at nearby Washington State University. He has been described as being everything from affable and outgoing to a withdrawn loner who was bullied in high school. What we know for sure is he was seeking a doctorate in criminology and had what can be described as a weird fixation on serial killers. After his arrests there were even rumors he had been in contact with Dennis Rader, the notorious, BTK monster who terrorized Wichita, KS for years.
As the weeks passed the press got their hands on some of the evidence against Kohberger. If the reports were true it began to appear the cops had their man, no matter what Ashley Guillard was continuing to post on her social media account. It must have sounded that way to Kohberger's lawyers too, because they asked for delay after delay and hit the court with a blizzard of legal motions. A few weeks ago the defense team was handed a huge setback when the judge ruled they could not use an argument involving up to four alternative suspects to explain the crimes. The judge issued a statement saying there was no evidence supporting the alternative suspect theories, just baseless speculation. In other words, those Tarot card readings just wouldn't cut it in a court of law.
This week, with their backs to the wall and the trial set to begin on August 11, the defense copped a plea. Bryan Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of murder one, waive his right to appeal, and serve life in prison with no chance for parole. In exchange the DA took the hot shot off the table. Reaction to the decision was mixed.
Kaylee Goncalves' father, who had been the most vocal of the parents (At one point he claimed his daughter's injuries were, "more significant," than the other victims--a detail the police have never confirmed) was outraged. Xana Kernodle's father on the other hand said he was happy his family wouldn't have to go through the trauma of a trial.
The reason the deal was offered remains a mystery at this time. News analysts have speculated it probably involved the cost of the trial and the endless series of appeals a death sentence would trigger. And, as one legal eagle on Fox put it, "You never know for sure what a jury will do."
All that's left is for the judge to accept the deal. The feeling here is he will, despite the elder Gonçalves' anger. The only way it might happen is if all four families expressed their disapproval and obviously that hasn't and won't happen. No, this horror story is set to fade to black.
No one knows what caused Bryan Kohberger to go off his nut like he did. Even now it's unclear how much planning went into the attack, or why he picked the victims he did. We still don't have a clue why he spared Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen. All we do know is that for a doctoral candidate in criminology Kohberger either didn't know shit about modern forensics, or he didn't care. (While Mortensen's account was terrifying, she couldn't identify the man in the hall.) Indeed. The guy was as savagely brutal as any fictional psychopath and certainly just as coldly bat shit crazy, but he was no genius. That's a bit of fiction which will always remain just that, fiction.
7-1-25
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