Friday night saw the premiere of special editions of NBC's "Dateline" and ABC's "20/20" looking into the quadruple homicide in Moscow, where four University of Idaho students were murdered in an off-campus home on King Road.
The four casualties were freshmen Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, and U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum.
The episodes focus on the four students' lives and include some of the parents and friends of the victims. The episodes also feature analysis from forensic specialists who look at Bryan Kohberger, 28, who was detained on December 30 after detectives identified him as the suspect using DNA evidence, mobile phone data, and security footage. When informed that Kohberger was the culprit, former classmates and students likewise expressed their disbelief.
A SEARCH OF HOW FRIENDS AND PARENTS HEARD THE NEWS
The three ladies, Kernodle, Mogen, and Goncalves, along with their two surviving roommates, resided at the King Road home, according to a previous article from The Idaho Statesman. With his girlfriend Kernodle, Chapin spent the night.
Kaylee Goncalves' mother, Kristi Goncalves, revealed to NBC's Keith Morrison that her daughter had just recently moved out of the King Road house but had come back over the weekend of November 12 to spend time with Mogen, who has been her best friend since sixth grade. Goncalves had a job lined up at a computer company in Austin, Texas, and was getting ready to graduate in December.
According to Goncalves' mother, a relative with contacts in Moscow called her on November 13. The relative informed her that "Kaylee experienced some terrible luck." When Goncalves' daughter didn't pick up the phone, she tried contacting Mogen instead.
In the interview, Goncalves recalled saying, "I replied, 'Everyone needs to relax, because if something happened to Kaylee last night, Maddie would have contacted me.'"
Goncalves claimed that shortly after, a member of the Sheriff's Office knocked on the door to inform the family about the passing of their daughter and Mogen.
For many of the victims' University of Idaho classmates and acquaintances, the day was a typical Sunday.
Kernodle and Chapin's friend Martha, a sophomore at the University of Idaho, said that on November 13 at noon, she gathered with classmates for a group project. She, Kernodle, and Chapin were attending a party at the Sigma Chi residence where the group was gathering. Hunter Chapin, Ethan Chapin's brother, was the only person the group of students was waiting for.
She remarked in an interview, "We contacted him and asked, 'Hey, are you coming?'" And he responded, "No, I believe Ethan is dead."
After texting Kernodle, Martha learned that she had also passed away.
We just basically stood in a huge, quiet circle and watched all the starting stuff unfold since we had no idea if it was a carbon monoxide issue, she stated in the episode.
The Moscow Police Department was looking into a killing on King Road, according to a Vandal Alert SMS sent to University of Idaho students.
28-year-old Bryan Kohberger was detained two weeks ago in his Pennsylvania home on suspicion of four first-degree murder charges. On June 26, he is due back in court.
Even though a suspect is in jail, authorities are still baffled as to why these four students were targeted.
In the "Dateline" segment, forensic psychologist and "Hidden True Crime" podcast presenter Jon Matthias shared his perspective on the suspect's motivations.
In an interview, Matthias said, "I think he is someone who had a lot of vengeance dreams, and a lot of violent and aggressive tendencies throughout the years that have been weighing heavily on him and creating a lot of anxiety and stress." "I think of this as a release for him,"
Matthias noted that although the Moscow Police had earlier stated that there were no indications of sexual assault among the victims, this does not imply that there were no desires.
If the murderer had dreams of sexual assault, he presumably understood he wouldn't be able to carry them out with so many people around since he needed to get in and out quickly, according to the expert.
Detectives think the homicides took place between 4 and 4:25 in the morning, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Other forensic professionals discussed the suspect's weapon preference. In an interview with NBC, Greg Rodgers, a retired FBI agent and university lecturer, said the suspect selected a battle knife on purpose to terrorise the victims.
If he wanted a handgun, he could have easily obtained one, according to Rodgers. He might have obtained it lawfully or unlawfully. He deliberately picked a knife to terrorise the victims and get control.
Rodgers cited one of the surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen, and her testimony in the affidavit of probable cause in claiming that the suspect was well-prepared for what to say to the victims during the attack. She reported to police that she overheard someone remark, "I'm going to help you, it's OK."
If the one roommate's claims about what she overheard the man saying to one of her roommates are true, Rodgers added, "he was well-rehearsed." He had been considering this for a while... He has extensive knowledge of the psychological factors that influence how criminals think and act. He wants to settle them down and prevent them from screaming or waking up their housemates.
Kohberger, a Washington State University Ph.D. candidate and teaching assistant, has a strong criminology background.
Detectives discovered a knife sheath in the bedroom where Goncalves and Mogen were discovered, as stated in the statement of probable cause. According to Rodgers, the suspect made a "big mistake" by leaving the sheath behind.
Rodgers remarked, "I think he developed an obsession with one of these victims. She might have served him in one of the restaurants they both worked at, which is another possibility. He might have only recently caught sight of her. He might have made awkward eye contact with one of them, asked for a number, and received a negative response before becoming fixated.
Casey Arntz, a former high school classmate who met Kohberger on their school bus in eastern Pennsylvania, shared her amazement on social media when news of Kohberger's arrest spread throughout the nation.
Kohberger was overweight at school, and Arntz told reporters for "Dateline" and "20/20" that she thought girls used to bully him.
After Kohberger graduated from high school, Arntz kept in touch with him, and he subsequently found out that in 2013, he had sought treatment for a heroin addiction. The following time she saw Kohberger was at a wedding in 2017, where she said that he had significantly dropped weight and did not appear at ease in a social situation.
A former DeSales University, Madison, undergrad classmate who is startled to discover Kohberger has lost so much weight in his mugshot also told NBC that. Kohberger, according to her, was a classmate who would explain things in great detail.
She remarked, "It was always like, 'Oh Bryan's answering this question. "The entire class will be needed for this,"
The Statesman previously revealed that Kohberger graduated from DeSales University with a bachelor's degree in 2020 and a master's degree in criminal justice in May 2022. In November, Kohberger was working as a teaching assistant while earning a Ph.D. in the department of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University.
One of Kohberger's students described him as awkward and silent in the "Dateline" and "20/20" segments.
A junior at WSU named Hayden Stinchfield told reporters for "Dateline" and "20/20" that Kohberger was unapproachable as a teaching assistant.
He stated in an interview that "he came out before we did, perhaps because he had to be somewhere, but he also had no need to stick around because no one was going to go up and talk to him."
Stinchfield voiced disappointment with Kohberger's harsh assignment evaluations.
Regarding Kohberger's criticism of assignments, Stinchfield remarked, "You're not telling us we did it incorrectly." You're taking our points while describing to us how you would have completed the task at the Ph.D. level.
When Kohberger started awarding everyone full points and ceased leaving notes in the final few weeks of the fall semester, Stinchfield claimed that this pattern of harshly grading assignments abruptly reversed.
In retrospect, he noted, "that matches up fairly well with Nov. 13."
