Drops of Jupiter

On November 13, 2022 in the early hours of the morning, University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle were brutally stabbed to death in their three-story home in the college town of Moscow, Idaho with two of their roommates curiously unscathed. For seven weeks, there have been few updates and no suspects, and the media has been in a frenzy, prematurely declaring that this could become a cold case. These internet sleuths are eating their words, as there is now a suspect in custody with an affadavit that paints a clearer picture of what happened that night (read the full, 19 page affadavit here) 

28-year-old Bryan Kohberger was arrested on Friday, December 30 in Pennsylvania for four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary charges in connection to the quadruple homicide. His motive is unknown, but we do have clues as to what it could be. Although Bryan Kohberger has no direct relationship to any of the victims, phone records show that he was stalking the house twelve times since June 22, 2022, 5 months before the crime. Kohberger has also been described as an incel, someone who is involuntarily celibate because of their inability to attract women. Incels often harbor resentments towards hyper-feminine and hyper-masculine individuals, known as ‘Staceys and Chads,’ and the victims can be defined as such, as they are all gorgeous and socially popular (Jennings); this also explains why the victims were not sexually assaulted. Kohberger is a PhD student in criminal justice at Washington State University (just ten miles from Moscow) and he conducted a survey five months prior to the murders where he asked former criminals to detail how they committed their crimes and why they chose their particular victim(s). A few questions in his survey include: “Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your home?”, “Why did you choose that victim or target over others?” “What was the first move you made to accomplish your goal?” and “How did you feel after you committed the crime?” (Dooley). These points can conclude that Kohberger was fascinated with crime and had his own drive to kill, specifically harboring a resentment towards ‘unattainable’ women. 

The most shocking reveals is that one of the surviving roommates, Dylan Mortenson, was not asleep as the police originally claimed but rather saw the killer during the time of the attack. According to Mortenson, she was awakened at 4am by Kaylee’s dog barking and Kaylee saying, “there’s someone here” (Sullivan). She then heard crying coming from Xana’s room followed by a male voice saying, “It’s okay, I am going to help you.” Dylan, who “stood in a state of frozen shock” saw a man walking towards her who was dressed in black with bushy eyebrows and a mask over his nose and mouth (O’Neill). She noted that the intruder left through the sliding glass door of the second floor as she locked herself in her first floor room. This follows the timeline given in the affadavit, which states that at 4am Xana Kernodle received a DoorDash order, 4:12am Xana was scrolling on TikTok, 4:17am a nearby security camera captured a large thud sound, and finally at 4:20am the white hyundai elantra was spotted near the residence (WFLA News Channel 8). This information disproves the original idea that the victims were asleep during the time of the intrusion, which sadly shows that they were aware of their living nightmare. Later, at 9am the same car was spotted again in front of the residence, which was likely Kohberger returning to see if the authorities were at the crime scene yet. However, the question remains of why Mortenson waited to call 911 until seven hours after she spotted the intruder in the home. 

For being an advanced criminology student, Kohberger did not cover his tracks well. When Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were discovered dead together in Kaylee’s bed, police spotted his first mistake: a leather knife sheath, traced with Kohberger’s DNA (Payne). A bloody footprint was also found outside of Dylan Mortenson’s room, which provides validity to her statement of seeing the perpetrator before he left. The major lapse in judgement was Kohberger’s frequent and sloppy use of the infamous white hyundai elantra. The vehicle’s whereabouts were observed by multiple cameras, and the police collaborated with Washington State University to discover that he was the owner. Although the suspect changed his license plates just days after the murder, this did not fool the FBI (Impelli). Authorities then tracked the car during the cross-country roadtrip Kohberger and his father took for the Christmas break from Pullman, Washington to Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, where he was later arrested. Before his arrest, law enforcement retrieved trash from the Kohberger family home and found that the DNA there matched the DNA found on the knife sheath at the crime scene (Payne). Phone records from AT&T have also made incredible strides in this case, as they are consistent with the whereabouts of the hyundai elantra and also prove that the suspect stalked the victims months in advance. Kohberger’s vain attempt to conceal his location during the time of the killings meant that the cellphone was untrackable during the hours of 2:47am and 4:48am on November 13, but this is even more damning evidence against him (Payne). This breadcrumb trail makes you wonder whether Bryan Kohberger’s own arrogance led him to leave these careless clues, or if he wanted to be found so that he could be recognized as an infamous killer like those he had studied for years. 

I think we can all agree that even as more evidence comes out against Bryan Kohberger, the road to justice will be a long fight. It is important to honor the victims and their families who will be battling this fight for a lifetime. The young, beautiful faces of Kaylee, Maddie, Ethan, and Xana should be remembered for more than their brutal deaths. Kaylee Goncalves was an intelligent, driven, adventurous sorority girl studying to become an elementary school teacher and was set to graduate in December 2022 (read Kaylee’s full obituary here). Madison Mogen was a goofy, fun-loving, hard working student who made Dean’s List every semester in her marketing program at U of I (read Maddie’s full obituary here). Ethan Chapin is a triplet who was an avid athlete, a popular fraternity brother, and a charismatic person studying recreation, sports and tourism management (read Ethan’s full obituary here). Xana Kernodle was bubbly, a talented gymnast, a sorority sister with Maddie, outgoing, and was studying marketing (read Xana’s full obituary here). These individuals all had bright futures ahead of them, and in the aftermath of their deaths let us pray that they are comfortably in heaven together. 

(from left to right): Dylan Mortenson (survivor who saw the attacker), Kaylee Goncalves (bottom), Maddie Mogen (top), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Bethany Funke (survivor)

Works Cited

Impelli, Matthew. “Read Bryan Kohberger Affidavit: Details on Police Evidence in Idaho Murders.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 5 Jan. 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/read-bryan-kohberger-affidavit-details-police-evidence-idaho-murders-1771602.

Jennings, Rebecca. “Incels Categorize Women by Personal Style and Attractiveness.” Vox, Vox, 28 Apr. 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/4/28/17290256/incel-chad-stacy-becky.

O’Neill, Natalie. “Idaho Murder Suspect Bryan Kohberger Returned to Crime Scene Area, May Have Stalked Home 12 Times: Affidavit.” New York Post, New York Post, 5 Jan. 2023, https://nypost.com/2023/01/05/idaho-murder-suspect-bryan-kohberger-stalked-home-affidavit/.

Sullivan, Becky. “Investigators Reveal New Information They Say Ties Idaho Killings to Bryan Kohberger.” NPR, NPR, 5 Jan. 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/01/05/1147112440/idaho-murders-suspect-charged-bryan-kohberger.