Prime Video’s One Night in Idaho: The College Murders offers new insight into the November 13, 2022, deaths of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — ultimately trying to answer the question of Bryan Kohberger’s motivation.
The four-part docuseries, released on Friday, July 11, offered a breakdown of what happened when Kohberger broke into a house in Moscow, Idaho, killing four of the six people in the 1122 King Road home by stabbing them to death. One Night in Idaho also features interviews from the families of the late Maddie and Ethan.
Kohberger was arrested in late December 2022, over a month after the murders, and initially entered a not guilty plea. Kohberger’s trial was set to start next month.
However, on July 2, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all four murders as part of a deal that spared him from the possibility of the death penalty, which was on the table had the case gone to trial. Kohberger signed a confession admitting to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. He faces up to four consecutive life sentences for the murders without the possibility of parole and a 10-year sentence for the burglary. His sentencing hearing is set for later this month.
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from the One Night in Idaho docuseries:
Who Found the Bodies?
Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen called friend Emily Alandt on the morning of November 13, claiming “something weird happened” in the house the previous night, but she didn’t know what. Emily and boyfriend Hunter Johnson went over to the King Road house to find Dylan and second surviving roommate Bethany Funke outside. Hunter went into the house first, entering Xana’s room and immediately shooed everyone else out, telling them to call 911.
Hunter Johnson Courtesy of Prime Video
“Hunter had enough courage to tell them to call the police for not a real reason. He worded it very nicely, he said, ‘Tell them there’s an unconscious person,’” Emily recalled. “Hunter saved all of us extreme trauma by not letting us know anything.”
Hunter eventually revealed that Xana and Ethan “didn’t have a pulse.”
The University of Idaho Alert
Initially, several of the deceased students’ friends were sitting outside of the King Road house hoping for answers — and the police apparently provided none. They were informed about Xana and Ethan being dead but had no answers about Maddie and Kaylee.
The University of Idaho issued a Vandal Alert — their emergency notification system — in the early afternoon on November 13, 2022, which revealed that the Moscow police were investigating “the death of four people” on King Road.
“Some of the girls started yelling at the police,” Ethan’s sister, Maizie Chapin, recalled. The police then confirmed to their friends that all four were found dead.
Lyle and Erik Menéndez are sharing their side of the story — about the crime, the aftermath and their current lives in prison — more than three decades after their high-profile murder case resulted in a life sentence. The Menéndez Brothers, which started streaming Monday, October 7, on Netflix, features audio from interviews Lyle, 56, […]
The Friends Had Weird Feelings
At 4 a.m. on November 13, 2022, friend David Berriochoa remembered thinking it was “eerily quiet” near King Road. “Usually, you can see the last remnants of people leaving a party, but it was silent,” he added, noting that his “intuition” seemed to take hold.
Hunter and Emily had a similar experience.
“This is going to sound really weird, but that night, me and Emily woke up in the middle of the night,” Hunter recalled. Emily added, “As soon as I woke up, I saw Hunter locking the door. I don’t think I’ve ever locked that door.”
Hunter felt like there was something “pulling” him to lock the door.
Maddie’s Parents Were Kept in the Dark
Maddie’s mom, Karen Laramie, received a call from her daughter’s boyfriend, Jake Schriger, who told her about “a homicide” at the King Road house. The Moscow police department was allegedly not forthcoming with information, so Karen and her husband, Scott Laramie, drove to the university to see Maddie.
Karen Laramie Courtesy of Prime Video
“My whole time, my mindset was that we were going to pick up Maddie and Kaylee, and bring them home and console them and hug them and figure out just what happened,” Karen said, explaining that initially thought something happened to Xana only. Once they made it to Moscow, Karen and Scott drove to the police department.
“Finally, they put us in a little room, and they came into the back door and opened this file. The officer explained, ‘There has been a homicide in your daughter’s house and there are four victims,’” Karen recalled. “It just made no sense. He said, ‘Maddie was a victim.’”
How Maddie and Ethan’s Family Found Out About Kohberger
Both families received a call on the evening of December 29, 2022, telling them that someone had been arrested for the murders.
Bryan Kohberger Ada County Sheriff’s Office/Mega
“The officer said, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but we have a suspect in custody,’” Karen recalled.
The Gag Orders Shifted Focus
Each episode of the docuseries shared a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode, explaining that there was a gag order in place which restricted “certain individuals closely involved in the case from speaking publicly.” (The gag order will presumably be lifted following Kohberger’s sentencing hearing.)
Journalist Lauren Paterson explained in the docuseries that the gag order stopped investigators, and the police stopped speaking to the press. “Because of this, the focus completely shifted to Bryan Kohberger,” she said.
Kohberger’s Online Activity
Several of Kohberger’s former classmates from DeSales University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in criminal justice, spoke out in the docuseries. (Kohberger was pursuing a Ph.D in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman ahead of the murders.)
“He’s an odd ball. He is smart but he’s like a robot,” former classmate Josh Ferraro said. “Purely based off the fact of his social inability to perform in a normal human manner, I can absolutely see someone like him be involved in something like this.”
Kohberger went to Reddit with a survey for his graduate studies, seeking research regarding the motivation behind certain crimes. This resurfaced online following his arrest — and also appeared to answer some questions in a Facebook group regarding the Idaho murders.
The docuseries explained that following the deaths, a Facebook group with thousands of internet sleuths started discussing the case. One day, an account with the name Pappa Rodger joined the group and “immediately” caught the attention of admins Kristine Cameron and Alina Smith “because of the questions he was asking and just how creepy overall he was.” Both women were quick to clock the similarities between the posts and Kohberger’s research study shared on Reddit. The Pappa Rodger Facebook account also speculated about a knife sheath being left on the scene weeks before that information had been made public. (Police arrested Kohberger after finding his DNA on a military style Ka-Bar knife sheath left in the King Road house.)
Following the arrest, the Pappa Rodger account — who had a profile photo that looked eerily similar to Kohberger — and its subsequent posts were deleted.
Bryan Kohberger, accused of murder, attends a hearing on cameras in the courtroom with his attorney Anne Taylor in Latah County District Court on September 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images
Kohberger’s Car Was Initially Ruled Out
The Idaho State Police sent an email to the Washington State University Police Department revealing that they were looking for a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra 4D.
Police Chief Gary Jenkins stated that at one of the “graduate student housing complexes,” they found a white Hyundai Elantra with Pennsylvania plates registered to Kohberger — but it was a 2015 model.
“Moscow PD wanted us to look for a white Elantra that was between 2011 and 2013, this car was not between those years,” Chief Jenkins said. “They didn’t submit it as a lead to Moscow PD.”
Maddie’s Yellow Sweatshirt
Photos of Maddie shared following her death almost always had her in a yellow cropped Idaho sweatshirt — and it was one of the only things her parents got back.
“I still have the yellow sweater she was wearing that day. The sleeves are still rolled up,” Karen said. “So, I found this sweatshirt when we went down. It was the first family weekend and Maddie really wanted this sweatshirt. … Super glad we got that back.”
We’re still reeling from all the revelations in Investigation Discovery’s two-night true-crime documentary Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. Sherri, who had gone jogging near her Redding, California, home, disappeared on November 2, 2016, and didn’t resurface until 22 days later. Claiming two armed Hispanic women had abducted her, she was in rough shape, emaciated, […]
Dylan’s Memory of November 12
Emily said that “a few weeks” after the deaths, Dylan shared her version of that night.
“She heard Kaylee and Maddie come home and she heard them chit chatting on the couch for a while. The couch was on the wall of her bedroom. She was pretty much sleeping through it,” Emily said. “Dylan said that she remembered hearing crying.”
Dylan told Emily that she “closed the door” to her bedroom and started calling the other roommates.
“Eventually, she just decided to go for it. She made a run for it in Bethany’s room down in the basement,” Emily continued, noting that Bethany didn’t hear anything Mortensen did. So they went to sleep. Emily said “in the morning,” Mortensen realized that it wasn’t “a dream.”
