The quiet college town of Moscow, Idaho, is still haunted by the chilling night that took four young lives.
On November 13, 2022, University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found murdered in their off-campus home, an event that shook the nation and left families shattered.
Bryan Kohberger, a criminology student at Washington State University, was eventually arrested after investigators linked his DNA to a knife sheath left at the crime scene. He later pleaded guilty, avoiding the de*th penalty but receiving four consecutive life sentences earlier this month.
While the conviction brought some sense of justice, it did not bring answers. Kohberger has never shared a motive for the att*cks, leaving behind only silence and uncertainty about why he chose that house and those victims.
Investigators pored over hundreds of documents, revealing that Kohberger’s phone had pinged near the house multiple times before the murd*rs. Kaylee even told friends she’d seen an “unknown man” outside the home weeks earlier, a disturbing hint that someone might have been watching.
The surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were inside that night but were left unharmed.
Lead prosecutor Bill Thompson believes there’s a reason for that.
Speaking to ABC News after the sentencing, Thompson shared his belief about who Kohberger may have been after.
“I personally feel that, for whatever reason, he targeted one of the young women on the third floor,” he said.
Kaylee and Maddie were discovered together in an upstairs bedroom. Xana and Ethan were k!lled downstairs. That detail, Thompson says, is more than coincidence.
Investigators have long considered that Kohberger may have been watching the house and focusing on someone inside. Thompson’s theory now points to Kaylee or Maddie as the likely target.
“We are fortunate that he got scared and ran and left without harming Dylan or Bethany,” Thompson added, suggesting the att*ck could have been far worse.
For families, the words sting. They may never know exactly what brought Kohberger to that door, but the prosecutor’s view narrows the mystery.
It suggests that among the six people in that home, he may have entered with one victim in mind—turning a night of horror into something even more chilling.
Featured image: (Youtube)
