COLLEGE TRAGEDY
Who were the four victims of the Idaho murders?
A trial date has still not been set in the case against Kohberger
FOUR University of Idaho students were brutally killed in November 2022.
Bryan Kohberger is accused of murdering the students and is yet to stand trial for the massacre.
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Who were the four University of Idaho students that were found dead?
The four students identified by the police on November 14, 2022, were Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
The students' bodies were found near campus, in a rental house in the city of Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
Ethan Chapin
College officials report that Ethan Chapin was a freshman and member of the Sigma Chi fraternity from Conway, Washington, majoring in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management.
He was one of a set of triplets who were also students at the University of Idaho and had spent the night before his death with both of his siblings at his sister's sorority dance.
According to social media posts, he was dating Xana Kernodle.
Ethan didn't live in the house but was staying over the night of the murder.
And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.”
Goncalves’ father on her and Mogen's friendship
Xana Kernodle
Xana was a junior at the University of Idaho majoring in marketing at the College of Business and Economics.
She was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
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Xana was allegedly the last of the four students killed in the bloody rampage, and she fought until the very end.
An unnamed source told News Nation: “Xana Kernodle put up a fierce fight when the attacker set upon her, repeatedly grabbing the attacker’s knife.
"So much so that she sustained deep cuts to her fingers and that her fingers were nearly severed."
Madison Mogen
Madison Mogen was a senior from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, majoring in Marketing.
She was the sorority's director of PR and Marketing and was best friends with fellow victim Kaylee Goncalves.
Kaylee's father even told the public that the girls had been sharing a bed on the night of the murders.
At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves’ father Mr Goncalves told how the two “absolutely beautiful” young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.
“They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything,” he said at the time.
“Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.
“And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.”
Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger is flanked by cops before arriving at court to face charges
Kaylee Goncalves
Kaylee Goncalves was a senior pursuing a General Studies major.
She was from Rathdrum, Idaho, and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
She planned to move to Austin, Texas, in June after graduation.
Who is suspect Bryan Kohberger?
On January 12, 2023, murder suspect Bryan Kohberger made his first appearance in court in Idaho.
On May 22, Kohberger pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
Kohberger had been working on his Ph.D. in criminology and the minds of criminals at Washington State University, which is right across the state border from the University of Idaho.
While a police affidavit was unsealed at the January 12, 2023 court date, the focus was on law enforcement's search for the suspect and didn't include a motive or how he may have known - or known of - the victims.
According to : "In the days before the killings, one classmate recalled that he had been highly engaged in a discussion about forensics, DNA and other evidence prosecutors use to win convictions."
However, his DNA and security footage from neighborhood security cameras would ultimately lead to police identifying and apprehending him at his parent's house across the country in Pennsylvania.
His trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, October 2, 2023, but, in a shock move, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, causing the trial to be delayed.
The court trail was then rescheduled for the summer of 2024, yet no date has been confirmed.
What evidence did law enforcement find to connect Kohberger to the crimes?
First, they could tie a white Hyundai Elantra to the crime scene, as it was caught on neighborhood surveillance cameras passing the students' house at least three times on the night of the murders.
Washington State University officials could tie a white Elantra to Kohberger, which gave police a reason to look into him.
While his cell phone was turned off around the time of the murders, it was turned back on near the crime scene the morning after the killings.
According to the affidavit, his cell phone records show that he had been in the area of the crime scene at least 12 times in the months leading up to the murders.
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Finally, the killer left behind the knife sheath to the murder weapon at the crime scene, which had DNA evidence on it.
DNA evidence taken from a trashcan at his parent's Pennsylvania home showed an overwhelming probability that Kohberger's father was the father of whoever had committed the heinous crime.
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