University of Idaho murders: The timeline of events
On Nov. 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were mysteriously stabbed to death in a house near the Moscow, Idaho, campus.
Over one month later, suspect Bryan Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, was taken into custody. Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.
Here’s the full timeline of the case:
Nov. 12, 2022
On the night of Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, roommates Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21 — lifelong best friends — went out in Moscow, according to Moscow police.
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.
Courtesy of the Goncalves family
That night, Ethan Chapin, 20, attended a formal with his sister, and then he went to the Sigma Chi fraternity house with his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, 20.
The two other roommates who survived the attack also went out in Moscow that night, police said.
Nov. 13, 2022
All four victims got back to the house at about 1:45 a.m., police said. Chapin did not live at the house but was sleeping over with his girlfriend.
A photo posted by Kaylee Goncalves a few days before their deaths shows University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram
Police believe the murders unfolded between 4 a.m. and 4:25 am., according to court documents.
Kernodle got a DoorDash order at the house at about 4 a.m., according to the affidavit.
One of the surviving roommates said she woke up around 4 a.m. from what sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog, according to the affidavit.
“A short time” after, the roommate said “she heard someone she thought was Goncalves say something to the effect of ‘there’s someone here,’” the documents said. But that could have been Kernodle on her phone because records showed she was on TikTok at about 4:12 a.m., the affidavit said.
The roommate said “she looked out of her bedroom but did not see anything when she heard the comment about someone being in the house,” the documents said. “She opened her door a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle’s room.”
The roommate “then said she heard a male voice say something to the effect of ‘it’s ok, I’m going to help you,’” according to the documents.
The house where four University if Idaho students were found dead on Nov. 13, 2022.
Heather Roberts/ABC News
The roommate said she opened her door again when she heard the crying, and she saw a man in black clothes and a mask walking past her. She stood “frozen” and in “shock,” according to the court documents.
The roommate said she didn’t recognize the man, who she said walked toward the house’s sliding glass door. She described him as 5-foot-10 or taller, and “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to the affidavit.
At about 4:17 a.m., a security camera less than 50 feet from Kernodle’s room picked up sounds of a barking dog and “distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud,” according to the documents.
On the morning of Nov. 13, the two roommates called friends over to their house because they thought one of the victims on the second floor had passed out and wasn’t waking up, police said. At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call from one of the roommate’s phones requested help for an unconscious person, police said.
Responding officers then found the four victims.
Boise State University students and people who knew the University of Idaho students who were killed in Moscow, Idaho, pay tribute at a vigil on Nov. 17, 2022, at BSU.
Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS/Newscom
After the bodies were discovered, authorities reviewed surveillance video and saw the suspect’s white Hyundai Elantra go by the victims’ house three times, before entering the area for a fourth time at 4:04 a.m., according to the documents. Police said they traced the car’s travel that night back to Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger lived.
Kohberger’s phone was tracked heading to Moscow before the attack, but the phone was off from 2:47 a.m. to 4:48 a.m., which “is consistent with Kohberger attempting to conceal his location during the quadruple homicide,” the affidavit said.
He also returned to the area of the house where the four students were killed just after 9 a.m., about five hours after the murders, based on phone records, the affidavit also showed.
His phone was near the victims’ house at least 12 times before the murders, at least as far back as August, according to the affidavit.
Nov. 29, 2022
Moscow police had asked the authorities to look out for white Elantras. On Nov. 29, a Washington State University police officer searched cars that matched that description at the university and found one registered to Kohberger, the affidavit said.
Nov. 30, 2022
Grieving families and classmates gathered at the University of Idaho on Nov. 30 for a candlelight vigil.
Ethan Chapin’s mother, Stacy Chapin, cried as she told the mourners, “We are eternally grateful that we spent so much time with him. That’s the most important message that we have for you and your families … to make sure that you spend as much time as possible with those people. Because time is precious and it’s something you can’t get back.”
Ethan Chapin surfs on Priest Lake in northern Idaho in this family photo from July 2022. Chapin was one of four University of Idaho students found stabbed to death in a home near the Moscow, Idaho campus on Nov. 13, 2022.
Courtesy Stacy Chapin via AP
Madison Mogen’s dad, Ben Mogen, said his only child was a hard worker, “nice to everybody” and “smart and funny and beautiful.”
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, inseparable best friends since the sixth grade, “died together in the same room, in the same bed,” Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, said at the vigil.
An attendee cries as family members of the victims speak to the crowd during a vigil at the University of Idaho for four students found dead in their residence on Nov. 13 in Moscow, Idaho, Nov. 30, 2022.
Lindsey Wasson/Reuters
Dec. 7, 2022
On Dec. 7, police announced to the public that they were looking to speak with the driver of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was seen “in the immediate area” of the victims’ house early on Nov. 13.
Anyone with information on the car was asked to contact the case tip line.
Dec. 15, 2022
As police in Idaho searched for answers, Kohberger was stopped by Indiana police on Dec. 15 for traffic violations.
After Kohberger’s semester at Washington State ended in December, he and his father drove across the country together in the white Hyundai Elantra, heading to the family’s Pennsylvania home for the holidays.
Kohberger and his father were stopped twice on Dec. 15 while driving east of Indianapolis, both times with the younger Kohberger in the driver’s seat. They were first stopped by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office for speeding and then nine minutes later by the Indiana State Police for following another vehicle too closely, according to officials.
Bryan Kohberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, was driving from Washington to Pennsylvania when he was pulled over by Indiana State Police before his arrest.
Indiana State Police
After Kohberger’s arrest, the sheriff’s department and state police said there was no information at the time on the suspect in the Idaho crimes or specific information on the white Hyundai Elantra.
The state police added, “The Trooper, having learned the two had been stopped minutes before by a Deputy from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, who he knew was working just down the interstate from him, used his discretion and released the two men with a verbal warning.”
Dec. 27, 2022
Authorities said DNA from the suspect was recovered on a knife sheath left on a victim’s bed, according to the documents. On Dec. 27, police recovered trash from Kohberger’s parents’ house in Pennsylvania, and a lab determined the DNA from the trash was the father of the person who left DNA on the knife sheath, the affidavit said.
Dec. 30, 2022
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania in the early hours of Dec. 30.
This photo provided by Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility shows Bryan Kohberger. Arrest paperwork filed by Pennsylvania State Police in Monroe County Court, on Dec. 30, 2022, said Kohberger, 28, was being held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation in the killings of four University of Idaho students, based on an active arrest warrant for first degree murder issued by the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office.
Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility via AP
Moscow Police Chief James Fry said, “No arrest will ever bring back these young students. However, we do believe justice will be found through the criminal process.”
Jan. 4, 2023
On Jan. 4, Kohberger was extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger is shown in this undated photo.
Washington State University
Jan. 5, 2023
The Idaho state court released court documents on Jan. 5 that revealed never-before-seen details of the police investigation.
That same day, Kohberger made his first court appearance in Moscow. Charges were read for the murders of each student; the judge said each victim was “stabbed and murdered with premeditation with malice and forethought.” Families were overcome with emotion as their children’s names were read.
Jan. 11, 2023
Classes resumed at the University of Idaho on Jan. 11 for the first time since the suspect’s arrest.
University of Idaho students returned to campus, Jan. 11, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho.
Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Among the students returning to campus were Ethan Chapin’s brother, Hunter, and sister, Maizie.
“Hunter was very glad to be back at the fraternity and Maizie was warming up to the idea but it was so good to hear all of the girls squeal with delight upon seeing her,” their mom, Stacy Chapin, wrote on Facebook. “It did this momma’s heart good to hear it!! “
“We’ve spent the last eight weeks, besides the obvious,” she wrote. “Their job now is just be kids.”
May 22, 2023
Kohberger chose to “stand silent” during his arraignment on May 22.
By not responding, the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
A trial date was set for Oct. 2.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho.
Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images
Aug. 23, 2023
Kohberger’s trial was set to begin on Oct. 2, but the trial was postponed indefinitely when Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial at an Aug. 23 court appearance. A new trial date has not been set.
Nov. 13, 2023
The university is holding a student-led vigil on the evening of Nov. 13 to mark one year since the slayings.
“We want to ensure we continue to tell their stories, to honor their legacy and to provide a place where each student can heal,” Tanner McLain, president of the Associated Students of the University of Idaho, said in a statement.
FOLLOW THE PODCAST: “The King Road Killings: An Idaho Murder Mystery” from ABC News, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your preferred podcast player.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Kayna Whitworth, Jenna Harrison, Sasha Pezenik, Timmy Truong, Nick Cirone, John Capell and Dea Athon contributed to this report.
