As Idaho law enforcement releases official documents to the public, new details have emerged about the Idaho 4 murder case, when Bryan Kohberger killed four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home in November 2022.
In one such document viewed by People, the public has now learned that the two surviving roommates in the house, and the three women Kohberger killed — Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Maddie Mogen — arrived at their home at 1122 King Road nine days before Kohberger broke and found the door open and off its hinges. Kohberger later broke in and murdered three of the roommates, along with Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin.
That’s not new information, but as People reports, investigators have now made public where the roommates were before they found the door open, what else they found inside the house, and what they did to protect themselves afterward.
A trip to Starbucks and a running washing machine
As previously reported, Dylan Mortensen, a surviving roommate at 1122 King Road, told the police about the open door. We now know the roommates had gone to Starbucks that day and returned home to find the door off its hinges and wide open, unlike when they left.
We also now know the washing machine was running when it hadn’t been previously. As Mortensen told the police, the roommates grabbed Chapin’s golf clubs, who wasn’t there at the time, and searched the home. They didn’t find anyone. Kernodle’s father came over a few days later and fixed the door.
The other surviving roommate at 1122 King Road, Bethan Funke, corroborated Mortensen’s account of the door incident.
Kohberger is now serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders at 1122 King Road. Since accepting his plea deal, prosecutors have said they are unable to prove any connection between Kohberger and the victims or determine a motive.
There is evidence that someone stalked the victims, and along with new details about the open door, we also now know that Mortensen told police, not long before the murders happened, that one victim, Goncalves, told her someone had followed her at a WinCo, a local supermarket.
“Kaylee told her about a male subject who followed her from the Winco store all the way to Kaylee’s car, even when Kaylee went to leave, the subject was standing by Kaylee’s car,” the documents said.
Prosecutors say we may never know why Kohberger chose his victims
Despite a lack of proof, prosecutors have suggested that Kohberger may have targeted his victims before the 2022 murders, citing that he was repeatedly near the 1122 King Road residence and other digital evidence. However, they have emphasized that there is currently no concrete evidence proving that he actively followed or surveilled the victims.
Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson stated that Kohberger may have entered the victims’ home prior to the murders, but acknowledged that investigators never uncovered evidence to definitively prove this.
