Episode 7: Bryan Kohberger: The Idaho Student Murders

This week I'm talking about the Idaho Student Murders and the man who has been charged for this crime: Bryan Kohberger.

Episode 7 Notes:

On the night of November 12, 2022 Ethan Chapin, age 20 and Xana Kernodle, age 20 are seen by their roommate B.F. at the Sigma Chi house on the University of Idaho campus at 735 Nex Perce drive from around 9pm to 1:45 am on November 13. B.F estimates that Ethan and Xana got home around 1:45am. Ethan didn’t live there and was staying overnight with Xana.

That same night, Kaylee Goncalves, aged 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were at The Corner Club a bar on Main Street in Moscow. The police have video footage of them leaving at around 1:30am on November the 13th. At around 1:30 Kaylee and Madison went to a food truck called the “Grub Truck” and were seen on its twitch live stream from that night. An undisclosed person gave them a ride home to the King Road Residence.

Both roommates D.M. and B.F. said that the foursome were all home by 2:00am and either asleep or in their rooms by 4:00am. Xana had gotten a DoorDash order to their house at around 4:00am.

Let’s go over the layout of the house first as when I was reading this report the layout was confusing. It will also help to better understand where the two roommates who survived were located at the time of the murders. I will also post pictures of this on my instagram.

This home had six bedrooms and was built into the hillside. It had three separate floors with an exterior entrance on each floor. On the first floor which is the floor seen in most pictures with the car in front of it had two bedrooms on either side of a hallway that had stairs going to the second floor. Because this was built into the hillside technically the second floor was the first floor on the upper part of the slope. On this lower ground level, was were one of the surviving roommates was in one of the bedrooms. The next level which is the floor that would typically be seen as the main level, had a living room, with the third bedroom and bathroom off of the stairway leading to the first floor/ lower level. Their was a square hallway in the middle of this level with the kitchen and the fourth bedroom flanking the stairway to the third level. The kitchen had sliding glass doors onto a deck that spanned the back of the home. This floor was where Xana Kernodle lived and where both her and Ethan Chapin’s bodies were found and where the roommate D.M said her room was. Finally on the third floor, we had bedroom 5 and 6 on either side of a staircase with a bathroom in the hallway. The sixth bedroom had a balcony with sliding glass doors. This floor was where Kaylee Concalves and Madison Mogen lived. Per East Idaho News, and a statement by Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s dad, said the two girls were close friends since childhood and were sleeping together in the same room. Kaylee had a new puppy named Murphy was was home during the crimes but he was found in another room. Police have stated they found no evidence on the dog.

Per the affidavit and the statement of D.M. She said she woke up at around 4:00 am by what sounded to her like Kaylee Concalves playing with her dog Murphy, a mini- golden doodle, upstairs in one of the third floor bedrooms. A short time later, she thought she heard Kaylee say something to the effect of “there’s someone here”

Police think maybe that “there’s someone here” could have come from Xana Kernodle because her cellphone records showed she was on Tiktok at around 4:12am.

D.M. Said she looked out of her bedroom but didn’t see anything when she heard the comment. She said she opened up her door a second time when she heard crying coming from Xana Kernodle’s room. She also said she heard a male voice say something like “it’s ok, I’m going to help you.”

Police also had footage from a security camera from a next door house at 4:17am  that picked up distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper with a loud thud. A dog can also be heard barking numerous times starting at 4:17am. This camera was less than fifty feet from the west wall of Xana Kernodle’s bedroom.

D.M. said she opened her door a third time after she heard crying and saw and this is a direct quote from the affidavit “and saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her. D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10” or taller, male, not muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows.

The male walked past D.M as she stood in a “frozen shock phase” . He walked toward the sliding glass door in the kitchen and DM locked herself in her room. She said she didn’t recognize the male.

There has been a ton of questions about the 911 call that came from one of the roommates cellphones at 11:58am on November 13. Police have not released the call but apparently the caller initially reported an “unconscious individual” in the home.

Supposedly the dispatcher spoke to multiple people. The question is that how could the caller report an unconscious individual when the police arrived on the scene and said it was one of the worst they’d ever seen.