What do we know about University of Idaho murder charges? Here’s the latest timeline
The suspect in the Nov. 13 killing of four University of Idaho students in a Moscow house not far from campus made his first appearance in an Idaho court on Thursday.
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Washington State graduate student, was apprehended last week at his family home in Pennsylvania, extradited to Idaho on Wednesday, and formally charged with four counts of first-degree murder at the Latah County Courthouse on Thursday.
The four victims were U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. They were found at the six-bedroom rental house where the female victims lived, just 0.2 miles from campus. Chapin, who was dating Kernodle, was spending the night.
Two additional roommates were home at the time of the attack but were unharmed.
Just before Kohberger’s court hearing, an affidavit from Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne was released, shedding light on the crime investigation that led to the suspect.
The Idaho Statesman has put together a timeline of events disclosed since the weekend of Nov. 12-13, 2022. The rundown comes from a probable cause affidavit, court documents, the Moscow Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, family members of the victims and other sources.
Saturday, Nov. 12
Starting at 8 p.m.
Chapin and Kernodle went to a party at Chapin’s fraternity, Sigma Chi. Roommate Bethany Funke told police she saw them there between 9 p.m. and 1:45 a.m.
10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Security footage showed Mogen and Goncalves at the Corner Club bar in downtown Moscow.
Sunday, Nov. 13
1 a.m.
The two surviving roommates were home by this time. Both had been out in the Moscow community, but were not together.
1:30 a.m.
Twitch live stream showed Mogen and Goncalves at a downtown food truck known as Grub Truck. The food truck was parked at 318 S. Main Street, about 0.2 miles south of the Corner Club.
1:45 a.m.
Kernodle and Chapin returned to the home at 1122 King Road, according to Funke.
1:56 a.m.
Mogen and Goncalves used their sorority’s designated-driving service to go home from the food truck.
2 a.m.
Everyone was home by this time, according to the surviving roommates’ statements.
2:42 a.m.
A cellphone number connected to Kohberger’s home address in Pullman showed the suspect leaving his apartment, according to records in the affidavit. Cellphone data from towers showed Kohberger traveling south through Pullman until 2:47 a.m., when the phone stopped reporting to the network.
3:28 a.m.
A white sedan with no front license plate was seen on video footage going west on Styner Avenue near U.S. 95 in Moscow. King Road lies 0.6 miles west of that block. That vehicle was later identified as a Hyundai Elantra by an FBI forensic examiner.
3:29 a.m. to 4:04 a.m.
Camera footage captured the vehicle driving past 1122 King Road several times.
As it neared the area a fourth time, according to the affidavit, the vehicle could be seen going past the house before stopping in front of an apartment building, turning around and driving back toward the house.
4 a.m. to 4:17 a.m.
The affidavit detailed the surviving roommates’ accounts of this time frame. Dylan Mortensen’s bedroom was on the southeast side of the second floor, Funke’s on the east side of the first floor.
Both said everyone was “asleep or at least in their rooms” by about 4 a.m., with the exception of Kernodle, who received a DoorDash order around that time.
Mortensen said she was awakened by what “sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog in one of the upstairs bedrooms.” Shortly after, she thought someone, maybe Goncalves, said “something to the effect of ‘there’s someone here.’”
Kernodle was still awake and using TikTok at 4:12 a.m., according to phone records. For this reason, police said they believe Kernodle could have been the person Mortensen heard.
The comment caused Mortensen to open her bedroom door to look out, she said, but she did not see anyone.
Mortensen also thought she heard crying from Kernodle’s room and a male voice say something to the effect of, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.” She opened her bedroom door a second time.
4:17 a.m. to 4:25 a.m.
A neighbor’s security camera, located less than 50 feet from Kernodle’s bedroom, “picked up distorted audio of what sounded like voices or whimper followed by a loud thud,” and the sound of a dog barking.
Opening her door a third time, Mortensen told police she saw a male figure walking toward her dressed in black clothing and a mask that covered his mouth and nose. She didn’t recognize him, but estimated him to be at least 5 feet 10 inches, “not very muscular” and “athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to the affidavit.
Mortensen told police that she stood in a “frozen shock phase”’ as he walked past and went out the back sliding glass door, according to the affidavit. She then locked herself in her bedroom.
Investigators later found a shoe print that they say may have been left by the intruder just outside Mortensen’s bedroom door.
4:20 a.m
Video footage showed the white sedan departing the King Road home area at high speed.
4:48 - 5:30 a.m.
Kohberger’s cellphone reconnected to the network along U.S. 95 near Blaine, just south of Moscow. The phone continued to utilize cellular resources traveling south to Genesee before heading west toward Uniontown, Washington, and then north back to Pullman.
Cellphone location data matched the movement of the white Elantra captured on Pullman and Washington State University security camera footage, arriving at Kohberger’s apartment complex at 5:30 a.m.
9 a.m. — 9:32 a.m.
Cellular tower service linked to Kohberger’s phone showed him leaving his Pullman residence and traveling to Moscow. The data showed Kohberger returning to the King Road area between 9:12 and 9:21 a.m., before returning to his apartment at 9:32 a.m.
The cellphone linked to Kohberger showed no connection to any towers providing service to Moscow after Nov. 14.
11:58 a.m.
Moscow police received a call about an unconscious person at the home on King Road. The 911 call was made from inside the house on one of the surviving roommates’ cellphones. Multiple people spoke with the 911 dispatcher. Officers arrived and found the bodies of the four victims.
In the affidavit, police reported a tan, leather knife sheath “laying on the bed next to Mogen’s right side.” It was stamped with the inscriptions “Ka-Bar” and “USMC,” for the Marines.
The Idaho Bureau of Laboratories later found single-source DNA — meaning it came from just one person — on the button snap of the sheath.
12:36 p.m. - 1:04 p.m.
Cellphone data showed Kohberger visiting Kate’s Cup of Joe coffee stand in Clarkston, Washington. Surveillance footage from a store opposite the coffee stand shows a white Elantra drive past the coffee stand.
At around 12:46 p.m., the Elantra is captured on surveillance footage at an Albertsons in Clarkston. The footage shows a man who appears to be Kohberger exiting the Elantra.
3:07 p.m.
The university posted an alert on social media that said police were investigating a homicide on King Road. The post said the suspect was not known and advised students to stay away from the area and shelter in place.
3:46 p.m.
The school put out a second alert saying police did not believe there was an active threat, and the “shelter in place” advisory had been lifted. The alert warned students to “remain vigilant.”
5:32 - 8:30 p.m.
Additional analysis of Kohberger’s cellphone show that he arrived in Johnson, a two-hour drive east of Pullman, at approximately 5:32 p.m. The cellphone was utilizing resources from the cell phone tower that provides service to Johnson before it stopped reporting from the network from approximately 5:36 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
During this same same time period, at 5:48 p.m., police confirmed the homicides for the first time in a news release.
Monday, Nov. 14
11:22 a.m.
Moscow police identified the four victims and confirmed that all were students at the University of Idaho. The department said in a news release that no one was in custody and repeated that it did not believe there was an ongoing risk to the community.
Tuesday, Nov. 15
9:27 a.m.
Moscow police confirmed in a press release that an “edged weapon such as a knife” had been used to kill the victims, but the weapon had not been located. The department continued to tell the community that there was “no imminent threat.”
4:30 p.m.
The FBI confirmed that it was assisting Moscow police. An Idaho State Police spokesperson confirmed that the FBI had arrived on Monday and that state police had been assisting since Sunday.
Wednesday, Nov. 16
4:30 p.m.
Moscow and state police, along with university officials, held a press conference for the first time. Police Chief James Fry backtracked on the possibility of ongoing danger, saying he could not confirm that there was no threat to the community and that residents should “remain vigilant.” He also admitted he should have had a press conference sooner.
Friday, Nov. 18
Kohberger registered his 2015 Hyundai Elantra with the state of Washington, according to Washington State Licensing. The Elantra was previously registered in Pennsylvania, which does not require a front license plate. Both Idaho and Washington require front and back plates.
Friday, Nov. 25
The Moscow Police Department asked local law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for white Hyundai Elantras.
Tuesday, Nov. 29
Washington State University police searched for white Elantras registered at the university, finding one that belonged to Kohberger at the address 1630 NE Valley Road, Apartment 201.
WSU Officer Curtis Whitman drove to the apartment complex and found it sitting in the parking garage. Upon running the car’s information through the university’s database, he found Kohberger’s license information and photograph. Police believed this matched Mortensen’s general description of the suspect.
Tuesday, Dec. 13
Moscow police acquired Kohberger’s phone records dating back to June. Kohberger’s phone utilized cellular resources around the King Road residence on at least 12 occasions prior to Nov. 13. All but one instance occurred in the late evening or early morning hours.
Thursday, Dec. 15
Body-cam and dash-cam footage released by the Indiana State Police showed Kohberger and his father pulled over twice within a 10-minute span along a stretch of eastbound Interstate 70. Kohberger’s father had flown to Washington to make the 2,500-mile drive home back to Pennsylvania, Kohberger’s public defender in Pennsylvania told CNN.
Kohberger was behind the wheel of his white 2015 Elantra and identified himself to police on both occasions. When asked where they were going, Kohberger said the pair were going to get Thai food before his father interjected and said they were traveling from Washington State University to Pennsylvania.
Tuesday, Dec. 27
Pennsylvania agents recovered trash from the Kohberger residence in Albrightsville. The evidence was sent to the Idaho State Lab, and results found that DNA from the trash highly likely — over 99% — belonged to the biological father of the suspect, based on the DNA from the knife sheath.
Friday, Dec. 30
Kohberger was arrested and taken into custody on a fugitive from justice warrant at approximately 1:45 a.m. at his parents’ house in Monroe County. He was detained at Monroe County Correctional Facility while awaiting extradition.
Tuesday, Jan. 3
Kohberger waived his right to extradition in a Pennsylvania courtroom.
Wednesday, Jan. 4
Kohberger landed at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in Washington approximately 15 hours after departing Pennsylvania and three weeks after leaving the small college town with his father. He was transported to the Latah County Jail in Moscow by a convoy of police vehicles at approximately 7 p.m. Pacific time.
Thursday, Jan. 5
Kohberger made his first appearance in Idaho court. Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall read him the five charges against him — four counts of murder in the first degree and a felony burglary charge — and he acknowledged he understood.
Marshall also read out the maximum penalty should Kohberger be found guilty: a death sentence or imprisonment for life.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 4:00 AM with the headline "What do we know about University of Idaho murder charges? Here’s the latest timeline."
