The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare - Shocking details revealed in the docuseries

Today, Netflix released the 3-episode true crime docuseries The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare. Directed by Skyle Borgman and produced by Joe Berlinger, the story tells of the gruesome death of four University of Idaho students in November 2022.

On this date, the bodies of four students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle, were found inside an off-campus home. The college community was broken, and the tragedy brought deep sorrow across the country. Even the killer walked free for weeks.

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare is the definitive chronicle of one of the most chilling murder cases in recent memory. The series honors four young lives while following every step from that tragic night to the arrest that came later. It uncovers the details of a case that changed Idaho forever and asks the haunting question that still troubles those left behind.

The first episode gives us the intensity with the body cam footage and the day of the murder commotion. The second one shows an investigation that eventually leads to the capture of a car driver, Bryan Kohberger, and the third episode highlights the trial and conclusion of the case.

Continue reading more about the shocking details of The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare.

What happened to the four students of the University of Idaho shown in The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare?

On November 13, 2022, the four students were stabbed to death in their beds by a masked intruder between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. Kaylee’s older sister, Alivea Goncalves, has emerged as one of the most recognized voices connected to the case, and in the documentary she provides important insights.

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare exposed that their bodies were found at a rental house across from the university campus in Moscow, located about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Spokane, Washington.

Kaylee and Madison lived on the third floor of the house, while Xana and her boyfriend Ethan, who was visiting that night, were on the second floor. Two other roommates were also inside the home but survived fortunately. One of them, sleeping on the second floor, woke up after hearing noises, saw a masked person dressed in black walk past, and then locked herself inside her room.

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare showed that the friends of the roommates came to the house and called 911 about someone found unconscious. Until then, the murders were not reported until nearly noon the next day. Autopsies revealed that all four victims were most likely asleep when the attack began. Some showed signs of trying to fight back, and each had been stabbed several times. Each of them was stabbed several times with a military-style Ka-Bar knife.

Investigation reports released by the Moscow police

Moscow Police Department Chief Anthony Dahlinger (Image via Netflix)

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare showed that on November 15, the Moscow Police Department released a statement saying that an edged weapon, likely a knife, was used in the killings. According to the investigators, no murder weapon had been recovered.

On November 16, the Moscow police held their first press conference where Police Chief James Fry stated that the killing of the four University of Idaho students was considered a targeted attack. The chief said,

"We do not have a suspect at this time, and that individual is still out there."

Another Police Chief, Anthony Dahlinger, said,

"We don't know why. We don't know why these four. We don't know why this house. I don't think we'll ever know."

On November 17, the police uncovered the cause of death. According to the Latah County Coroner's Office reports, the killer probably stabbed them with a large knife when they were sleeping. The reports also stated that some of them even showed defensive wounds, which were caused by trying to resist.

Body cam footage was revealed in The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare

Body cam footage (Image via YouTube/@Netflix)

The Moscow Police explained that investigators had followed hundreds of leads about the possibility of Kaylee having a stalker but had not been able to confirm or identify anyone. By this point, investigators had collected 113 pieces of physical evidence and sent them to the Idaho State Police crime lab for analysis. Idaho Governor Brad Little directed up to $1 million in funding to support the ongoing investigation.

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare also revealed that the Moscow police collected new body camera footage showing Bryan Kohberger and his father being stopped twice in Indiana during a December road trip to Pennsylvania. The video was recorded more than two weeks before Kohberger was arrested at his family’s home.

On December 18, the police also released surveillance footage showing Kaylee and Madison walking through downtown just hours before the killings. In the video, they were heard talking about a man named Adam, who investigators later confirmed is not considered a suspect.

How did the Moscow police catch the killer?

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare highlights that the police released an aerial map marked with the times and places of the victims' whereabouts on the night of November 12, 2022, and in the early hours of November 13, 2022. It was discovered that Kaylee and Madison spent time at the Corner Club between 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., and then they went to a food truck at 1:40 a.m. Ethan and Xana attended a Sigma Chi party between 8 and 9 p.m., and they returned home at 1:45 a.m.

On November 19, the hunt for the suspect began. As per detectives, they did not believe the driver who brought Kaylee and Madison home on the night of the murders was involved in the crime. However, on December 7, the police announced that they wanted to speak with the driver of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene during the time. Later, the search was widened to include Hyundai Elantra models from 2011 through 2016.

On December 20, investigators spoke with the owner of a Hyundai Elantra found in Eugene, Oregon. The car had been involved in a collision and was impounded, and the owner was believed to have no connection to Moscow, Idaho. On Friday, December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger was taken into custody and held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation related to the killings of four University of Idaho students.

The arrest and death sentence of Bryan Kohberger in The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare

On December 30, the police arrested Bryan in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He was charged with burglary and four counts of first‑degree murder. Kohberger was a Ph.D. student at Washington State University, located about eight miles from the crime scene in Moscow, Idaho. Law enforcement stated that forensic analysis was used to connect him directly to the crime scene.

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare also revealed that Kohberger was escorted to an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa. On June 26, the prosecutor asked for the death penalty, but then the case took an unexpected turn when the trial was rescheduled even after the death sentence was pursued. The reason is that on August 3, Kohberger’s attorneys claimed in new filings that he was on a routine drive at the time of the killings.

Finally, on July 23, Bryan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four life terms in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of four University of Idaho students.