Two roommates who lived in a house in Idaho sent each other messages expressing their fear on the morning their four friends were killed, according to court records.
The victims, 21-year-olds Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, along with 20-year-olds Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were fatally stabbed in their off-campus home in Moscow early on November 13, 2022.
Bryan Kohberger, who is charged with the murders, is set to go on trial on August 11, with a judge entering a not guilty plea for him. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death, despite his defense team’s argument against capital punishment based on his autism diagnosis.
Newly released court documents reveal that the surviving roommates, referred to in filings as D.M. and B.F., became scared when their friends did not reply to their texts at around 4:22 a.m. on the day the bodies were found. D.M. initially messaged B.F. saying she was “freaking out” after allegedly seeing a man with a ski mask. B.F. replied, “So am I,” and urged her to come to her room.
D.M. spent the night in B.F.’s room, and later, a call to 911 was made from B.F.’s phone around noon the next day after one of the victims was discovered unresponsive.
The four friends came home around 1:45 a.m. that night, and shortly afterward, D.M. was texting an Uber driver at 2:10 a.m., indicating she may have been arranging transportation back home.
A knife sheath was found at the crime scene, which has DNA linking Kohberger to the murders. Investigators also collected trash from his parents’ home in Pennsylvania for DNA analysis.
One roommate reportedly saw the alleged killer leave the scene, describing him as a figure dressed in black with a mask. Kohberger was tied to the crime through DNA as well as cell phone data.
Kernodle had placed a DoorDash order around 4 a.m. and was using TikTok at 4:12 a.m. The trio of Goncalves, Mogen, and Kernodle were roommates, while Chapin was visiting his girlfriend, Kernodle.
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was a Ph.D. student in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, located about eight miles from where the killings took place.
The Ada County Judicial Court has not yet provided further information regarding the case.
