LATAH COUNTY, Idaho (Scripps News Boise) — A Latah County judge has granted a permanent injunction against the City of Moscow regarding the release of certain images of the murder victims in the case of Bryan Kohberger.
Second District Judge Megan Marshall made the ruling Wednesday, saying the dissemination of “incredibly disturbing” photos across the internet — where the victims’ families might inadvertently see them — is an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, reported the Associated Press.
Dressers are visible in the hallway of a home on King Rd. where four University of Idaho students were killed. (Idaho State Police)
In July, Kohberger pleaded guilty to murdering University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves in 2022.
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On August 12, 2025, Madison Mogen’s mother, Karen Laramie, filed a complaint that requested “an injunction restraining the City of Moscow from releasing further images related to the homicide investigation of the Plaintiff’s daughter.”
That injunction was granted on August 15. On August 23, Ethan Chapin’s family joined the complaint. On the basis of “privacy interest,” the plaintiffs requested that certain images be prohibited from public records requests.
While not all their requests were granted, Judge Marshall decided that the “extreme emotional distress” caused by the continued release of imagery depicting the bodies of the victims and “death scenes” outweighed the public’s interest in the investigation and how it was conducted.
“There is little to be gained by the public in seeing the decedents’ bodies, the blood-soaked sheets, blood splatter, or other death-scene depictions,” reads the decision.
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The decision goes on to state that blurring certain images was insufficient in that “it still allows the viewer to see the outline and contours of the decedents’ bodies.” In turn, the City of Moscow “must blackout any areas within the images, photographs, video, or other media that depict any portion of the decedents or their bodies and the blood immediately surrounding them.”
The City of Moscow contends that it was required by Idaho law to release the images.
However, the memorandum concludes that the City of Moscow caused irreparable harm to the plaintiffs through their previous release of blurred imagery of the murder victims, meaning the plaintiffs are entitled to relief.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Boise, an E.W. Scripps Company.
